"SOME are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them."

That famous line from William Shakespeare's play Twelfth Knight is all the explanation that one needs in order to understand the reason why Portia Simpson Miller has ascended and Andrew Holness descended the lofty position of prime minister of Jamaica. To put it bluntly, Mr Holness was thrust into a position not of his own making or choosing, and certainly not with his own timing.

He appeared to be a man who had stumbled upon an opportunity too large for him and for which he was ill-prepared. The person who wrote the script for this sad melodrama, and who was its main protagonist, is former Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

In March 2006, the late Colonel Trevor MacMillan invited me to meet with the then leader of the opposition Mr Golding at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. He said he expected to be prime minister when the elections were called. He wanted me to serve on what would later come to be known as the Special Task Force on Crime. I pressed for reasons that would justify my serving on such a committee when from past experience they succeeded in doing little more than produce a document, plus my participation could be interpreted to be in support of his candidacy.

The answer was straightforward and convincing. He was concerned that as prime minister he should ever have to address a constituent as Mr President. In a remarkable display of prophetic gifting, he volunteered that the personality to whom he referred, if not dealt with, had the potential to bring down the prime minister.

My role was to ensure that the document bore the toughest anti-don recommendations that he would implement upon becoming prime minister. Readers of the May 1, 2006 Report of the Special Task Force on Crime can judge whether I and the other authors did a creditable job, and ponder why, when handed the opportunity to have his wish, Prime Minister Bruce Golding decided to squander political capital rather than act decisively.

Those who say the Christopher 'Dudus' Coke affair is not central to Mr Holness's defeat at the polls miss the point. Politicians have consorted with dons before and had them as friends. The difference is that -- occurring so early in the life of the administration, continuing over a protracted period and achieving the monumental proportions that it did -- the saga "sucked air" out of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). Many of the good ideas in the 2007 Manifesto were robbed of the focus needed for implementation.

In many cases, elected members of the Government became moribund or isolated from their constituents. Those things that Mr Golding and his successor Mr Andrew Holness would eventually claim as success -- the reduction in murders and the Jamaica Debt Exchange -- were bought with the blood and tears of Jamaicans.

Given a bad hand, Mr Holness was left with a single option; "soak" the man who resigned under a cloud to make way for him. He failed to do that and spoke instead of continuity of Golding's policies while admitting they were largely unachieved. Mr Holness also kept in the forefront of his administration and campaign faces that inspire fear in the Jamaican people; fear that they should ever gain more influence or come into greater power than they already have.

Maybe it is that he had not consolidated his power as leader to make the bold moves required to separate himself from the old guard. What can be said with certainty is that his claim to be new and different had a hollow ring. This analysis is not a case of hindsight being 20/20.

Anyone not blinded by the desire for power could see how this would have worked against him. Having declared it on Cliff Hughes' Impact television programme, I maintain that he should have gone the full term, try to fix the immense economic problems facing the country and consolidate his power within the JLP, before going to the polls.

That's only half the reason for the unmitigated disaster the elections proved to be for the JLP. The other half may be summed up by the turn of phrase, JLP -- Jamaica Loves Portia. Had the People's National Party (PNP) lost the elections, coals would have been heaped on her head. It's only fair, then, for her to be given credit for the victory.

'Sista P', as she is affectionately called, is grossly underestimated by the intelligentsia inside and outside of her party. Born in a manger (read that, coming from the humblest of stock) and carrying some of the identifying marks of the underclass, she is stereotyped as unfit to lead. Even as they celebrate, some of her fellow comrades must know that the results would have been different at the polls that brought Bruce Golding and the JLP to power in 2007 had they not abandoned her.

Since these last polls, one journalist after the other, in the electronic and print media, has had to eat the proverbial crow for having pronounced her epitaph. The "smart money" that went into financing the ambitions of Golding and Holness is now showing up in advertisements commending her for her victory.

People must suffer the reputation they create for themselves; so too must Portia Simpson Miller bear some of the blame for the way she is perceived by a wide cross section of Jamaicans. She has, in the best tradition of PJ Patterson, proven her skills at running an election.

Changing public perception and securing her legacy requires her to prove she can also run a country; that she can create pure and lasting pleasures for this and generations yet to be born, which, according to 17th century French philosopher Voltaire, is the hallmark of the great leader. To that end she has been blessed with a second opportunity and a final chance.

In contemplating the prospects for her success, there is a sobering thought. Politics has badly failed Jamaica. Ultimately the problem is not Portia Simpson Miller, or Andrew Holness, or Bruce Golding. The problem is a political process and culture that is medieval, unrefined and in need of reform constitutionally and in its practice.

Although not emphasised in the PNP's Manifesto, overhauling the dysfunctional system of governance, which silences the Opposition and makes elected officials more beholden to the party and its leader than to their constituents and the country, must be Mrs Simpson Miller's first and abiding priority.

Our prime minister sees herself in the words of Tarrus Riley's song, She's Royal. For me, she is more aptly described by the title of Maya Angelou's poem, Phenomenal Woman.

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