Having smelled the rat of PNP defeat, it seems that the powerhouses have begun to lose their heads. Not surprisingly, the prime minister, who has never really merited the love and admiration of some of those who still remain blinded by her mythical 'abilities', lost hers first.

To those who studied her before, and especially after the March 30, 2006 scenario, her statements during a meeting to force the Lisa Hanna fiasco down the throats of the constituency executive - "If the party should lose South-East St Ann and the election as a result, the wrath of the country will come down on South-East St Ann" and while yelling, "Why do you think a person has to be born within a constituency in order to represent that constituency?

I was not born in my constituency yet I have been the MP there for years. This is the People's National Party and nobody is going to hold it to ransom. You think we cannot win the election without winning South-East St Ann? I would rather you find a new leader than having anybody hijack the values of the People's National Party" - did not come as a surprise.

Persons placed in positions too lofty for their limited abilities tend to shout like spoiled children whenever it dawns on them that they just don't have it. So they rant and rave and threaten, and resort to the tactics of the bully when their directives are not followed. It is the standard modus operandi of the weak leader or the person who was cut out for responsibilities somewhat more fitting for a place lower down on the duty rung.

Enter PJ Patterson, consummate 'winner' politician, who has decided to step in to shore up the flagging fortunes of the misdirected and disastrously led PNP. And of course, it has still not dawned on him that he is operating from behind the eight-ball of a failed politics which glorified the winning MP and disregarded the people who gave them the power in the first place. He has much catching up to do in appreciating the proactive nature of the constituents.

After having witnessed Portia Simpson Miller not just disrespecting the wishes of the PNP supporters of South-East St Ann, but in essence, implying that they should hug up the disrespect and shut their damn mouths, PJ has punched them solidly in the gut by endorsing the candidacy of the beauty queen and political neophyte, Lisa Hanna.

The man who once described himself as the 'little black boy from country' has been in town too long. So he gazes at the four constituents from South-East St Ann who have been working hard and had made themselves available for the candidate spot and probably thinks, 'What do these country bumpkins really know? They are thinking about representation and constituency development. We who leave country long time know that the real objective is another PNP win. Dem mek too much noise. Cho.'
Enough said.

The brave PNP supporters in SE St Ann

Having convinced myself that the PNP executive in South-East St Ann, including important centres of influence close to the party, would be outwitted by the 'superior' bargaining power of the second 11 PNP team sent down to Lydford to meet with the constituency executive and PNP supporters, I was jolted back into a pleasant reality by a telephone call I received from Cliff Hughes last Thursday at 4:00 pm.

I usually submit my Sunday column to the Observer on Thursday evening. Hughes had called about a matter relating to Nationwide's programming when I expressed to him my belief that politics would win out in the end. It was my belief that the Paulwell/Burke et al team would appeal to the need to bring 'comradeship' to the fore and the objective of winning a fifth straight term.

I had convinced myself that that, along with horse-trading, would tip the balance in favour of the constituents accepting the political neophyte which the PNP leader had launched on them. It was then that Cliff Hughes told me that the meeting had ended up in disarray and the Kingston team was forced to travel back to town empty handed.

One person I called told me that the town team did not come to bargain or have a meeting of the minds. They came to ram Lisa Hanna down the throats of the people. Operating with a crude logic, which took them between the extremes of sheer stupidity and political delusion, the team was literally booed back to town. The message? Keep Lisa Hanna in whatever ivory tower in Kingston she is perceived to inhabit.

For once in the post-independence life of this country, constituents in a rural parish have decided to lead the way in showing the political leadership who are the workers (the politicians) and who are the directors (the constituents). Those who have led off in the newest demonstration of a backward leadership have been taken unawares because they have always been able to convince themselves that 'black dog' and 'monkey' are theirs to create and foist on a people.

With the prime minister in a state of panic and losing the respect of those whose love for her she has always taken as a given and a right, the party has been shocked by the exercise of strength and forthrightness of the PNP supporters of South-East St Ann.

Does Portia care for poor people?

Having always had her way in the early years when the politics was simple and nasty, Portia Simpson operated mainly on two fronts. On one level, she did what she had to do in the years when garrison politics dictated that if one wanted to win one had to grab and expropriate. It was done on both sides of the political fence.
At another level she enjoyed the national love and admiration that people bestowed on her out of a wish and a hope that she was all they imagined her to be. Her recent actions have blown apart the facade of her 'love for poor people'. Bear with me.

Here it is that in the case of South-East St Ann she had a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate to the people of this country that 'the community' was more important than the politics. When both the politics and the community were placed before her, she opted for the politics because it was all she knew.
The four contenders for the South-East St Ann seat were unimportant to her. Neither were the people of the constituency considered that important as she blustered her way into trying to shove her agenda down their throats. And her agenda was Lisa Hanna, because she believed that Lisa would have clout which would extend well beyond the constituency.

Not only was it madness, but because she badly miscalculated the mood of constituents whom she and others in political leadership in this country have always thought to be either docile or politically robotic, the matter blew up in her face.
The PNP leadership cannot afford not to have its way because the 'domino effect' could affect outsiders like Abe Dabdoub, Norman Horne and Peter Bunting imposed on constituents.

If 'poor people' and the 'community' were an important part of her agenda, one of the contenders from SE St Ann would have been chosen.
Nothing has changed in Simpson Miller. It is still the raw politics and the status quo running things. And we thought she was different. How wrong we were.

E-mail responses to the Lisa Hanna debacle

Let me give you an idea of some of the many responses which entered my e-mail inbox last Thursday:
'Good column! My theory on the Lisa Hanna situation is that Portia is looking for another tourism minister as she does not trust the current state minister to put him in the post (I think he supported the Rock). So she is trying to put Lisa in a safe seat hoping she will win the election and give her the portfolio of tourism minister.

That's my take, what you think? If you get to talk to the PM ask her to fly the gate please. I am 25, I have never voted and I have made up my mind to vote JLP. So please tell her to hurry it up.'
'Very interesting times in SE St Ann indeed, Mark!! It's so unprincipled and disgraceful how Portia has gone about it ....Just as she did in imposing Roger Clarke on the people of Central Westmoreland and Norman Horne in SE St Elizabeth.

I had supported her in the presidential race but now I see what the Drumblair set in the party was saying. I hope the four prospective candidates she 'dissed' join forces and support the strongest of the four to run on an independent ticket to send a message to Portia Simpson. The power is getting or has gotten to her head it seems.'

'Then it is logical what her choice of libation has been. I firmly believe she and her cohorts all drunk from the same cup.'

'I find it quite funny about your apparent surprise at the ruthlessness of the PM. Look at the conditions of the people who live in her constituency? No JLP constituency is in that condition. They have demonstrated they are void of morals. Look at their record. Jamaica is like a cow which has lost its tail with flies infecting a sore on the rear with maggots. The option for the cow is to sit on the cut, rubbing it into the ground, killing the maggots. Graphic? It is not. The PNP is the maggot stuck in the cut unless Jamaica votes it out. Look at the decay in the country. I will leave the rest to your imagination.'

'I lived in Claremont as a child in the 70s before we moved. I find what's taking place there so laughable and comic that it's beyond tragic. Not only have politicians criminalised politics - as was done in the 60s, 70s, 80s,... - they have now decided to trivialise it by bringing in candidates with no obvious talent apart from their looks or celebrity. What possible contribution can Ms Hanna make to the development of SE St Ann?

Maybe Ms Hanna and Mrs Simpson Miller have reasoned that MPs are ciphers anyway so it matters not whether your selection is based on merit or looks or celebrity or your ability to inflict extreme violence on those who oppose you. In which case it's possible that Mrs Simpson Miller has done us all a favour: She has made it known that MPs are irrelevant, that the Jamaican electorate are illiterate, backward ninnies, and that politics is all about furthering the interests of the ruling elite and to hell with the masses. The PM deserves accolades!'

'Now the ELECT OF GOD feels it necessary to abuse constituents for expressing their will and not wanting to accede to her dictatorship of foisting Lisa Hanna on them. What does Lisa Hanna bring to the political table; Experience? Administrative ability?; A political philosophy?, A track record of philanthropy and social welfare? Or is it the hope that her beauty will paralyse the men in the Parliament? What the nation should pay attention to is the attitude of the prime minister in riding roughshod and abusing the constituents, including 'Foggy' Mullings'

'Constitutional change that features a separation of powers would provide the necessary remedy to this untenable situation. I suggest you all visit the EOJ site and look at the geographical boundary of SE St Ann, then ask yourself the obvious question, what does Lisa Hanna have in common with the residents of that rural constituency and the answer is obvious; ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Someone, maybe Portia? will have to SHOW HER THE WAY to that neck of the woods so that she can use the people as a kind of stepping stone to bigger things down the road. Alas, this is the nature of the beast called political representation in Jamaica, and it has to come to an end. All power to Denzil 'Wizzy' McDonald and his loyal subjects for standing up to the powers who believe they have divine authority that ought not be challenged by anyone.'

'The sooner we realise that the ordinary, average person in Jamaica is nothing more than something to be exploited by political parties, the sooner we will understand that the political parties mean us no good. They are interested in the furtherance of the party maintaining power...they will do all it takes to realise that. Remember Mr Pickersgill.'

Beware of false traders claiming to represent Olint

Because of the phenomenal success of David Smith's Olint in FX trading, more than a few charlatans have been attempting to use his name in trying to attract investors. The Internet offers various packages costing around US$3,000 which promises to transform those who purchase kits into overnight experts in FX trading.

This year marks 10 years since David Smith has been involved in FX trading, from the years he was employed by and made his name in well-known financial institutions in Jamaica to when he launched out on his own to form the investment club known as Olint.

He has had dark and uncertain times when the traditionalists in the financial sector turned against his efforts as money deposits with them earning chicken feed interest left them and found a better place with Olint.

Then early last year he was roughed up by the actions of the FSC, which raided his offices, sent the wrong signals to those who had invested with him and brought about a run on his club. Not only did he survive, but he ensured that not one investor lost his or her money, and over one year later, the original investors returned en masse with the money value of their investments increasing very significantly.

Olint moved overseas and the local investors went with him, while increasing the base of the interest they took back to Jamaica.
It is important that those who are considering investing money in FX trading be made aware that David Smith and Olint are in no way associated with any other financial organisation. Not your back door FX trader, not any bank, not Cash Plus, and certainly not anyone coming to you saying he or she represents Olint.
No new monies are being accepted by Olint, and from my understanding, that has been the position since the FSC debacle of March 2006.

I wish those well who have taken it on themselves to purchase Fx trading kits. I need to tell them that it takes more than an overnight lesson to bring one to the level of expertise that Smith has attained, making him one of the top five FX traders in the world. And, of course, if any reader of this column has been approached by anyone purporting to come from Olint, tell him/her that it is a great lie.

observermark@gmail.com

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