Three executive members of the Patriots, the group of young professionals affiliated with the governing People’s National Party (PNP), sat down with Observer writer Earl Moxam last week and dismissed the popular perception that they are closely aligned to PNP vice-president Dr Peter Phillips.

The trio – Donovon Nelson, chairman; Ohene Blake, deputy chairman; and Christopher Brown, general-secretary – also shared the group’s views on local government and said they strongly support the introduction of casino gambling, a position diametrically opposite to that of the PNP.

Moxam: When was the Patriots established and with what objective?

Nelson: The Patriots was formed two years ago, basically to mobilise young professionals in an organised political working group to support the People’s National Party. We thought two years ago that there was a number of young persons of professional background that were associated with the party, some way or other, but their energies were scattered all over. We thought that by bringing them together to work for the party in an organised way was the best approach.

Moxam: Regarding the PNPYO, some might ask what was that group doing that was wrong, that necessitated the establishment of the Patriots?

Nelson: The PNPYO wasn’t doing anything wrong. The PNPYO has a constitutional mandate and an age limit that limits them to a maximum of age 33. Beyond that age you cannot be a member of that organisation. And therefore, if you’re going to work in an organised way, you have to find another outlet, and that outlet is naturally, the Patriots.

Moxam: Is there an age limit for the Patriots?

Nelson: We haven’t established one.

Moxam: What’s the profile of your membership, and, geographically, where are your members drawn from?

Nelson: The membership is broadly drawn from the length and breadth of Jamaica, from Portland to Montego Bay, but the majority of the members are in Kingston, because the Patriots remain a group headquartered in Kingston. We meet sometimes in Montego Bay and sometimes in Portland even though we are based in Kingston.

Blake: We’re constantly looking at the matter of expansion of the group, we’ve been flooded with applications both from individuals and from groups, which have sought an affiliate status with the Patriots, and by virtue of that they’re all Patriots, in terms of our constitution.

Nelson: But in terms of our constitution and our activities, we’re breaking new ground as we go along – some of these groups, we’re not yet certain what we’re going to call them, but for the time being we consider them affiliate groups; they may, in fact, call themselves West Kingston Patriots, East Kingston Patriots, Montego Bay Patriots. All of them, at some point, will have to subscribe to the constitution of the Patriots, and when that time comes we’ll see how best are those groups that are affiliated to us.

Moxam: I return to the question of your work and membership versus that of the PNPYO. Are you confining yourselves to young professionals, and how do you define such persons?

Blake: The problem primarily was the age limit of the PNPYO; persons who had exceeded that age did not have the organisational mechanism wherein they could channel their efforts and intellect in an organised way.

Moxam: But, while you may not look down on a domestic helper, or mason, by your own definition you would not regard such persons as professionals in the traditional sense, and therefore by that kind of definition, they would not necessarily qualify to be members of the Patriots.

Blake: Let me be clear – a mason is a professional, an electrician is a professional! A professional is defined by the way that you go about utilising your skills in a professional manner, and we have to be very clear, we also have persons who are studying, who will fall within the ambit of the Patriots. So I don’t think that any group is looked down on.

Moxam: I come back to the classic definition of a professional and how you look at somebody who is an artisan, someone who is engaged in a vocation versus someone who is part of what is considered one of the traditional professions. I put it to you that, from a public perception point of view, when you say that you’re members of a young professional group, that people would not necessarily relate that to artisans. So are you backing away from what might be the public’s perception?

Blake: Let me say again, I disagree with your premise. A professional is a professional, we didn’t say what kind of profession – masons, electricians, plumbers, accountants, IT professionals, sports professionals, lawyers, doctors – all are professionals! And certainly, within the membership of the group we have a selection right across the board.

Moxam: Both major political parties are approaching the inevitability of leadership transitions. How will the Patriots approach that as far as the contenders are concerned; will you come to a decision as to who to support, or will you merely provide a platform for all to contend?

Nelson: There are persons clearly who have indicated that they are going to be contenders for that post, once it becomes vacant. As a movement we have not yet discussed collectively what our response is going to be to that process when it comes. When it comes we will deal with it, we haven’t yet discussed it.

Moxam: I think it is fair to say that, certainly within media circles, the perception is that this group, if not a creature of, is certainly one that is closely aligned to a particular vice-president of the People’s National Party, and that is Dr Peter Phillips. Is that perception accurate, and if so, does it present you with a problem when it comes to backing a particular candidate at the right time?

Blake: That perception is wholly inaccurate! As we stated before, the constitution of the Patriots mandates that the group remains non-aligned to particular individuals in the party, and, therefore, is not aligned to any vice-president. We have members who have close working relationships with at least three of the vice-presidents in the party, and other members within the party hierarchy, and, therefore, it would certainly be impossible for any one or two or three persons to steer the group in a particular direction.

Moxam: Peter Phillips is a man who is regarded as being an intellectual, somebody who is always willing to explore new ideas and always willing to engage with young, bright people. Do you, therefore, enjoy a particularly close relationship with him on that ground?

Brown: We enjoy a good relationship with all vice-presidents of the People’s National Party. From time to time we might have to work with one, depending on the issue that we are dealing with. But the party itself has a tradition of high intellect, and the intellectual vigour of the party resides. as the party leader says, we will not have a difficulty in terms of selecting a successor to him because we have, at every level, persons who are able to deal with complex matters. And so, therefore, the Patriots works closely with all vice-presidents, the general-secretary, the chairman and there’s no alignment with any particular vice-president. We are aligned to the ideals and principles of the People’s National Party under the leadership of P J Patterson at the moment.

Blake: The truth is.

Moxam: You may be protesting too much, you know.

Blake: No, no, the truth is, the truth is. the general-secretary, the chairman of the party are persons who work closely with the youth of the country and within the party. Certainly the same could be said of Comrade Simpson Miller, Comrade Karl Blythe, Comrade Roger Clarke. They certainly have within their working ranks young, bright persons. And I don’t think that there is any particular leader within the party who shows a greater affinity than the other to young people and young professionals.

Moxam: Now to some of the issues. The one that is uppermost in people’s minds at this time is local government. How important to the Patriots is the matter of local government?

Nelson: The matter of local government is very important to the Patriots, very, very important. We welcome, first of all, the fact that the government is moving ahead with the municipality in Portmore. We think this is a forward move. We don’t believe that the current local government arrangement that we’ve had for generations has brought the kind of efficiency that is required of a developing country like Jamaica. We think that we have to experiment with another model that will provide better services to the communities that they are responsible for. We believe that as a start, the direct election of a mayor, with the executive separated from the councillors who can perform their legislative functions within the councils and allow the mayor and his executive to run the affairs of the city, is a model that we need to test to see how best it fits.

Moxam: Some might suggest that Portmore is not typical of most communities in Jamaica, by virtue of size, by virtue of the composition of the population, and the availability of resources.

Brown: Those are correct assumptions in relation to Portmore, but we have to look at how it works and seek to fashion a structure that would bear in mind the demographics of the particular area.

Moxam: Is the Patriots, as an organisation, going to be putting up your candidates for the local government elections?

Blake: We’ve actively encouraged our members to put themselves up for candidacy. Of course, there is a democratic selection process within the party and so not everybody who puts himself up might be successful in the final analysis. But we do have a number of members who are going to be running, and there are a number of other Patriots aspiring to be candidates.

Moxam: What about the directly elected mayor of Portmore, are you trying to influence the selection?

Brown: We’re not trying to influence the selection process, but as it relates to candidates, I know that there are members of the Patriots who are ready, rearing to go to offer themselves in that capacity. And so we are eager to complete the restructuring so that we know exactly what the requirements will be, what the municipal arrangements will be, what the relationship between the mayor and the councillors will be, what the relationship between the mayor and central government will be in terms of allocation of resources, so that we can put forward our candidate or candidates and try to ensure that they are selected to run on the party’s ticket.

Moxam: Is there any other initiative that the Patriots is interested in pursuing at this time?

Brown: We believe that the economy has attained the requisite macroeconomic stability that can foster sustainable growth and development. We are, however, of the view that we need to up the ante a bit in terms of our search for growth, and we are of the view that the whole matter of casino gambling needs to be examined once again. We believe casino gambling should be placed squarely on the table once again, particularly in light of the massive revenues being generated from the lottery companies, and the utilisation of these revenues. We note that the CHASE Fund, which has been set up, is to be funded primarily by resources from the lotteries, the sport complexes across the country have been funded from lottery revenues. I, therefore, think that we need to rethink the role that casino gambling can play in advancing more resources within the government coffers.

Nelson: I’d like to respond to some of the moral arguments being put forward by critics of casino gambling. It begs the question as to what moral defence would they put forward for having ignored the introduction of all the lotteries now being promoted in Jamaica. Horse racing continues in Jamaica, there are lots of games being promoted. and people do play blackjack in Jamaica, so in a sense we’re being a little hypocritical about it in terms of our public pronouncements and what we allow to happen in the country privately.

Moxam: Are you saying that the People’s National Party might have been wrong in its own fundamental objection to casino gambling?

Nelson: I think the world has changed. Technology has advanced many things, including the fact that here in Jamaica we can engage in casino gambling online. The time has come for us to have a national debate again on casino gambling.

Blake: We as a group are fully aware of the current social and economic state that Jamaica is in. We hold near and dear the importance of creating employment and here I think we have to begin to think outside of the box if we’re going to find the levels of job creation that are required for our young people and throughout the population. What is clear is that wherever there is a formal structure for casino gambling – Mississippi, Atlantic City, Las Vegas, The Bahamas – there comes massive developmental gains in construction, upgrading of the housing stock, the infrastructure generally. That is not to say that we’re not cognisant of the moral concerns. However, I think that casino gambling will add to our appeal as a tourist destination. And for a long time our tourism product has been slightly stagnant, stale. and it’s time to look again at what can add value to Jamaica’s tourism product. We’re facing a Gulf War and that is likely to result in a downturn in tourism. When that is over, all the tourism destinations in the world will be scrambling after the same pie, and certainly Jamaica will have to look carefully at how best to market itself and what attractions it can offer prospective tourists. It certainly will not be sand, sea and sun, and business as usual. I, therefore, think this is an opportune time to place the establishment of casinos on the table for debate.

Nelson: Now that we’re on the road to establishing more efficiently run municipalities, the Government could look at taking part of the revenues from casino gambling to fund the new municipalities.

Moxam: But isn’t the idea behind the creation of the municipalities one in which they would generate their own revenues?

Blake: As in the United States, each municipality should have some part in the decision-making as to whether casino gambling is a part of a particular municipality. Maybe not all municipalities will want to go down that road, but we should debate whether we should grant them the freedom to explore those areas of revenue generation.

Moxam: So are you going beyond the original proposal that participation in casino gambling should be confined to foreigners?

Blake: We should re-examine that idea.

Nelson: I think we should follow the Bahamian model where locals are not permitted to participate. We might well be advised to follow that model.

Brown: But those are details that can be worked out as part of the debate. I think the fundamental need is for us to get past the moral argument, in light of what is happening with various forms of gambling all over the place.

Moxam: Has your organisation done a comprehensive study, on which basis you would then go to the party and the Government to make a credible case?

Nelson: We’re going to be starting the study now, and we’re prepared to take the matter to the conference floor, if that is required, to get the matter debated.

Moxam: At the next party conference in September?

Blake: Certainly. We’ve put together a policy sub-committee to carefully consider all the facts that relate to this policy issue.

Moxam: But some would say you’re putting the cart before the horse. Here you are advocating this major policy shift, yet you have not yet done the study with which you would underpin your arguments.

Brown: Remember, we prefaced the discussion by saying that we believe the debate as it relates to casino gambling should be reopened. So by virtue of that, it would mean that you would not have arrived at a conclusion yet. I think that there is merit in taking a fresh look at the prospects for Jamaica if we were to consider introducing casino gambling, and the Public and Advocacy Committee of the Patriots, under the chairmanship of Raymond Pryce, is currently looking at that matter, among other things.