The Jamaica Labour Party came to power at a time when many Jamaicans felt that there was a need for change as the then People’s National Party-led Government had been in power for too many years and had run out of creative ideas in addressing the challenges facing the Jamaican society. At the same time, allegations of corruption abroad surfaced about those who enjoyed political patronage. While not receiving an overwhelming parliamentary majority, in 2007 the Jamaica Labour Party got sufficient national support to become the government of the day.

It is also true to say that there was an air of expectancy and euphoria which naturally attends a change of government, as well as the hope of the fulfilment of the various promises made by the incoming government during the campaign period. In addition, there was also the feeling that the JLP, which has always been perceived by many to enjoy a good cordial and fraternal relationship with the United States Government, would augur well for the country. No sooner had the Government begun to settle into office than the seeming hand of fate began to rearrange the pieces on the chess board.

The implementation of campaign promises began to take place, especially with regard to the abolition of fees in the health and education sectors. The availability of resources to fund these programmes soon became a matter of concern, as individuals and groups within the society began to question their sustainability and the Government began to blame the previous government for misrepresenting the nature of the nation’s financial situation. Then along came the global financial crisis. Initially, there were official attempts to downplay the nature of the impact that this would have on our nation. As the fallout began to take effect, the consequences were being felt in various sectors of the economy with the loss of jobs, the collapse of the bauxite sector, the decline in money transfers, and a serious shortfall in government revenue. As talk in the public arena emerged of a possible return of the nation to a borrowing relationship with the International Monetary Fund, this was denied or dismissed by various officials. When it later became clear that the Government had no option, the nature of the negotiation as well as the process and pace became matters of public debate. This became a seedbed for political manoeuvrings by the Government and the Opposition.

The involvement of citizens increased with the disclosure of wage freezes and the sacrifices and inevitable fallout from the acceptance of an IMF package, which they felt was not handled in a transparent manner. Additionally, the delays in the signing of the agreement and seemingly negative comments from spokespersons with a direct or indirect connection with the IMF only served to raise questions about the credibility of the Government.

These questions have continued to linger and seem to be gaining momentum with the passage of time. The Government seemed to have reversed the trend and scored significantly with the widespread acceptance of its very bold debt exchange programme, which has received both local and international endorsement. For a while, it seemed that not even the negativity surrounding the three different budgets which were presented in one financial year, and which contained faulty financial statistics, could have diminished the positive assessment earned from the debt exchange programme.

It has often been said that “money runs things” and that the confidence that persons have in government and in the economy determines the health and vibrancy of the economy, and hence, of the nation. It seems, however, that these things refer to legitimate money and money in the formal economy. Equally, it seems that there are some forces that are more powerful than any financial indicators in the formal economy which have the potential to destroy the financial stability of the nation and the credibility of the government. It seems the Government is unaware of this or has simply chosen to ignore it.

We have all been aware of the existence of an informal economy in this country which has come about because of the creativity of some of our people in trying to find ways of surviving when the formal channels of the economy do not seem to be open to them. We have also been aware that there is a dimension of the informal economy which intersects with the formal economy and which is driven by earnings from illegal activities such as the drug trade, gun running, extortion, and more recently, kidnapping. The wealth generated from these sources gives tremendous power to those who control it and enables them to corrupt individuals at every level of society, undermine the system of legitimate power and governance, and control and manipulate communities in which they operate. Only the naïve in our midst would fail to acknowledge the linkages between the political process and those who control such wealth. We have protested about such linkages for ages but have been unable to get our various governments to take positive action against these forces. But it has now fallen to external forces to bring pressure to bear on the situation.

The United States Government, while by no means free of the operation of similar evils in its homeland, has decided to tighten the screws on the Jamaican Government in an attempt to get it to take decisive action against persons who have been able to exercise a corrupting influence on the nation, and who have been able to carry out their activities through trans-national channels. Extradition requests have been one way in which the United States has sought to address the situation as it relates to persons who have been indicted for criminal activities carried out in its jurisdiction and have brought ill-gotten wealth to its perpetrators. Additionally, the United States has also been pressuring our government to take criminal proceedings against citizens of this country who are known to be involved in criminal activities. However, the result has not been good.

The United States Government in August 2009 requested the extradition of Christopher “Dudus” Coke, and the real nature of the concern is coming to the fore in an explosive way. It is a story of alleged ill-gotten wealth, alliance with the political system and the system of governance, the exercise of power and control of individuals and community, and the intermingling of the formal and informal economies. The position taken by Prime Minister Bruce Golding, which is inseparable from that of his Government, is boxing him and his Government into a corner. The position which he has articulated is one which has not gone down well with most of the population and has raised serious questions of credibility. It seems that each week brings some new revelation which has direct and tangential bearing on the extradition and which eats away at the foundation of the credibility which the prime minister and his Government have enjoyed, whether it is the issue of the withdrawal of visas, the delay in the appointment of a United States ambassador to Jamaica, reports of diplomatic problems with the appointment of a new Jamaican ambassador to the United States, or the Manatt, Phelps and Phillips fiasco.

It has been argued that the timing of the revelation of these various developments is no accident and that the revelations will continue until the extradition request is addressed in a positive way by the prime minister. It is to be noted that suggestions of corruption of the system of governance of the nation is implied in an earlier State Department release. My fear is that the consequences of a failure to act in this matter will not only undermine the credibility of individuals who make up the Government, but the entire nation. It does not take much for our status to be upgraded or downgraded, depending on one’s perspective, from a “corrupt state” to that of a “rogue state”.

There is now open conversation in the most unexpected quarters about the present administration becoming a one-term government. There is clear evidence of a fall from grace with an increasing number of Jamaicans, and what is even more evident is the fall from grace manifesting itself in the apparent strained relationship between the United States Government and the Jamaica Labour Party-led Government of Jamaica.