“I am your private dancer, a dancer for money

I’ll do what you want me to do

Just a private dancer, a dancer for money

And any old music will do”

— Lyrics from Tina Turner’s hit song Private Dancer

IT has been said that he who pays the piper calls the tune. And as one politician who attempted to bribe me once said, “Everyone has his price.”

One of Jamaica’s most serious problems today is that there are too many private dancers in our midst. Men and women who will not hesitate to sell their souls for a mess of pottage. This perennial vice is to be found from top to bottom, from the lowly private sector employee or civil servant to the boardroom. From Gordon House to Jamaica House. And I am not here necessarily referring to the current occupants of these two state bodies. Suffice it to say that the cat may look at the king.

The hesitation to deal with campaign financing with respect to the funding of political parties may well be because “the private dancer” deals between donors and political parties are too integral for their survival to be laid bare for public scrutiny. Of course, there are those donors who play it smart by contributing to both major political parties in this country, namely, the Jamaica Labour Party and the People’s National Party. By doing so, they ensure that they remain favourably in both these parties’ books so that whoever forms the government will still be beholden to them.

Campaign financing is a thorny issue worldwide and it is no secret that administrations have to cater and sometimes kowtow to their big donors. In Jamaica, it is more than painfully obvious that respective prime ministers, members of the Cabinet and top-ranking civil servants from time to time have to genuflect and yield to the demands of individuals or firms which have contributed handsomely to their parties’ coffers.

In our Westminster parliamentary system which gives the winner’s trophy to the party that is first past the post, campaign financing can be a very dangerous thing because, in the final analysis, it is not the will of the people that prevails at the polls but the influence of “big money”. Indeed, every so often when an election is lost, whether at the national or constituency level, the first reason given is that the winning party or candidate was able to outspend their rivals.

One of the ironic twists to this arrangement is that despite the fact that the country’s poor and middle class who make up most of the electorate are the ones who ensure victory at the polls, they often vote not so much on issues but on the basis who can give the best and most lucrative “let-off”. This, in essence, means that the best candidate or the most suitable party may not triumph at the polls. Thus, our democracy is a farce and one that can be easily manipulated by campaign financing.

This writer is therefore urging both Prime Minister and JLP Leader Bruce Golding and Opposition Leader and PNP President Portia Simpson Miller to put the issue of campaign financing back on the front burner. The urgent matter of good and effective governance cannot be achieved in an environment where too many of our major decision makers are private dancers. Disclosure and transparency must become the order of the day. In this vein, the decision by both parties to increase the number of parliamentary seats is yet another example of our politicians just setting up themselves to become private dancers. Rather than increasing the opportunity for more campaign financing from whatever source, as well as burdening taxpayers with the prospect of having to find more money to pay elected representatives, we should be seriously looking at the introduction of proportional representation as well as limited state financing to be matched by monitored private donations so that small, fledgling parties like the National Democratic Movement can have a fair chance during an election campaign. One of the main reasons the then Bruce Golding-led NDM was unable to make any meaningful impression at the polls during his tenure is that despite the attractiveness of his message, the big money guys did not see it that way and so they stuck to the “two evils” they knew.

Interestingly, Golding was almost forcefully brought back to the JLP because it was felt in order for the party to have a winning formula, it had to include a winnable candidate which they felt Edward Seaga was not at the time. So the same man who could not even win a parish council seat when he headed the NDM was repackaged as “Bruce the Golden One” and the rest is history. To put it plainly, money talks and in politics it is the mother tongue! Readers will recall that Mr Seaga cried foul after his dethronement as it was his opinion that “dirty money” had been used to ensure his not so glorious exit as party leader.

Another area of national life that is subject to this “private dancer” syndrome is in the area of our musical offerings and what is fit for airplay. Here again, it is the big money players who control things and it is common knowledge that payola is the way to go if an artiste, producer or promoter wants to ensure that their tune gets sufficient airplay if any at all. The bottom line in all of this is that some of Jamaica’s best music has never been heard on our major airwaves. I recall going abroad and hearing some fantastic home-grown reggae music that I have never heard in Jamaica! It is that bad. Instead, we get a great deal of garbage that passes for good music, thus frustrating many an upcoming or accomplished artiste who has so much excellent stuff to offer, but if you cannot pay the piper, then tough luck.

It is time that all well-thinking citizens of this country take a stand against these private dancers, be they politicians, disc jockeys or journalists. Ha! Every now and then I get a hate mail from one of my detractors accusing me of being in the pocket of one political party or another. All I will state at this juncture is that when it comes to my work, be it oral or written, I dance solo to my own tune, although at times I trip and fall. Talk about two left feet! So let the music play!

lloydbsmith@hotmail.com