PRIME Minister Bruce Golding has done the right and honourable thing to apologise to the Jamaican people for the anxiety and hurt that his handling of the the extradition matter has caused the nation. Some have refused to accept the apology considering it as hollow or insincere or “too little too late”. Others have given a grudging nod to what the prime minister had to say. A number of people have imposed the condition that they will have to see what further revelations are forthcoming about the matter and what will result from the promises he has made to move the country forward.

Human behaviour at any level has consequences and often these consequences are unintended. One of the unintended consequences of this imbroglio is that a number of people have been alienated from the JLP’s governance of the country by the vacillation and obfuscation that led to Mr Golding’s apology. A direct consequence of the prime minister’s behaviour is that trust between the governors and the governed has been broken at a fundamental level. The prime minister is right that the road to redemption will not be an easy one. A great deal will hang on how well the government proceeds with the policies announced in the apology statement and whether people can be convinced that the government, and especially the prime minister, has learnt the important lessons it should from this problem.

And there are lessons to be learnt. One which seems to have eluded successive governments, is to understand the nexus between the political party and government; to know where the legitimate interests of the party begin and end, and where those of the government start once the party is given the privilege of governance. In the matter of the extradition treaty, the lines of demarcation became blurred when the party inserted itself into matters of governmental importance and then when it ran into trouble claimed that it was acting for one side and not for the other. Mr Golding has recognised the futility of justifying his behaviour in this regard. But the nexus between party politics and government and the confusion of roles is a deeper problem that goes to the heart of the discontent that plagues our tribal politics. In the present political culture, if there is a confusion of roles between the interests of the party and those of the government (and by extension the people of Jamaica), political leaders often revert to the comfort of the party where by herd instinct they can provide succour to each other. By doing so they often show great contempt for the people who elected them to office, for at that point it is not the interest of the people that is paramount, but that of the party itself. This is perhaps what Michael Manley meant by the doctrine of the paramountcy of the party in the heyday of democratic socialism.

The extent to which the prime minister will be successful in dismantling garrisons and building a viable society is the extent to which he can remove the bifurcation between his role as party leader and that as prime minister of ALL Jamaica. It is only in this regard that the trust that has been broken with the people can be restored. And there is a great deal of work to be done to rebuild trust and to convince people that he is serious about what he said to them in the apology. As a marriage therapist, I have had to deal with many cases of marital infidelity. At the centre of the marital dissatisfaction that arises is broken trust. If the parties are willing to do the hard work that is necessary to restore the relationship, then they have to do so with what I describe as baby steps, and not big strides. The truth is that broken trust is not easily repaired and there is certainly no guarantee that the relationship will ever return to the status it enjoyed before the infidelity. Only a national election will determine how the people really feel about the government at this time. But Mr Golding has taken the first small step in the direction of restoration. As one would for a toddler, the society would be urged to extend to him the hand of accountability. As he rightly and humbly acknowledged, the government will need the help of the people in building the kind of viable society we all desparately seek. As we have seen, we too are not immune from the horrendous consequences of any stumble any prime minister may suffer.

stead6655@aol.com

www.drraulston.com