I have expressed, in private e-mail correspondence to Delano Seiveright, head of G2K — the young professionals arm of the JLP — my disappointment at his organisation’s ease in aping the oldsters in the party instead of charting out a new course which would ideally complement the contribution of the political veterans.

I know, of course, that the JLP has a history of being extremely unkind to ‘rebels’, even if the intention is never to mount a coup from within. It is my belief that ever since the founder of the party, Alexander Bustamante, entered politics at a time when most men would be thinking of retiring, it has created a template of leadership in the JLP where the head of the party and senior personnel must be literally dug out before the party can have a chance at renewal.

It could even be said that because of this, the JLP has never fully, at any stage of its existence, had any real chance of renewal. What has in fact happened is one long line of succession where old ideas from the party’s primeval past are securely and painlessly passed on to new leadership, and for the sake of survival, that new leadership ensures that the political rote of the past is continued, even if the exigencies of the information highway demand new thought, new approaches, and a radically new direction.

With increasing numbers of people tuning out of voting in elections, our politicians have seen this as a plus for them, simply because it really doesn’t matter if the total voter turnout is 57 per cent or 80 per cent. In a 57 per cent turnout the political blowhard from the past knows that in the next elections, his spend on vote-catching inanities will be less and he will not have to spread his efforts too thin. Of course, winning is another matter entirely, but overall in this scenario, the politicians win and the people always lose.

On G2K’s recent press release on the subject of renewal inside the JLP, I expressed in private e-mail to Seiveright my congrats but I hope that it is not mere strategy in support of any faction hoping to displace some of the oldsters in the JLP.

Karl Samuda has had his run

GENERAL secretary of the JLP Karl Samuda has never been a political pushover.

He survived the autocratic dictates of Eddie Seaga, being booted from the party, ‘breaking Bustamante’s finger’ when, on his acceptance into the PNP, at an annual conference, he held aloft the JLP’s ‘victory’ emblem and broke off one of the fingers, plus, he did the unthinkable and what some saw as politically impossible — he retained his constituency running on the PNP ticket!

Karl Samuda has trained many a youngster in the JLP on ‘securing the key vote’ tactics and campaign organising. He has taken a number of them under his wing and imparted valuable political knowledge to them. But, as every veteran showman must painfully know, there is that crucial time when the sound of the applause is being drowned out by the booing, when only one decision can be made. Leave now, because last-minute reinvention is impossible. Leave now and secure one last warm round of applause before the curtain falls.

With the Opposition PNP and its supporters energised from a successful annual conference, the so-called young Turks in the JLP have signalled that they are ready again to reposition the ruling party, not so much for renewal but to make the party that much more attractive to voters in 2012.

The PNP has made some high-flown announcements which include the ‘Progressive Agenda’. The JLP has spoken of renewal. For now I choose to believe that both parties are making a move to make themselves more attractive to the voter in 2012. To me it is more strategy than genuine renewal. Knowing, however, that in all aspects of life, ‘process’ is a word never to be underestimated and scoffed at, we have little choice but to embrace any little positives to be found in these moves.

Daryl Vaz is the right choice

HE may not necessarily be the public heart-throb that only few politicians ever are, but inside the JLP Vaz is a master organiser and a politician whose networking skills are second to none.

His signal to the JLP secretariat that he wants Karl Samuda’s job is a welcome one because the secretariat is the fuel pump of any political party. If it is dead and dry, so is the party. That the JLP was in need of a full tank of gas is an understatement. In view of their amateur approach after taking power in 2007, one would never have believed that they had 18 years to understudy the PNP which had a free run from February 1989 to September 2007.

Almost the entire year of 2008 was spent trying to recognise brush fires. The next year, 2009, was spent trying to put them out. As industry and commerce minister, Karl Samuda had his hands full trying to determine the needs of the sector, even as the global recession ripped into us and slowed commerce to a minimum. More old rooster than spring chicken during those troubling times, he seemingly left the secretariat to fend for itself.

Now that the ruling party has been wounded politically as the light at the end of its tunnel is growing dimmer, the challenge to the secretariat is a natural move. I hope, though, that Samuda does not give in and leave it all as a shoe-in to Vaz. The mettle of Vaz must be tested in this race and, more importantly, the public needs to see if the JLP can run this internal race without recriminations and dirt being hauled by both sides.

Although Aundre Franklin, a deputy gen sec, has indicated that he will be mounting a challenge for the post of gen sec, he probably knows that he is, at this time, woefully unprepared to handle the JLP’s business. He has youth on his side, but if he has much more than that as a qualification, he has so far failed to display those traits.

His foray into the challenge will not even be bothersome to those counting votes.

Vaz (along with others) was highly instrumental in seating Golding, blushing bridegroom and hesitant leader, on the JLP’s throne, first at Golding’s re-entry in 2002, his taking the JLP leadership in 2003 and to JLP victory at the polls in September 2007.

It will be natural therefore for Golding to support Vaz’s efforts. As the weeks roll on I am expecting that Daryl Vaz will spell out to us what he hopes to bring new to the JLP, a badly wounded party and governmental administration.

For the sake of his party supporters, most of whom are embarrassed at the party’s public beating and the constant battering by the PNP, Vaz needs to chart two courses. One, he needs to re-energise the party base because PNP supporters are very upbeat, even though they know that their party is not fully ready to contest an election.

Second, he needs to reach out to those likely voters who were fed up of the PNP’s 18-year run but who were also not sufficiently convinced that the JLP could bring anything new to the table in 2007. He has that most difficult job of convincing that set of potential supporters, especially after what they have seen of the JLP these last three years.

Third, he needs to portray the JLP and the new secretariat as a winning combination. Fourth, he needs to recognise that his job is next to impossible and any challenge at this time must come fully packaged as a part of his campaign message, his ability to attend to the politically impossible.

Greg Christie and Paula Llewellyn on the same side

Oh, we Jamaicans just love a good fight, especially one which can be considered a public one.

Contractor General Greg Christie must at times feel extremely lonely as he finds himself and his office like a single beacon of light floating on a sea of corruption. As he stands out like a glimmer of hope in this troubled nation, at times he finds that he has to kick harder than usual as the authorities seem to want to treat his highly impressive investigations and reports as business-as-usual.

At times he is forced to raise his ‘voice’ decibel to crashing levels and this forces on him a role which appears like a lord high inquisitor. The impression I get reading the many reports coming from the OCG is that more than a touch of frustration has set in.

Many public servants who mean well are content to do their jobs, do it well and if those who should take off naturally in the further process of nation building do nothing on their part, these public servants are prepared to say, “I did my part. I am satisfied.”

Fortunately, Greg Christie is not of that ilk. He recognises that he is part of a process and that if the next link in the chain of that process fails, then he is, in essence, a failure too.

The office of the DPP, headed by Paula Llewellyn, is in the similar mode to the OCG but I fear that Mr Christie is of the belief that his investigations and reports are gospel — in legal terms. In other words, whenever he, a lawyer, recommends action by the DPP’s office, the only action which will satisfy Christie is prosecution and charges laid.

It is no light matter hauling people before the courts just because the OCG recommends it.

Greg Christie is easily the most committed public servant that this country has ever seen, ever had. He is not, however, content to sit out his investigations and reports, collect his pay package each month then clock out and say, ‘Tomorrow we do the same thing again.’

He wants action in the next part of the process and his impatience is natural. He must recognise that he is not infallible, although one would have to sift real carefully to find faults in his investigations. Zeal and its twin cousin, a deep belief in the purity of one’s own mission, seem to be a natural part of his makeup.

He needs our support rather than condemnation, but he must be very careful that he doesn’t move from lord high inquisitor to chief executioner.

You have our support, Mr Christie but tattered and broken as the system is, the DPP has her role too and it ideally complements your own. You both need to get together one evening, probably many evenings and over a glass or two of wine, and forge a new understanding.

The process of nation building is much more important than a public impression of squabbling within the family.

Nicole has brought pain and misery upon us

IF a roof had a pinhole which never leaked before, it would have after Jamaica was pounded by relentless rain associated with Tropical Storm Nicole.

It was reminiscent of bands associated with Hurricane Flora in 1963, about a month of rains in 1979 (the Newmarket lake, etc) and Hurricane Allen in 1980.

With about two weeks left in the peak of the hurricane season, we are not yet out of the woods, plus we have all of October and November to worry about.

What have we done to deserve this? The religious will be telling those who want to listen that we have fallen short of the ways of the Lord. They will say it is God’s wrath.

To the pragmatist, it is nature at work and nothing else. Many evil people were affected and so were hundreds of good, hard-working people. My farming friends in South St Elizabeth have taken a beating, and so have many others in Hanover, St Thomas, St Catherine, Clarendon and Portland.

Mini lakes have affected some communities in suburban St Andrew, like a section of Sterling Castle and Golden Acres. The roadways, already suffering from deliberate and perennially poor workmanship and third-rate substrate, have taken a battering, and in some sections one would not believe the huge boulders that have rolled onto the roadways.

As I write (Friday morning) there is no water in the pipes and I have been, like so many others, without electric power for about three days.

On Wednesday evening I was forced to give away some thawed out meat from my refrigerator even as I was forced to half-cook other meats by candlelight and kerosene lamp in order to salvage some of them.

The fighting spirit of Jamaicans was obvious once again as neighbours stepped in to assist each other. The death toll is still mounting and we must condole with those who have lost loved ones.

Much has been revealed about the terrible state of our roads and the drainage system. We have lamented on it in the past and we seem doomed to live this past again.

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