Weeks before the announcement of the December elections, the Observer published a story in which it stated that, following on the troubling extradition of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, more extraditions were imminent, and that those involved were parliamentarians/businessmen.

We know the rumours and we’ve heard the names. After the Observer story broke, it was my belief that early/December elections would have to be pushed out of the picture because the matter would ruin any hope the JLP had of winning the elections, and it had until the end of 2012 before elections were due.

When I spoke with the Observer writer he confirmed the story by saying, ‘My sources are solid.’

The ‘imminent’ extraditions did not come, elections were held and the JLP was demolished at the polls.

Taking a step back, many were the reasons given for the sudden resignation of former Prime Minister Bruce Golding. Most people simply did not believe his stated reasons, among them that the Dudus extradition matter had taken its toll on him. The opinion which gained the most traction in the public domain was that he was ‘pushed’, meaning, the Americans ‘had a talk with him’ and made him an offer which he could not refuse.

The delays in the sentencing of Coke in New York could be linked to ‘unfinished business’ taking place out of the earshot of the general public in which secretive deals are being made, evidence against others firmed up and all parties heading to a signing off of a bargain somewhat suitable to them behind those closed doors.

It is my understanding that it was due to the ‘benevolence’ of US diplomatic personnel in Jamaica why those planned 2011 extraditions did not proceed as planned. As one source said, ‘The Americans did not want to make it appear as if they were interfering in or influencing our electoral exercise.’

So, what are we to make of 2012 and those extraditions? It is my understanding that they are in the green zone now. At some stage names would have to be called, and many of us had surmised that those names would have to be big fish in our small pond. Two of the individuals are businessmen and only one of them is a parliamentarian. The other is an ‘also ran’. More troubling is the sense I’ve been getting that at least one other ex-parliamentarian may be in the trigger hairs of the American authorities.

Dudus is a young man, in his mid-40s, and, given a chance at say eight years instead of 20 and spending the rest of his life after prison in obscurity in some mid-western US state, but comfortable and alive, he would, I should think, opt for a plea.

Should these extraditions be made, it will remove any faith we had left in our political system and especially, the JLP. Additionally, it will not endear us to politicians whose words are too much at odds with their infernal connections.

Too many of us have accepted that many of our politicians are scamps who have used the political process to enrich themselves or provide them with the perfect cover — power — to hide their misdeeds and criminal connections. In fact, this stems from our general belief that this is a tough country to survive in and in a perverse way, we admire those who use the illegalities at the sub-cultural level to propel themselves to wealth and opulence. The pursuit of politics in this process merits even more admiration, sadly so.

If two individuals attached to the JLP should find themselves headed to the USA in shackles, it will not necessarily be a happy day for us as many may wish to define it. In real terms, it will mean that we have been proven incapable of policing ourselves and have chosen, lauded and elevated the wrong people for too long. On the plus side, it will begin the process of forcing us to bring added reform to the politics, especially in the selection of political candidates.

The JLP would be well advised to use this time in the wilderness to deal with its core beliefs and to bring into its ranks only those who meet the highest standards in pursuing those beliefs. It will not happen overnight because largely, our society is ailing and there are just too many sick patients in the waiting room, lining up to join a political party.

As security minister in the last PNP administration and general trouble shooter during his time in the PNP Cabinet, Dr Peter Phillips’ signing of those now famous MOUs in 2004 has made him the darling of the USA. His prominence was rewarded even before the elections by him being named shadow spokesperson for finance and planning.

With a tough budget looming, he is the ideal man to carry that burden to the people as the global economy balances precariously on the likelihood of the European Union states heading into a prolonged recession.

With Dr Phillips in a key spot in the PNP administration, the USA has pretty much got what it desired, a Government willing to co-operate. It is my belief that the Government will not want its plate cluttered with a painful budget in April and extraditions of key JLP persons. But then again, that could be the circus the PNP would need to soothe the pain of an ultra tight budget.

The delicate question of colour

The young man was incensed.

He was a newspaper vendor and had finished selling for the day. I had spoken to him before and had detected in him a high level of intelligence.

We were in a small shop. He asked the proprietor for the newspaper, to show me something that he said was disturbing to him. When the newspaper arrived he opened it to the ‘offending’ page. Two pages actually.

It was a pictorial on a marriage. “Missa Wignall,” he said. “This look like Jamaica?”

It was a spread of Jamaican guests and some foreigners, I presumed at a wedding in Jamaica. There was only one black face in the picture. In the delicacy of the moment I said, as if I did not know, “So, what really is it that you do not like about the picture?”

“Dem too white in a Jamaican newspaper. And this is in Jamaica.” The discussion was joined by others who all agreed that ‘society people’, meaning those with pale complexions “nuh have nutten fi do wid wi”. I remained silent for a while as the paper was passed around.

These were poor young men, black-skinned men who admitted that they had voted PNP in the December 29 election. As the discussion gathered steam it was obvious to me that the ‘browning’ of the JLP had been a factor in the vote but, more importantly, it was tied to a belief by the young men that the JLP and their ‘society’ friends had hogged all for themselves.

After the December 29 elections I sat with a member of G2K and he said, almost as if he was reluctant to get it out, “Mark, we are going to have to seriously look at the face of the JLP and this ‘browning’ issue.”

I had, of course, heard the colour argument before the elections, but it was expressed mostly in muted tones and oftentimes coded with the ‘society people’ description. After the elections most of them felt emboldened, as Jamaicans usually are, to vent. One young man said to me, “Yu si like how Seaga was boss a di JLP and him did get prime minister. Jamaica wi neva elect a white man again!”

As I listened to the argument and contributed in delicate and not-so-delicate tones and terms, it occurred to me that the men were by no means expressing a racist position. What was obvious was that they had all come to the conclusion that light-skinned ‘society people’ had surrounded the JLP and the goodies were all shared up at the top. According to them, in a black country, more people with black skins needed to be at the top of the society.

One captured it perfectly, “Mi nuh have nutten ‘gainst a white man in Jamaica have nuff money an position, but wi fi get some a it too.”

In recent times we have seen an entertainment icon, Vybz Kartel, fall rapidly from grace, and it is not only because of the heinous accusations he is now facing while locked up. Much of it comes from his insistence on bleaching his skin. To me this is a complex social contradiction.

Many women and men are still bleaching their skins while, strangely, at another level, poor black-skinned Jamaicans, the vast majority, have frowned on the practice.

In the 1980s Seaga, a white Jamaican, was rated by the public for having managerial skills and the ability to talk to the Americans and seek needed funding. At the heart of this was that Seaga had the right ‘social contacts’ to get American money for Jamaica.

Jamaicans of all colour and shades live quite well with each other. The problem which afflicted the JLP was not so much its ‘brown-ness’ but its arrogance and ‘hogging it all’, which merely showed up its true colour.

If JEEP is to leave the parking lot

With Finance Minister Peter Phillips sending us clear signals that the 2012/2013 budget will be a tough one, people are anxious to hear more about JEEP — the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme first proposed by the PNP president at the PNP conference last September.

The operative word in the acronym is ‘Emergency’, meaning that even if JEEP leaves the showroom, at some stage thereafter it will be due to return to the showroom for display purposes only.

The simple fact is that even if JEEP finds ignition, it will not be sustainable for any lengthy period. In the 1970s when the PNP launched the Impact Programme, called ‘crash programme’ by all, most of the work was shirked, that is, men and women were seen all over the island leaning on brooms, knowing that at the end of the week they would be collecting their minimum wage, which was then in the region of $26.50 per week. As a result, at the macro level, it added nothing in real terms to the economy.

To the poorest and most vulnerable, it provided food on the table, although at another level it was riddled with corruption.

In 1977 there was a big bar in King’s Plaza named Club International. One day I walked in and saw him for the first time. A well-known enforcer for the PNP, seated at the bar along with a dreadlocked young man. On the bar in front of them were dozens of miniature Johnnie Walker Black whisky.

Against the walls were about four other young men, all dreadlocked and all unsmiling and oozing badness. As I learned later, they were all part of his ‘security detail’.

The enforcer was boasting loudly about how many places and sites he had visited and the number of cheques he had collected. Many of the cheques were Impact Programme money, meaning he was registered in numerous names. That I eventually got to know him, to sit with him and drink Remy Martin is immaterial. What was obvious was that the crash programme was riddled with corruption.

In Carl Stone’s 1982 book, The Political Opinions of the Jamaican People (1976-1981), it is stated in one part, ‘The present PNP Government has ambitiously attempted more new policy initiatives, covering a wider range of areas, than any other Government in the Jamaican history of public administration. Some have achieved success while others have been failures…’

In one poll, March 1979, he asked the question, ‘Are there any policies this Government has carried out which you think have benefited the country? If yes, which?

Land Reform and Aid to farmers…………..22.5%

Free education …………………………….. 19.9%

JAMAL ………………………………………..19.3%

Housing ………………………………………16.6%

Impact Programme ……………………… 9.1%

Minimum Wage……………………………. 7.2%

As can be seen, the Impact Programme was number five and was bested by assistance to farmers, free education, the adult literacy programme, JAMAL, and the PNP’s housing push.

In formulating JEEP, the PNP will have basically two factors staring it in the face and both will be of high import. One will be the funds available and two will be the numbers of unemployed needing the programme.

The politicians could start from the fund availability end and say, for example, we have identified $5 billion per year for the next three years. When that is exhausted, so is the emergency work. Creative thinking will have to accompany the formulation of the programme, and the staggering of work is but one approach.

In terms of sheer numbers, as I’ve said in my last column and on a radio programme, even if the programme could cover 100,000 people, that will only work out to 1,600 people per constituency, a small percentage of those needing the intervention.

One hundred thousand people at minimum wage would work out to about half-a-billion dollars weekly! That’s about $26 billion per year, an impossibility by any stretch, JDIP or no.

Mosquito menace in Washington Gardens

A losing JLP MP told me recently that when a particular programme aimed at mosquito control was attempted just prior to the elections, people in the ‘system’ sent back the request and told the political directorate that it needed parliamentary approval.

“It was a perfect example of how the civil service could stymie the political directorate. Imagine, just to spray mosquitoes, they slowed us down,” he said.

One hopes that that process will not attend the matter plaguing the residents of Washington Gardens and environs who have told me that they have grown sick and tired of calling the Ministry of Health about the mosquito problem there.

“The mosquitoes are killing us,” said one resident to me. “Luckily there are no infants in my house but I can imagine that those houses with infants must be meeting hell.”

One suspects that the pests are being generated from areas close to the dump site at Riverton City and on that basis, Cooreville, New Haven and Duhaney Park ought to be similarly affected.

The authorities will be well advised to take heed and act with dispatch.

observemark@gmail.com