Dear Editor,

As people’s frustration with the economic malaise in Jamaica increases and the reality sets in that there is no light at the end of the tunnel as long as we are stuck with the stale JLP and PNP — which have been fiddling with our lives for 50 years — more and more people are crying out for alternatives.

To make matters worse, the old hope that new blood would have entered those clueless parties to bring about change is nothing but a pipe dream, since the powerful and power-hungry are not about to give an inch in the interest of strengthening democracy in the country.

The cry for better alternatives is not new, and many small parties have sprung up over the years, only to fade away after each election. But is it realistic to think that a third party can break the stranglehold that the traditional parties have on us, if all else remains the same? I hardly think so.

The cry for better alternatives is not new, and many small parties have sprung up over the years, only to fade away after each election. But is it realistic to think that a third party can break the stranglehold that the traditional parties have on us, if all else remains the same? I hardly think so.

The first problem is that instead of proportional representation we have the less democratic winner-take-all system, which consistently results in parties getting just over half of the popular vote but ending up with two-thirds of the representatives in Parliament.

So where would that leave a third party that can muster up even 10 per cent of the popular vote? You are perfectly correct — nowhere. While it is true that the Labour party in England did move from third party status, replacing the once dominant Liberal party in the 1920s, the circumstances were totally different, so we can’t take any comfort from what happened there.

I think the greatest obstacle to any third party having an impact in Jamaica is the corruption of the local government system, which is a millstone around the necks of taxpayers but from which we reap no benefits. The fact is, the only entities that benefit from the existence of the almost 300 parish councillors being supported by the public purse are the JLP and PNP.

This is because these councillors are mostly nothing but permanent political fixtures and activists for the two parties. On the other hand, they serve very little purpose to the taxpayers, as their permanent chant is that they have no money to carry out their basic functions. Anyway, most of their traditional functions have long ago been subsumed by central government or taken over by the Constituency Development Fund.

A few years ago, I wrote a critique of this same redundant local government system and a consultant to the ministry replied that local government was critical to the running of the country, especially since its main function is town planning. What a joke! Can someone point me to a well-planned town in Jamaica today?

At one time one could point to Mandeville, but even that town is now nothing but a series of chaka chaka, unplanned and monstrous buildings. Further, residential communities and the roads therein, especially in Kingston, are being devastated daily by illegal commercialisation, with the apparent tacit approval of the KSAC. Anyway, Jamaica is just too small and poor to be having 15 different governments (13 parish councils, Portmore municipal council and Central Government).

That was a very sensible recommendation, but the idea was immediately buried by the politically powerful JLP and PNP as it would have put an end to their having hordes of persons on the ground profiling as representatives of the people when they are nothing but party activists being paid by the overburdened taxpayer.

So now we come back to my main question; how can a third party ever make an impact with the type of machinery that the traditional parties have? It seems that before we see the next plethora of small parties emerging in time to fight the 2016 election, those so minded should ‘tek sleep mark death’ and start from now to lead a campaign to mobilise the hapless and exploited taxpayers in this country to rise up and demand an end to the useless local government system.

We should replace it with three county councils made up of no more than a total of 20 representatives with well-defined duties. The heads of these councils should be independently elected by voters. Of course, it is well known that each new generation likes to reinvent the wheel, so I am only throwing out this suggestion to those of the younger generation of potential politicians or change agents who are not blinded by romanticism.

Joan E Williams

20 Bedford Park Avenue

Kingston 10

gratestj@gmail.com