IT is coming up to 35 years since the 1980 General Election, when the country was plunged into the most bloody election in its young independent history. It was the period 1976-1980 when the political hardliners successfully experimented with the insidious segregation of the Jamaican people into exclusion zones now called garrison communities.

The People’s National Party (PNP) and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) have not been called upon yet to account for these misdeeds. Meanwhile, the scars continue to deface our nation. The blood of our people have been flowing innocently in our rivers, our streets, and even moreso in the filthy drains of the garrison communities.

We cannot continue to ignore this sordid past and expect to make any meaningful advances in the lives of our people. On the economic front, the murders and mayhem that continue to plague the society prevent overseas investors and our own entrepreneurs from putting in the infrastructure necessary for us to advance economically. The social decay, again especially in the exclusion zones, is palpable and seems destined to forever condemn our people to a life of poverty and destitution.

Over the last 20 years, many very influential people in the society have called for the repentance of the participants through the process of a truth and reconciliation commission. These participants, some of whom still control the commanding heights of the political process, have so far ignored the call of atonement, while the country remains mired in poverty and grows even more destitute.

Indulge me for a moment and see if we can find another path forward: Let’s say some of the most powerful politicians, including Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Opposition Leader Andrew Holness, Omar Davies, Peter Phillips and Desmond McKenzie decide to to give up their constituencies, as they are now constructed (the most powerful garrisons), and give the Electoral Commission a free hand to vastly reduce the number of constituences and redraw the boundaries to reflect a larger number of electors, and more of who mirror the people who have become uncommitted to the electoral process.

We should then have fresh elections with say about 40-45 constituencies, which should include those honourable politicians mentioned earlier and see what a reinvigorated electorate would do in an election that is free and fair and one that is free from fear. It is my humble opinion that this could give us a fresh start and could truly ensure that our parliament consists of truly honourable men and women who would chart a prosperous future that the Jamaican people so desperately seek. It is time to end the PNP and JLP sharing up of power to the detriment of our people.

Party leaders Portia Simpson Miller and Andrew Holness, you both need to know that the people are on a gunpowder keg that can blow up at any time. The people want both of you to lead the country out of the abyss that your own parties have taken us to. It is high time that you both come clean and lay your party’s soul to the Jamaican people and beg for forgiveness for the crime-infested country we are living in. It is time for us as a country to lift our heads high again and recapture the political and economic leadership of the Caribbean. The country begs for both of you to collaborate on this matter urgently and transform the people’s lives.

jamaicanshawn@yahoo.com