THERE is no doubt that we are in the full throes of campaigning for a general election. Amid troubling selection processes, the prime minister and her acolytes have been sounding the trumpet from political platforms, urging their troops in the field to get oil in their lamps in readiness for that great and glorious day. But, while the politicians will prance and pontificate and do all in their power to win or retain State power, all is not well in that “wrong jungle” called Jamaica.

Our health care system is in a parlous state, to put it mildly. A recent audit of the Ministry of Health-managed health facilities revealed what many knew, or were not surprised to know, that we have a broken infrastructure and that the health of the ordinary Jamaican is in a more perilous position than might have been thought. For reasons best known to themselves, the minister and his officials at the ministry have not made the full findings of the report public. As we approach the election, it would undoubtedly be political suicide to do so. Yet, it is the public’s right to know, because it is the health of the population that is placed in serious jeopardy by this lack of information.

Crime is on an upward trajectory as murders have increased throughout the entire country. The police force seems demoralised as we have heard of having committed suicide or have become enemies of the law themselves. The police are poorly paid and the environments in which they have been forced to live and work are substandard and psychologically depressing. Yet they expect the police to work miracles and protect them from criminal networks that have become distinguished by their barbarity and unconscionable assault on the lives and property of citizens.

In the midst of a crumbling social infrastructure, Dr Peter Phillips, as minister of finance, is waging a brave battle to sustain the fiscal and macroeconomic viability of the country. Frankly, his work, that of Ronald Thwaites at the Ministry of Education, and perhaps Wykeham McNeill at the tourism ministry, represent the only glimmer of hope, the only cacti growing in a desert of incompetence and non-performance. Dr Phillips’ best efforts are not without their own sets of problems as the Government cannot pay its bills, the physical and social infrastructure of the country is rotting, and more revenue is being demanded from an already overtaxed population.

The prime minister is largely missing in action and seems to only show up when there is something ceremonial to be done. One wonders why we have a governor general that we are paying handsomely to maintain the last vestiges of an anachronistic Westminster system. She continues to preside over an unwieldy Cabinet of largely “do nothing” ministers. They are only matched in their irrelevance to the lives of ordinary Jamaicans by their political counterparts in the US Congress who, in national assessments of their relevance, fall below cockroaches and haemorrhoids in public sentiments.

In the meantime, the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which by now should have got its groove back, is still fractious and is, frankly, a disservice to the country. Despite all their protestations to the contrary, the party remains divided. With regards to the soon-to-be-announced general election, the party hierarchy has managed — for now — to quell the rising tide of discontent regarding the leadership capabilities of Andrew Holness. There is an underbelly of discontent regarding its selection processes in some constituencies — a problem that also plagues the People’s National Party (PNP). The JLP will present a united front, but no one should doubt that serious problems remain that cannot be papered over for too long.

It will be a battle royal if Holness should bring the party into another major defeat in a national election. All indications are that this may very well be the case. The party is terribly underfunded and has no access to State largesse as the PNP does. No party has honed the skill of directing State assets to gaining political power as the PNP has done and can do. Its bona fides in this regard are well established.

Corporate Jamaica is not in bed with the JLP — as it would if Audley Shaw was the leader of the party. The indefatigable Daryl Vaz, one of the best fund-raisers that the JLP has had, is on the periphery and does not seem motivated to provide any robust support to the party at this time. He seems only vested in winning his own seat.

Lacklustre leadership of any political party cannot generate a winning attitude in tribal political contests. The JLP is not presently constituted to convince the growing number of disenchanted or independent voters to trust it with power. This time around, as it was in the last general election, it will come down to a battle of the tribalists. In any such battle, the PNP, for reasons aforementioned, will win. For even if it does not have scarce benefits and spoils to distribute given the International Monetary Fund strictures; and as much as Phillips will want to hold on to the purse strings, some money will run — for this is “how di ting set”. Expect some discounted oil to flow to the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme; dead spark plugs to be replaced and a general fine-tuning undertaken. Do not expect any political maturity to be shown in this election. The better strategic tribe will again emerge.

In the meantime, what happens to the potent force that the increasing number of Jamaicans who are disenchanted with the political process should represent? Who will be their voice going into the next election? Will they continue to sit on the fence while 31 to 35 per cent of the electorate (the tribalists) put in place a Government to rule over them? Will they organise into a robust civil force to be reckoned with and which will hold whatever party that is elected to more than the proverbial fire? Too often I get the impression that the assorted civil society groups operating in Jamaica are driven by agendas which are not as selfless as the interests of the country would demand. They do not operate as a unified group and Government is able to get away with egregious behaviour because they know that these groups do not have any teeth. They cannot muster a demonstration or other form of civil disobedience that is worth the Government’s time to pay attention.

But things have to change for the good of Jamaica. As I have argued in this space before, we do not require another moribund political party. I will repeat that what we need is a strong civil society grouping that has no agenda other than the productive development of Jamaica. MP Raymond Pryce has recognised the latent possibility of such a grouping, and that is why he is correctly insisting on accountability from these groups. It is a pre-emptive shot across the bow of these groups as the emperor himself must be clothed.

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest and social commentator. Send comments to the Observer or stead6655@aol.com.