Dear Editor,

The committee set up to review the People’s National Party’s defeat at the polls should be as broad-based as possible, and its members unfettered. The evaluation should also encompass how the party intends to treat with the body of emerging findings which emanates and over what time period. This is serious business!

Bear in mind that all that the population is interested in at this stage is how the findings will be applied so as to engender radical change.

A deep look at elements of the “gravy train politics” affecting both parties will be instructive. Among them the hill roads in St Andrew East Rural, an area which largely sits on a seismic fault line and has great propensity for soil movement; and lack of adaptation for asphaltic concrete as the material of choice seems to conveniently miss the eyes of all those in this age-old party. It was only since Imani Duncan- Price, in vying for the seat there, recently pointed out that she was going to change what is a wanton waste of money on those repetitive road projects.

Further, evaluations of this type will be useless unless it sets out to determine not only what went wrong on the part of the ruling party, but also to take on board what went so right with the Jamaica Labour Party and why.

I propose that much time be spent looking at the election “promise syndrome” and how failed promises, this time around, negatively affected the psyche and morale of our people. If there is any correlation between unkept promises and corruption, then the committee must make recommendation to address this.

Notwithstanding what the political pollsters have said, the voting mass was totally unconcerned with Andrew Holness’s house. This review committee can’t follow suit in this regard, because even though matters of this kind may not feature prominently with the man in the street, those looking into the matter should have the fortitude to set the bar high if ever the party is to have any chance at regaining its appeal to the voting mass. More surprises are bound to come.

In closing, no mistake should be made about the significance and timing of those two recent mass rallies in Half-Way-Tree aided by the religious in Jamaica. The clergy in Jamaica has a powerful voice and strong followership. Simply put, in all respects where there is “writing is on the wall”, or line drawn in the sand, then this party cannot afford to misread them.

Derrick D Simon

derrickdsimon@yahoo.com