Comrades accuse PNP of not doing enough for Jamaicans
Hardcore supporters of the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) went to the Jamaica Conference in downtown Kingston yesterday, baring their souls in a reasoning session during which they accused the party of failing the people of Jamaica miserably and stated that it had deviated from its core principle of democratic socialism to become a capitalist movement.
During the frank and highly emotive forum dubbed ‘Comrades Grassroot Reasoning’, the party was also criticised for neglecting the elderly and was said to be operated by “a few well-connected individuals” who are allowed to make the decisions.
“The PNP should admit that we have become a capitalist party that is trying to be a better capitalist Government than the Jamaica Labour Party,” Orville Silvera said. “We refuse to even mention the word capitalism in our state right now because we are all aspiring to be the next capitalist; that is what is happening to the current membership of the PNP and its leadership.”
Silvera, who generated continuous cheers from the small gathering, argued that the party was not offering the kind of support that it should to its supporters.
“My kids will look at me and say ‘How have you benefited from being a PNP all your life?’” he said.
“I am 60-something and I am being told that at my age, we are dinosaurs to be put out to pasture. Now… if I had benefited and my life now stands to show, then my kids will automatically follow me and be PNP,” he said.
But Silvera said that people are unable to see the advantages of being supporters and as such, they are still asking the question, especially when they see their relatives, some of whom are unable to walk, still trying make the effort to go out and vote.
“What has the PNP put in place for the elderly?” he asked, “and we not talking about NIS (National Insurance Scheme) and PATH (Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education), I am talking about policies.
“We speak of creating a middle class, we speak of ensuring that kids get good primary education, but after we past the millennial we forget about the people outside of NIS,” he charged.
According to him, it is hard for the youth to differentiate between the PNP and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) today. However, he said the PNP, unlike the JLP, does not make “on-the-run” promises and has always come up with well-thought-out plans such as free education and the decriminalisation of ganja.
Former member of parliament Victor Cummings in his input, which was very passionate and heartfelt, said that the PNP has lost its direction and needs to get back to the basics.
“We were about families who took care of each other, but what it has become is a party that is focused on egos and ambitions. I see a sign (saying) ‘The PNP belongs to us.’ No! It belongs to a few well-connected individuals,” he said. “A few who believe that it is about suss and carrying news, and then we have our people in leadership, because somebody don’t like this person and bring news against them I am going to pay attention…”
This, he said, has resulted in a number of “good comrades” withdrawing their candidacies.
“Because of the few that now own the party, who sit down and drink their rum and eat their pork on a Friday night and play dominoes because they are ministers or they are well-connected, is them making the decisions,” Cummings said to cheers.
Marvin Clarke, a member of the party’s youth arm, said that the PNP, despite its rich history of moving Jamaica and the people of Jamaica forward, has not done enough for the people of the country.
Additionally, he said that the party’s agenda needs to incorporate the youth so that they can identify with the party and not see the party as a relic.
“When I speak to the millennial of this country, the young people, what they see is a party that they go into the museum and look at because what we represent is something that they cannot identify with because of when, where, and how it happen,” Clarke said.
“The disconnect that we have had over the years with Government and party is something that we need to look at because somehow, when we are in Government we forget our fundamentals, and if you speak to the stalwarts, those who go into inner cities, who move barriers out of roads, who carry out cripples in the 1970s, if you ask them who we are now they will tell you they don’t know,” he said.
He added: “There is this a huge disconnect because of political expediency. We have become a political machinery, full stop. We no longer think to improve and educate our young people and we have to face the facts that most of our young people today are thinking about their future and how they can achieve their dreams and aspirations.”
Clarke added further: “While it is all good and well that Michael Manley and our forefathers did a lot for our country, the reality is that in the last 25 to 30 years we have not really done enough socially to improve the lives of our people.”
Shoulton Brown, chairman of New Foundation, the group that hosted the event, said it was held to give the “average man” a voice to speak about issues affecting the party, especially in light of its loss to the JLP in the February 25 General Election.
The attendees were asked to address two questions: ‘The PNP, who are and what are we?’ and ‘Have we been true to our cause?’
However, they were informed that they would not be allowed to engage in a “post-mortem of the election”, and for the most part, stuck to that rule.