Dear Editor,

The following is an open letter to the prime minister, members of the Cabinet and my tribal Jamaica Labour Party friends:

After enduring a cacophony of crazed commentary to cover corrupt practices — both proven and alleged — followed by severely botched reputation management in public discourse surrounding these events, I have been moved to share this spontaneous overflow of my heart as a patriotic Jamaican.

Let’s be abundantly clear and completely honest: In 2016 the People’s National Party (PNP) was voted out of power fair and square because Jamaican people were fed up with what they were not getting, and because they had become sick and weary with a motley menu of misdeeds and little remorse or regard for how these made us feel.

The people of Jamaica voted to return the Jamaica Labour Party to power because a majority of those who actually exercised the precious franchise were seduced by the promise of prosperity, the posturing on transparency, and your party leader’s energetic and clean image.

In light of recent events, please, we do not want it to appear as if we have no right to demand accountability, because now that you have another chance to make a difference your standard of propriety has suddenly become that of the very party that already paid the price of its misdeeds and miscalculations.

Listen, Prime Minister, a significant part of the Jamaican populace also gave the PNP enough votes to constitute Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. They can talk, they should talk because they have been elected to talk. You, on the other hand, are empowered to act. Action speaks louder than words. Shut up and show us what good governance looks like. Your job is to rise way above the PNP’s record and demonstrate why we, the people, deserve your trust and did not err in electing you to govern our affairs.

We are not interested in a race to the bottom of a pit to figure out who is less foul and corrupt. We need a Government to earn our trust, not rehash sordid history that we want to put behind us.

Every Jamaican of good conscience wants its Government to do well, not to benchmark against what has already been exposed and rejected.

Many of us are non-partisan and vote our conscience. Most have got sick and tired and no longer participate, which is how we can have a Government elected by less than 30 per cent of the eligible electorate while interest continues to wane daily.

Give us a reason to believe that you deserve even that token privilege. We are more interested in what you will do, now that you have the chance than what the PNP did to lose our confidence.

Just for the record, like many of my family members and closest friends, I always vote, but only on the basis of who is closer to my ideal at the time of polling, not by pre-set notions. Tone deaf tribalists are a dying breed.

There is still time to turn things around. Just do it, for God’s sake, and stop the rubbish! Please and thanks.

GM

Non-partisan patriot