Nobody wins the political game
Dear Editor,
Andrew Holness made one particular solemn promise to the people of Jamaica before the last general election — fixed date for elections. That promise has not been kept.
When there is no fixed date for an election, the prime minister calls an election when he thinks his/her party has the best chance of winning and the other party is at its weakest. That will be the situation with the PNP after the turmoil on September 8, 2019.
The People’s National Party (PNP) seems to be losing it, and there is no elder in the party to call the members privately and tell them some straight facts.
Now, look at the current situation: The PNP on the verge of imploding and the two Peters (Bunting and Phillips) are now PNP adversaries, dividing the party when it should be united, giving the Andrew Holness-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) a gift horse.
Already the nastiness is emerging, and I am sure there will be more to come as the power-hungry people take advantage of Bunting’s grand announcement and he begins to spend his money.
It is such a pity that the National Democratic Movement (NDM), with all its wonderful policies, has all but fizzled out. Some of the ideas were to have fixed date for elections; open and clean government; making the police service independent of political control; giving the police officers the needed salary, personnel and management support; ending garrison politics; and fixing early childhood education. These were among the host of new and different policy areas now being neglected and ignored by the Holness Government.
Does anyone in the PNP really believe that after the September 8, 2019 contest Prime Minister Andrew Holness is going to wait for a weak and lacklustre PNP to get back to being a real challenge again?
It’s just Jamaica that suffers because the NDM, just awaking from life support, will not be able to present our wonderful products to a most needy Jamaican electorate.
Prepare, Jamaica, there’s going to be more of the same and prosperity for the few.
Michael Chamunda Williams
michaelchamunda@yahoo.com