Former Prime Minister P J Patterson said he is deeply hurt by continual criticisms that he and the People’s National Party (PNP) mismanaged the affairs of Jamaica.

Said Patterson: “I am hurt. I am hurt by the impression which is being given that the governments that I led, and the governments that Portia led did nothing for Jamaica. Yes, the PNP is always judged by higher standards, but if we keep on failing to remind the country of our record of achievements, nothing we tell them will become credible because they will say, ‘You are admitting that you did nothing in your time, so why do you feel we should entrust you? What guarantees you will do better next time?’

“We have a whole catalogue of achievements, not only in infrastructure, but in social programmes. Look at the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH). If we did not have the National Insurance Fund [NIF] in place could we have survived the coronavirus pandemic? (Nationwide News Network, August 3, 2022)

“You can’t make this stuff up,” someone famously said.

Neoliberal fallout

It would be remiss of me not to remind readers of a little history here. Neoliberal economic policies were promoted globally by American President the late Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. Reaganism dictated widespread tax cuts for the rich, reduced social spending, increased military spending, and rapid deregulation and liberalisation of markets. Numerous studies by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, renowned academics, and think tanks have adumbrated the awful global economic impact of ‘too fast, too soon’, deregulation and liberalisation of domestic markets. I need not resurrect the findings here.

I believe one of the tremendously debilitating consequences of too fast, too soon, deregulation and liberalisation here in Jamaica — which started in the 80s but accelerated in the 90s — was the exacerbation of social decline.

The concept ‘I am my brother’s keeper’ is antithetical to unbridled neoliberal policies. As I see it, this school of thought was replaced in large measure by a doctrine of ‘the devil take the hindmost’, meaning everyone should look after his/her own interests minus regard for the fate of others. We are reaping the whirlwind today.

I have consistently argued against the implementation of neoliberal economic policies minus tailoring them to the specific needs of a country. Some among us continue to vociferously argue that the ‘invisible hand of capitalism’ cannot be and should never be moderated or regulated. Leave everything to market forces, they posit. What rubbish! The so-called ‘invisible hand of the market’, left to certain interests, will forever clap in one direction, only.

Of course, deregulation and liberalisation were not purely negative for everyone, everywhere, all the time. The developed economies of the world did experience massive increases in their economic fortunes. Google has faithfully preserved copious evidence of the boom in the economies of our major trading partners during the 80s and 90s.

For example, the American economy flourished during the Reagan years. Today, most Republicans hang onto the Reagan years like a talisman. Reaganism is an open sesame for most Republicans. Reagan’s ideological twin, the late Margaret Thatcher, former British prime minister, guided her country through one of its most buoyant economic periods in the 1980s. Many in the British Conservative Party today view the Thatcher years as the gold standard for economic and ideological success.

Neoliberalism on steroids

As I see it, Jamaica was the poster child of unbridled neoliberal economic policies in our region during the 1990s. The big irony, of course, was that the PNP, a socialist party, with then Prime Minister P J Patterson, a self-professed socialist, held the reins of power.

Former Prime Minister Edward Seaga frequently argued that the Patterson Administration was particularly abysmal at managing the economy because it did not understand the rudiments of capitalism. These figures from the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) show the utter mismanagement during the Patterson years: 1989 (7.0 per cent); 1990 (6.3 per cent); 1991 (0.5 per cent); 1992 (2.7 per cent); 1993 (2.2 per cent); 1994 (1.9 per cent); 1995 (2.5 per cent); 1996 (-0.2 per cent); 1997 (-1.6 per cent); 1998 (-1.0 per cent); 1999 (1.0 per cent); 2000 (0.9 per cent). (Note: The year 1990 enjoyed momentum from the Jamaica Labour Party Administration of Edward Seaga.)

It is a fact that our black entrepreneurial class was almost decimated in the 90s by the cruel high interest rate policies of the Patterson Administration. His finance minister, Dr Omar Davies, I believe, should go down in our political history as the worst, to date. In my view, he had only one distinction as finance minister — he got nearly everything wrong as regard the management of our national purse.

Some may say that assessment is harsh, but what is truly harsh is the absolute devastation visited upon thousands of Jamaicans by the disastrous economic policies pursued during the time of P J Patterson and Dr Omar Davies at the wicket. The decade of the 90s was a period marked by high inflation and joblessness, especially among the youth. Inflation averaged 27.2 per cent per annum over the period 1990-1999, according to Bank of Jamaica figures. While this runaway inflation was wreaking havoc on the lives of ordinary Jamaicans, a small segment of this society made millions dollars ‘investing’ in high interest-bearing government paper. Mega dividends enabled these investors to sip pina colada on the beaches while they gourmandise — caviar and foie gras, for sure — in far-flung places.

Rapid social decline accompanied the economic downturn. I believe a culture of making a quick buck without any consideration for the impact on the majority of ordinary Jamaicans took deep roots in this country during the 90s. Instant gratification was put on steroids. The ‘more man have car, more man have gal’ statement was not a slip of the tongue. I think it encapsulated the values and attitudes which were sown and fertilised as aspirational at the time.

Patterson tried to roll back the hands of the clock with his national values and attitudes programme, but it failed miserably.

Patterson was our sixth and longest serving prime minister and, I believe, our worst.

Stoop to conquer

Last week Monday I heard a news item on radio in which Mark Golding, leader of the Opposition and president of the PNP, played up what he said was unity at 89 Old Hope Road. Golding exclaimed that Norman Manley’s party was ready to take back Jamaica House and “rescue the people of Jamaica”.

He seems to have spoken way too soon, because less than 24 hours after his optimistic gloss a political bomb hit the PNP. The wreckage revealed that the party was anything but united.

Last Tuesday, Lisa Hanna, St Ann South Eastern Member of Parliament (MP), made it public that she was stepping away from representational politics after 15 years at the helm of what was formerly one of the safest seats for the PNP.

Recall that Hanna nearly lost her deposit in the September 3, 2020 General Election. She retained the seat by a mere 31 votes after a recount. Years ago, St Ann South Eastern was guaranteed to deliver 5,000 6.000 margins of victory for the PNP.

Insiders have said publicly that the near impregnability of St Ann South Eastern was whittled away in recent years by internal strife between Hanna and her councillors — in particular, councillor for the Beecher Town Division Ian Bell and councillor for Bensonton Division Lydia Richards.

“The writing was on the wall,” Bell said on a radio programme last Tuesday. He noted that in the last general election he “worked his shirt off” and “the PNP still barely scraped through”.

It is an open secret that, particularly in the last eight years, infighting and backstabbing were the political modus operandi in St Ann South Eastern.

Consider this: Hanna’s stewardship in St Ann South Eastern was marked by frayed relations, haemorrhaging support from party functionaries and stoking rebellion.

Those tensions came to a boil with three of her four municipal councillors quitting ahead of the February 2016 General Election, with the MP described as uncooperative and lacking appreciation of local politics.

That conflict was pronounced in the resistance by Richards, who led a revolt to oust Hanna as MP.

“We are going to fight to the end,” Richards had said in 2016.

“A mistake was made and we are correcting it.” (The Gleaner, August 10, 2022)

I believe Hanna’s announcement of a departure from representational politics can be interpreted in a number of ways.

Firstly, the lacerations caused by acrimony between the RiseUnited and the OnePNP factions of the party are still wide open. Over the last many months the PNP has tried hard to present optics of a united organisation. However, those who keep a close watch of the twirling of the political tea leaves realise that it’s all a sham, as we say in local politics.

In previous articles I have pointed out that the PNP is divided in unison. I have been proved right.

Portions of Hanna’s departure letter shows palpable discontent with the so-called reform and rebranding measures of the PNP since its back-to-back general election defeat.

Consider this: “However, for any organisation to survive and be relevant to successive global environments and markets, it must be responsive and change with the times, seeking modern approaches to getting things done… I have no doubt, Party Leader, that once the PNP can recalibrate its approaches to reignite and reinforce these core tenets within the minds and hearts of Jamaicans to inspire their imaginations and aspire towards better future, our party will form next Government.”

I believe this is a direct swipe at Golding’s Leadership of the 84-year-old PNP and its readiness’ to take over the reins at Jamaica House. Hanna is no political fool. She is wiser than many think. I believe Hanna realises that the victory train for the next election has already departed and the PNP and Golding have not bought a ticket.

Just over a year ago I noted, among other things, in this space: “The birds shriek that a challenge to PNP President Mark Golding will come if he loses or fails to achieve at least a decent draw in the upcoming parish council elections. The birds chirp that Golding has climbed down from his high horse since the resignations of the PNP’s five top executives last week. They tweet, among other things, that the resignations were designed to remind Golding that there is Superman, and there is also kryptonite.” (Jamaica Observer, July 25, 2021)

Hanna’s departure is another kryptonite reminder.

She recently accompanied Golding on a tour of the Diaspora. The Bananaquits, John Chewits and Black-bellied Plovers warble that the tour flopped big time. I believe Hanna, as an astute communicator who is very knowledgeable about semiotics and cultural messaging, would have taken certain critical political cues from Golding’s failed excursion and prior failures. I think she has done the political mathematics and has decided to jump ship now, rather than go down with Golding and his band of bumblers.

Recall that weeks after Dr Peter Phillips became Opposition leader and president of the PNP I predicted that he would be the first leader of one of our two major political parties not to become prime minister. I was proved right. Last year I said in this space that Mark Golding would become the second leader of one of two major political parties not to become prime minister. I stand by that.

In early February I said in this space that Golding was “a throwback to an unusable past”. I stand by that too.

Golding’s embrace of Manley-styled democratic socialism shows that he is trying to impose tools that were fashioned in the 19th century on today’s Jamaica. The findings of several recent scientific polls pinpoint a harsh reality the PNP cannot escape. The party is effectively carrying Golding on its back. In our representational politics, the leader carries the party, not the reverse.

I believe Hanna will be back, maybe sooner than many think. The fact that she indicated her departure nearly three years before another general election is a strategic political move.

Who else has a national presence and could lead the PNP were Golding to leave the political helm? Certainly not Peter Bunting, or any of the four individuals gunning for vice-presidential posts. And I don’t see a credible dark horse, either.

Garfield Higgins is an educator, journalist and a senior advisor to the minister of education & youth. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or higgins160@yahoo.com.