I understand the ire of individuals who bellow, “A plague on the houses” of former prime ministers P J Patterson and Bruce Golding, as well as former People’s National Party (PNP) president and Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips.

In recent weeks, Messrs Patterson, Golding and Dr Phillips have been baring their political souls via traditional media. Patterson expressed regret that Jamaica did not become a republic during his long stint at Jamaica House. Golding said he was sorry for how the hiring of Manatt, Phelps and Phillips was treated but “will go to my grave” defending resistance to Christopher “Dudus” Coke’s extradition. And Dr Phillips, while addressing acolytes in his St Andrew East Central constituency last Sunday, expressed deep disappointment at the slow pace of social progress made in Jamaica over the last 50 years.

“Oh, the scale dem, all of ah sudden, ah drop from dem yeye now,” said an irate caller on a radio programme last week.

I understand the wrath, because Patterson, Golding and Phillips had the power to address the multiples ills facing Jamaica and did not.

Patterson became a legislator in the 1970s. He was appointed minister of industry, trade and tourism in 1972. He served as deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, 1978-1980; deputy prime minister and minister of development, planning and production, 1989-1990; and deputy prime minister and minister of finance and planning, 1990-1991. He was appointed prime minister of Jamaica in March 1992 following his election as president of the PNP on the retirement of former party president Prime Minister Michael Manley. He was returned to office following the general election of 1993. Patterson was sworn in for a fourth consecutive terms of office, after he led the PNP to victory in general elections.

Except for the period between late October 1980 and early February 1989, Patterson was a legislator and a very senior one at that. Recall he was defeated in the 1980 General Election by the late Euphema Williams, a schoolteacher who later became a parliamentary secretary. Williams won the then Westmoreland South Eastern constituency by 1,055 votes for the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

So, Patterson sat in our Parliament as a senior legislator for just under 30 years. I do not think any reasonable person can argue the he did not have enough time to make Jamaica a republic.

Recently sections of the media reported that Patterson had decried the rampant and rapidly spreading social decay in our country. Last Sunday I pointed out in this space that the social degradation which is now threatening to destroy us did not start in 2016. It did not start in 1972 either. Social decay has been metastasising for decades. It accelerated in the 1990s when the then Patterson Administration embraced unbridled neoliberal economic policies.

I noted, among other things: “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.” (Jamaica Observer, August 7, 2022)

I think the folks who are piling fire and brimstone on Patterson’s retrospective regrets are more than justified in their indignation and fury. Patterson, like Michael Manley, had a glorious opportunity to make paradigm shifts. He did not. Those, including me, who say his regrets, now in the late evening of his political career, ring hallow cannot be reasonably chastised. I believe Mr Patterson’s lament about massive social decay and Jamaica not becoming a republic sounds like a back-handed admission of rank failure on his part.

I do not agree, however, with those who shout that Patterson should remain silent and simply collect his very handsome pension, which before his retirement had been pegged to that of the current prime minister. I believe Patterson should continue to bare his political soul since doing so can help us avoid a repeat of, especially, his great failures on the economy, which I discussed last Sunday.

The Golding years

I believe Bruce Golding could have been prime minister today were it not for the Christopher “Dudus” Coke’s affair. Golding was appointed a legislator in 1972. He was elected the youngest Member of Parliament in the 1972 General Election at age 24. In 1974, Golding was elected general secretary of the JLP. He was not re-elected as Member of Parliament for the St Catherine Western seat in the disputed 1976 General Election which was held during the sordid state of emergency which lasted for almost a year. Then Prime Minister Michael Manley told Parliament that the state of emergency which had been declared on June 19, 1976 was to quell “new and unique types of violence” (Hansard).

Recall that several key JLP candidates, including Pearnel Charles Sr and Olivia “Babsy” Grange had been detained. Several JLP campaign managers and dozens of affiliates had also been arrested — some later released without charge after the general election, which the PNP, of course, won handsomely.

In 1977 Golding was also appointed to the Upper House. He, as an astute political strategist, played a pivotal role in the Edward Seaga-led landslide defeat of the PNP on October 30, 1980. Golding was elected Member of Parliament for the then St Catherine South Central seat in 1983 and was also re-elected in 1989 and 1993, each time with a bigger margin. He served as the minister of construction in the Seaga Cabinet of the 1980s.

In the mid-90s Golding and the JLP separated. He became the first president of the National Democratic Movement (NDM), which came about partly as a direct consequence of the failure of the JLP to reimagine and rebrand itself after the February 1989 defeat by Michael Manley and years of fractious leadership by Edward Seaga.

Golding returned to the JLP in September 2002 and was appointed senator and named shadow minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade. In February 2005 he was elected chairman of the party and, in April of the same year, was elected Member of Parliament for the constituency of Kingston Western, as well as leader of the Opposition. Golding contested the general election of 2007 as leader of the JLP. That year the JLP won one of the closest elections in Jamaica since full universal adult suffrage in 1944. In September 2007 Golding took the oath of office of prime minister of Jamaica.

The internationally respected The Economist, on October 1, 2011, in an article titled ‘Golding goes: The political price of an extradition’, noted, among other things: “On the face of things, the announcement on September 25 by Bruce Golding that he plans to step down as Jamaica’s prime minister in November is both a surprise and a puzzle. Golding has his critics, but there was no huge pressure on him to resign.

“No powerful opponents within the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) have openly challenged him. And, sometimes almost despite himself, he has been Jamaica’s most successful leader in decades.

“Golding narrowly won an election in 2007, ending 18 years in Opposition for the JLP.

“His Government restructured the country’s debt and reached an agreement with the [International Monetary Fund] IMF, shoring up the economy amid the global financial turmoil. Jamaica is the only English-speaking Caribbean island where tourist numbers have kept on growing.”

I believe Golding squandered a great opportunity to become our best prime minister. As prime minister, Golding started brilliantly with the reform of the economy, establishment of the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), free access to basic health care, and numerous pieces of legislation which have all helped to improve the lives and livelihoods of thousands of Jamaicans. But, then he dropped the ball in August 2009 regarding the matter of the extradition of Christopher “Dudus” Coke.

Bruce Golding was a legislator for roughly 22 years. Compared to Patterson’s 42, the mathematics is obvious. Nevertheless, I believe he could have done more to correct many other critical long-standing issues that continue to retard the potential of ordinary Jamaicans, like those pertinent to the reform of education, for example, which he recently decried.

Peter’s leg

Dr Peter Phillips presided over one of the most bitter and contentious periods in the history of the PNP.

He officially joined the PNP in 1989 and once told the country that his political umbilical cord was tied to 89 Old Hope Road:

“I have worked all my adult life in the PNP. I have PNP antecedents, as my grandfather was a councillor in the Bellefield Division in Manchester, and my father was influenced by his father as well. I have served in four ministries in Jamaica, and I have done well, albeit not without some problems.” (The Gleaner, December 18, 2016)

Since 1989 Phillips has held a series of high-level posts in the PNP. He became a Member of Parliament in 1994 and, under former prime ministers P J Patterson and Portia Simpson Miller, he held senior Cabinet posts. Between 1995 and 1997 Phillips was the minister of health. He was transport and works minister from 1998 to October 2001. He was the minister of national security from 2001-2005. And from 2011 to February 25, 2016 he was the minister of finance and de facto prime minister.

Dr Phillips has been a legislator for approximately 28 years.

With respect to infrastructure, St Andrew East Central, for which he is the Member of Parliament, is one of the worst in the country.

Those who parrot that Phillips has not had enough time to address the glaring deficits in basic housing in his constituency, for example, are either lunatics or liars. If people don’t have decent housing, running water and other basic amenities, it does not take rocket science to figure that their social relations will be divisive and living conditions squalid. High rates of crime and violence follow as night after day.

Last Sunday, while addressing supporters in his St Andrew East Central constituency, Phillips bemoaned Jamaica’s lacklustre progress with respect to economic growth, educational advancement, social mobility, and security over the last 50 years. Was this a Damascus moment or just ‘politricks’ of the worst kind? Whichever side you pick, the fact is, Dr Phillips, like Patterson and Golding, has done some good which continues to benefit hundreds of ordinary Jamaicans.

For example, a seismic shift was made in public transportation in the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR) in the late 1990s with the creation of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company Limited (JUTC). All administrations have sensibly improved on the system subsequently. Before the advent of the JUTC, what existed in the KMTR for public transportation was a disaster. As transport minister, Dr Peter Phillips actually did the heavy lifting during the P J Patterson Administration of the 90s, which has resulted in a relatively decent public transportation system in KMTR and Montego Bay, St James.

From 2011-2016, Dr Phillips delivered what I consider his most valuable contribution to national development. His continuation and augmentation of the economic reforms started by the Bruce Golding Administration with Audley Shaw as finance minister has made the country a better place for all Jamaicans. I am not surprised that Phillips is proudly protecting that legacy with every sinew.

Recently, he spoke out against the hugely imprudent suggestion of PNP president and Opposition Leader Mark Golding, who wants the country to go on a $40-billion spending spree. Said Dr Phillips: “We need a similar prohibition on debt build-up and on high inflation, which ravages the poorest. I think it is very important that we continue to manage our debt downwards and that our biggest bequest we could give to future generations is low debt as a country, that would enable the march of social transformation.”

P J Patterson, Bruce Golding and Dr Peter Phillips should be encouraged to continue to bare their political souls. It benefits Jamaica.

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.