Dear Editor,

Democracy literally means rule by the people. The elected Government has a social contract to maximise the welfare of the people, that is, to ensure that conditions are right for them to flourish. And the people, in this social contract, are expected to obey the laws.

In Jamaica it seems like anything but this occurs. In our last general election only 37 per cent of the electorate bothered to vote. A fraction of that goes to the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and a smaller portion goes to the People’s National Party (PNP). The majority, 63 per cent, chose to abstain.

Therefore, if the majority rules in a democracy, this less than 50 per cent turnout brings the legitimacy of both parties into question as it is a minority Government and minority Opposition.

It has become clear during their campaign rallies that they have little in the way of plans or solutions to offer to Jamaica as majority of their rallies seems to be focused on throwing blame at the opposing side while posturing to their party bases. Sometimes they dismiss legitimate critics altogether and simply cast them off as a member of the opposing side.

Is the UN term “flawed democracy” just limited to states where one party and one leader secures power back to back, or should it be expanded to minority governments elected primarily by their party members?

It is evident that the Government of Jamaica is no longer in control as criminals challenge the Government and law-abiding citizens by demanding extortion money and other tributes, lest we get kicked to the ground and murdered. In response, instead of going after the Mr Bigs who supply these criminals with guns, drugs, and money, we go after their foot soldiers and use unconstitutional measures to tackle crime, such as states of emergency, rather than the more effective zones of special operations, for example.

Many people criticise the human rights groups for defending criminals, but how can we trust Government and Opposition members who have been accused of creating the political tribalism that caused the upheavals of the 1970s and 1980s?

In my opinion, a fair majority of Jamaicans do not trust the Government and the police force to maintain their mandates to keep citizens safe.

After taking these indicators into account, we ought not to be asking: Is Vision 2030 attainable? The real question is: Will Jamaica remain politically stable until 2030? Because it seems to me that we are past the point of no return, and all it takes to foster full-blown anarchy, the likes of Haiti and Somalia, is one bad economic crisis, similar to that which occured in the 1990s, unless there are strong reforms in government and governance; increased investigative ability to go after criminal kingpins; a halt put to cross-border movement of criminals; and implemention of controls over government members to reduce the opportunities for corruption, such as an Impeachment Act and full separation of the executive and legislative, to start.

Marcus White

whitemarc918@gmail.com