Dear Editor,

In any democratic country where the Government constantly blames the Opposition for its failure to deliver on its mandate that Government is admitting to its own failures and may have outlived its usefulness and relevance.

I speak specifically of the Andrew Holness-led Government which has been in power for 11 of last 15 years and quite pointedly for the last six years.

I have noticed that certain narratives are being circulated in public spaces by ministers of Government, including the prime minister, that previous People’s National Party (PNP) administrations must be blamed for the Government’s inability to carry out its mandate to improve the quality of life of the people. This is so far from the truth and disingenuous to say the least.

Incumbency matters, and the people who voted gave the Government a resounding mandate based on the commitments it made to the people. Now, because of misplaced fiscal priorities and lack of vision, it is unable to fulfil its mandate. You can fool some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. The birds are coming home to roost and the Government is boxed between a rock and a hard place as the people demand that it governs for the betterment of all and not just a few who are connected.

The genesis of the Government’s problem is their own dismal performance as a Government between 2007 and 2011, whereby, because of woeful fiscal and political performance, they were shut out of the international credit market, including the International Monetary Fund. It took People’s National Party members Peter Phillips, Mark Golding, Portia Simpson Miller and team to work tirelessly to rebuild Jamaica’s image and restore Jamaica to the fold of the international credit market.

If the PNP is to be blamed, as the Government would want us to believe, we would, by now, be on the same poverty trajectory as our neighbours Haiti.

You have been governing for the last six years, you were given a solid economic base, and left with several mega economic projects when the PNP demitted office. How can you blame the Opposition for the garbage-filled communities, the decrepit transportation systems, the runaway murder rate, the burdensome cost of living, the widening trade deficit, the brain drain, and the allegations of cover up and corruption by Cabinet ministers?

Come on! Get your act together and govern.

Fernandez Smith

fgeesmith@yahoo.com