Political punditry from both sides of the political spectrum is now in full spate as the soon-to-be-announced local government election beckons.

This election is well overdue, and outside of a national emergency of seismic proportions, one does not expect them to be further delayed. Neither does one expect them to be twinned with the general election due in 2025.

Already the swords are out of their sheaths as both sides jockey for acclaim from the public. For the Andrew Holness Administration and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), this election will be very important. They will be a litmus test of and a referendum on the way in which the country has been governed over the past seven years. It is true that it is only a local government election, but it will nonetheless tell a tale of the people’s regard for the Government’s stewardship and whether they are comfortable with the party continuing to exercise political stewardship over their lives.

For the People’s National Party (PNP), it will also be a test of whether this party is ready to lead the country. If it manages a respectable showing in this election, such as capturing more municipalities than it now controls, it is clear that it would have made strides, in terms of public regard or public frustration with the governance of the JLP. The party will be recharged to take the fight to the JLP for the general election.

For both sides, the local government election is not a settled matter and there is a great deal of work to be done by both to convince the Jamaican voter that either side is ready.

It will take a lot of hard work. The Jamaican electorate has grown very discerning and demanding of what they look for in political leadership. Elections might be settled for the diehards on both sides, but not so for the vast majority of the growing independents who only want to see the kind of leadership that can advance the prospects of the country.

Thus, what is said from political platforms will be of utmost importance in helping this growing constituency of independents in their decision-making. Lies and half-truths will not cut it. Neither will obfuscations that are intended to mislead gain any currency.

The Jamaican electorate today is one of the most pugnacious to be found anywhere in the Caribbean. It has grown in sophistication, and gone are the days when you could bribe them with empty promises from a platform. This may work for the diehards, many of whom are “licky-licky” enough to be bribed by politicians who offer them a new Heaven and a new Earth or to take them to green pastures only to turn them loose to find grass on their own when they have reached their political destinations.

I believe that the ranks of the independents have grown for precisely this reason: to reject this insulting behaviour of our politicians. They get turned off when politicians who should know better resort to gutter-level politics or use the benefit of a good education to issue obfuscations about policies.

I believe this was the case with Dr Andre Haughton, PNP shadow spokesman for commerce, technology and innovation, and a senior lecturer in economics at the prestigious The University of the West Indies (UWI). He is presented by the PNP as an expert in economics, but I believe he did himself, the university, and the people of Jamaica a disservice recently in remarks he gave on a political platform regarding the Government’s handling of the economy.

Specifically, he lambasted the Government for increasing the poverty threshold in the country and for pushing teachers and other middle-class professionals into poverty. He disingenuously avoided any reference to the massive compensation package that was just given to these professionals, which should give them more than a leg up to avoid the poverty spiral he lamented. Also absent from his analysis in his zeal to score points was any mention of the fiscal integrity framework that the Government has achieved and which has been lauded by international rating agencies.

Dr Haughton, will the skilful management of the economy eventually redound to economic vibrancy which will help people climb out of the poverty trap in the country? If the Government is able to maintain the present trajectory of reducing debt, not imposing onerous taxation on the public, and being disciplined in not indulging a “run-wid-it” approach to fiscal insanity, can we not be hopeful that in years to come we will be able to slay this monster in our midst?

I do not expect an Opposition party vying for power to answer these questions honestly. But the answers are clear to those of us who do not wear political blinders. It is clear to those of us who lived through the 1970s and 1990s when interest rates were at an all-time high in the then Government’s desperate attempt to mop up liquidity, when we were classed as international beggars as we scrounged around the world seeking to borrow money to address recurrent expenditures.

Dr Haughton, your scholarship should have afforded you a front seat to these historical imperatives and why it is necessary in these days to maintain fiscal sanity. To you much has been given, in terms of the vantage point you have as an academician to analyse and give comprehensive, truthful, and unbiased assessments of the facts as they present themselves. But I know how hard it is on the political hustings, but you owe a duty to yourself not to grovel at the altar of expediency and thus impugn your academic integrity. If you have to do this, you may want to re-examine your foray into politics.

To you, Dr Haughton, and others so inclined on both sides of the political divide, I want to serve notice that we shall not be fooled.

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest, social commentator and author of the books: Finding Peace in the Midst of Life’s Storms; The Self-esteem Guide to a Better Life and Beyond Petulance: Republican Politics and the Future of America. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or stead6655@aol.com.