Dear Editor,

I am a PJ Patterson Comrade, not a People’s National Party (PNP) supporter per se. I have tremendous respect for former Prime Minister Patterson as an intellectual, legal mind, and statesman, not to mention he was my teacher.

It was good to see him at cricket recently with the current prime minister, both seemed to be involved in deep dialogue, and it didn’t seem to be about the happenings on the field. Oh to be a fly on the wall to hear that conversation! I suspect the engrossing chat was about the current happenings on the political field: constitutional reform, republic status, dual citizenship, and final appellate court.

The camaraderie between the former and current prime ministers was encouraging. All Jamaicans should take note of the genuine civility and mutual respect between them. You couldn’t tell they were of different political persuasions.

As I observed them, I recalled the bitter politics of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Throughout those years, both Patterson and former Prime Minister Edward Seaga, God rest his soul, were at different points vilified and maligned with all sorts of innuendos and outright lies. I have grown to understand this to be the nature of politics in competitive democracies. There is a danger in this, however, because the nation is divided over falsehoods, and our people, who follow blindly, are deceived by lies. So it’s always a puzzle when they see the leaders they line up behind being friendly with each other.

As I peered into the box from my vantage point at the top of the stands, I couldn’t help but think that Patterson and Holness are very much alike in personality. They are emotionally well controlled; both speak slowly; choose their words carefully; and because of an intellectual bent, they both tend to lecture. Another striking similarity between them is that they don’t respond to detractors, critics, or criticisms. They seem to have this amazing ability to withstand political onslaught, shut out the noise, ignore the naysayers, and just move on. This can be both a good and bad leadership trait, but it is a superior trait to being easily distracted. Seaga and former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller were always up to a good argument and took on their detractors. Maybe that’s why they became such good friends publicly. Bruce Golding, also a former prime minister, got caught up in a crisis and just couldn’t move on to the next objective.

I can just imagine Patterson counselling Holness: “As you can see, I am in the pavilion now, but I don’t like this dual citizenship business, and you know my position on the CCJ; however, don’t let these issues distract from Jamaica becoming a republic; we all agree on that!” I surmise that this may have been his advice to Holness, given his pronouncements at a seminar shortly after. Holness may have found this reassuring, as he has always maintained that he intends to carry the republic agenda as far as he can and take the measures possible without the Opposition.

True to form, Holness has moved on from the constitutional reform issue, speaking on the Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to Our Road Network (SPARK) programme, reviewing his party for election readiness, and addressing the cost of living. On the other hand, Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding does not appear to be able to rise above crises and move on to the next objective. Worse, he doesn’t seem to be able to hold a consistent position. One minute he is for the republic then he is not, one minute he is totally Jamaican, next he admits to being British.

He should have quickly resolved the dual citizenship matter. It’s too late now anyway, even if he does renounce, it’s only because he was forced, not because he genuinely saw the moral offence of his position, a point which he himself made by saying he sees nothing wrong with his dual citizenship. And by the way, he invited this on himself, it was not an issue until he raised it, flashing his passport all over the place like a social media butterfly.

Now he has raised more questions than he has answers. We are all curious to know how a British citizen, holding a British passport, could get a British visa in their Jamaican passport? Visas are only for non-citizens.

I know people close to him are trying to get him to resolve the matter, but I gather he is stubborn and doesn’t take counsel, not even from Patterson. It’s a pity, though, because the PNP could benefit so much from the knowledge and advice of their most successful leader. But as I said, I am not a PNP diehard, I am just sympathetic and I admire Patterson, in the same breath I do see some similar qualities in Holness.

Whoever takes the wisdom of the years, I will support.

Beverley Buchanan

beverleybuchanan1978@gmail.com