A crisis is only an opportunity if you seize the moment. Prime Minister Andrew Holness, being the seasoned politician he is, knows this. This
Jamaica Observer headline last Monday was, therefore, not a surprise: ‘PM instructs MPs and councillors to intensify Beryl restoration efforts’.

The news item said, among other things: “Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Prime Minister Andrew Holness has instructed the party’s representatives to intensify efforts to address challenges facing Jamaicans, including people affected by Hurricane Beryl.”

Holness understands “what a clock a strike” (urgency), as we say in local parlance.

Today is 25 days since the passage of Beryl. Some Jamaicans are still without electricity. Excruciatingly painful, too, is the fact that other amenities, like water, the universal solvent; and telecommunications necessities, like mobile and Internet-related services which depend heavily on the availability of electricity, generated primarily by the Jamaica Public Service (JPS), have not been restored to many. These are challenging times.

The political imperative

I wrote here on July 30, 2023, among other things: “The JLP’s positives are vastly more powerful than the negativism platform of the PNP [People’s National Party]. This is another reason that the JLP, except there is some calamitous scandal or catastrophic natural disaster, will win a third term.”

Prime Minister Holness’s call for a quadrupling of efforts by elected representatives to ensure the restoration of especially basic amenities shows that he understands the tremendous dislocation across the land and, simultaneously, the political imperative joined to the rapid restoration of basic services.

Prior to the arrival of the novel coronavirus in Jamaica on March 20, 2020, I said, among other things, in this space on March 8, 2020: “I believe the effectiveness, or lack thereof, with which the Andrew Holness-led Administration manages the inevitable arrival of COVID-19 on our shores will weigh heavily on the outcome of the upcoming general election. If the Administration does a poor job that could well turn out to be the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Achilles heel, for which the People’s National Party (PNP) desperately searches.

“I think that if the Opposition PNP misses the opportunity to demonstrate mature leadership when the novel coronavirus infection comes ashore, 89 Old Hope Road will succeed in further devaluing its political stocks.”

Fast-forward to today, if we were to substitute the novel coronavirus in this March 8, 2020 excerpt and insert Hurricane Beryl, it becomes obvious, maybe except to those in a deep sleep, that the social and political realities facing the Administration are strikingly similar.

I noted here on December 17, 2023, among other things: “Admittedly, elections are hostage to events. So, barring a catastrophic scandal in the JLP, or a major natural disaster — the latter would be a two-edged sword — I believe the JLP will win the upcoming local government elections.” Two-edged sword, in this context, as I explained, meant the opportunity to shine or fumble the bag.

Holness is on the ball. He has chimed the wake-up call early.

As we all know, our 19th parliamentary election is due next year. Post-Beryl restoration is a big opportunity for the JLP to put itself in an unassailable position. The restoration has to be rapid and meaningful at the same time. Folks have to see and feel it.

I believe the response to the prime minister’s call will be very positive. On the other hand, I think the PNP will continue down the road of negativism. Why? The PNP’s recent past has become its present, as I see it. What do I mean?

Recall that when the novel coronavirus landed in Jamaica, then PNP president and Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips missed a glorious opportunity to demonstrate mature leadership. Dr Phillips and the PNP paid a heavy, heavy price.

Recall this statement by Dr Phillips: “We are prepared to help to manage the crisis if called upon by the Government. We are willing to work in every area and guide the Government through the economic crisis, crime, and the corona crisis,” Dr Phillips said.” (The Gleaner, March 2, 2020)

Note the use of “guide”, which means to show the way or pilot.

The conspicuous irony and political doublespeak were loud. It went downhill from there for the PNP.

Recall, for example, that some top-ranking PNP leaders put out posters with numbers which were different from the official COVID-19 numbers of the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

This great missed opportunity, among other things, resulted in the pummelling of the PNP in the September 3, 2020, parliamentary election. The JLP won 47 seats and the PNP 14.

Today’s Mark Golding-led PNP has already started to make mistakes similar to those of his immediate predecessor.

I discussed some in my piece, ‘Leadership through disaster’, two Sundays ago. Golding will continue “pricking political blood” even when totally unwarranted, I believe. Why? I think he is yet to learn how to be an effective Opposition leader.

Some months after Golding became president of the PNP and Opposition leader, I made a forecast that he would become the second leader of one of the two major political parties not to become prime minister. Based on his present trajectory, I believe I will be proved right.

Recall some weeks after Dr Peter Phillips ascended to the helm of the PNP and became Opposition leader I made a similar forecast. I was proved right. I am not a political clairvoyant or prophet, but I do watch the political tea leaves keenly.

I believe Dr Phillips as PNP president and Opposition leader, among other things, was drunk on hubris.

Compare and contrast Dr Phillips and Mark Golding’s short-sightedness and imprudent political self-aggrandisement with what then Opposition Leader Michael Manley said to Jamaicans after the passage of Hurricane Gilbert in September 1988.

Said Manley: “I have made it clear to the prime minister that we offer both in terms of myself personally, and on the behalf of the People’s National Party, our full solidarity, cooperation, and support in all of the enormous efforts that have now to be made; first in the area of relief, and secondly in the area of reconstruction.” (Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation archive, September 1988)

Manley, by then, had discarded the burden of democratic socialism. He was careful to seize the moment. Of course, too, Manley also had genuine love for the Jamaican people.

Then Prime Minister Edward Seaga, in responding to Manley’s magnanimity, said: “I want to go on record as saying that I am deeply grateful to the representatives of both political parties who, in this hour of emergency and crisis, have not only kept the centres going with food, but have also, in addition, provided the main communication network that exists in the country, through the party two-way radio systems that exist in both parties. Were it not for this we would have been virtually without communication and chaos would have reigned.” (Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation archive, September 1988)

Just three months after Hurricane Gilbert hit Jamaica on September 12, 1988, Edward Seaga and his Administration were commended locally, regionally, and internationally for the rapid restoration of especially basic services. Seaga, unfortunately, failed to call the general election when the JLP was in the ascendency — as he was advised. Seaga did not seize the moment. And the JLP paid a heavy price in the general election of February 1989. I do not foresee that Holness will make a similar error. He knows when to seize the moment, I believe.

“Do Betta, JPS”

Useless grandstanding and seizing the moment are not the same. Phillip Paulwell has been in politics long enough to know this. Of course, time at the wicket does not necessarily equate to runs on the board.

Consider this: “Paulwell calls on JPS to rescind decision to issue estimated bills this month.” The news item said, among other things: Opposition spokesperson on energy and climate change Phillip Paulwell has chastised the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), calling its decision to issue estimated bills to customers this month ‘unconscionable’.” (
Jamaica Observer, July 22, 2024)

Paulwell seems to have conveniently forgot that his signature, among other things, concretised the securing of this most-generous estimated bill facility for JPS. The
Jamaica Gazette dated Wednesday, January 27, 2016 is an eye-opener on the subject. It’s a veritable cathartic cold shower of facts. The document is online. Thankfully,
Google does not have a bad memory.

Caution: Some readers may want to grab for an extra dose of antacids and/or reach for a paracetamol during and/or after reading the mentioned document.

Anyway, Paulwell, doubtless, would want us to believe that if he were at the wicket he would simply rub an Aladdin’s lamp and all would be well. Nonsense!

I think the minister with responsibility for energy Daryl Vaz was spot on when he said: “This is a fundamental issue that speaks to equity and fairness. And the fact of the matter is, while we don’t want to politicise it, the fact is the licence they are operating on was signed by Phillip Paulwell in 2016, so he has no moral authority to make any request in relation to the conditions that he approved.”

Vaz charged that JPS was being selective in its response to Hurricane Beryl and is sending mixed signals: “The bottom line is the JPS says it is working within the terms of its licence, but that doesn’t mean the company cannot alter its decisions in the best interest of its customers.” (Jamaica Observer, July 22, 2024)

Vaz is right, “Most persons, especially in the affected areas, and other areas, have lost their livelihoods due to farming and other activities that have been damaged severely. So,I think it is, to my mind, a bit insensitive in the way they [JPS] communicated that, especially in light of the fact that they still have a lot of work to do to restore electricity across the island,” Vaz said.” (The Gleaner, July 22, 2024)

I am a customer of JPS. Like thousands of others across Jamaica, we have seen this movie before from JPS. I think JPS needs to understand that, unlike in the past, technology has made it possible for us to choose the ending of movies these days. I agree with the prime minister that, “all appropriate and lawful steps must be taken to ensure that the Jamaican people are treated in a fair and equitable manner by the electricity company.”

Public demands to “free up” what one commentator describe as a “chokehold effect of the present electricity arrangements” are understandable. Electricity is not seen as luxury. There was a time in Jamaica when it was. Access to reliable mobile and the Internet services are necessities for thousands of Jamaicans. These are primary tools for earning a livelihood.

I got a call from a relative who lives near Gayle, in St Mary, last Wednesday. He was still without electricity. Dozens of Jamaicans are in this intolerable condition. Seize the moment, JPS, and do better.

Garfield Higgins is an educator, journalist, and a senior advisor to the minister of education and youth. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or higgins160@yahoo.com.