It would appear that the recent Don Anderson polls have discombobulated Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader and Prime Minister Andrew Michael Holness. His recent utterances both inside Gordon House and on the hustings have become increasingly combative, vitriolic, and bellicose, especially when he launches verbal attacks on the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) whom he has set out to blame for all the ills that have plagued Jamaica since this developing nation set out on a path of self-determination some 62 years ago.

In this regard, he has skillfully coined the word “PNPism”, a negative nomenclature which one suspects he hopes will stick like thick mud on a wall and will help to influence the Jamaican electorate to be sufficiently convinced that Jamaica should never have been dubbed “PNP country” in the first place, as has been espoused by Comrades.

No doubt, the Mark Golding-led PNP may well counter with a slew of negatives with respect to Jamaica’s governance under a JLP Government and dub it “JLPism”.

Some years ago, when former Prime Minister P J Patterson, in a bid to sell the idea of a Values and Attitudes campaign, bemoaned the fact that the nation was divided into two warring tribes that seemed to be perpetually at war (or words to that effect). These tribes, of course, were and still are the JLP and the PNP. Since the granting of adult suffrage on November 20, 1944, which guaranteed voting rights to all adults (at first it was age 21 and older but that was subsequently changed to 18) irrespective of their race, sex, or social class, Jamaica has evolved into a parliamentary democracy which, for the most part, has remained healthy and vibrant, thanks in part to a primarily two-party system.

Ironically, at the outset it was a family affair as the leaders of the JLP, Sir Alexander Bustamante, and the PNP, Norman Washington Manley were cousins. Unfortunately, as the fight for scarce benefits and spoils intensified, warring factions in both parties have not only resorted to fiery words, but have embarked on paths of bloody violence which came to a head during the period leading up to the 1980 General Election which saw many party supporters being murdered, burnt out of their homes, and victimised.

In this vein, it is fair to say that P J Patterson is to be credited for helping to defuse this acutely antagonistic approach to our partisan politics, which saw a gradual decline in bloody warfare during his reign in the 1990s. Much of this success had to do with his demeanour, as he came across as calm, measured, and rational on the platform and in the House of Representatives.

Quite frankly, Prime Minister Holness needs to take a leaf out of PJ’s book in this regard, so as to ensure that during this current “silly season” leading up to what will be a crucial and pivotal general election the country will not descend into another “tribal war inna Babylon”.

No doubt, Holness is a very ambitious man with a big ego and one of his main quests before he leaves the political stage is to win a third term for himself and his party — a feat that only Patterson has achieved so far. But, even as he goes after this major political prize, he must bear in mind that in any thriving democracy, parties and their leaders win and lose, subject to the will of the electorate. And one of the mainstays of that tried and true democratic process is that it abhors authoritarian rule or any harbouring by any leader of moving towards a dictatorship.

To suggest, therefore, as some fanatic Comrades did in the past, that only one party is good for Jamaica, and that that party should be in power in perpetuity is delusional at best and dangerous at worst. In the final analysis, the JLP has achieved much since it returned to power after a prolonged 18 and half years of PNP incumbency. But it cannot be that it should be rammed down the people’s throats that during that period nothing worthwhile was achieved. Indeed, it can be said with all honesty that what this JLP Administration is now inheriting, in terms of the fiscal space that has allowed it to carry out many projects successfully under the astute guidance of former Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke, had to do with the foundation that was laid at great political cost by Dr Peter Phillips whose stint at the wicket has now helped to pay many dividends for this Administration. After all, all is fair in love and war!

The prime minister must be very angry and agitated when he sees himself and his party sliding in the polls after all the wonderful things they claim to have achieved and may well be saying behind closed doors that the Jamaican people have been ungrateful and even wicked. JLP Member of Parliament and Justice Minister Delroy Chuck recently reportedly remarked on a JLP platform that “money was jingling in people’s pockets”, to some a most laughable pronouncement, because the harsh reality is that the prosperity gravy train is yet to reach the majority of ordinary, low-income and middle-class Jamaicans who are living hand to mouth because of the high cost of living as well as living in fear because of a still-too-high crime rate and a society that is falling apart because of crass indiscipline and moral decay, not to mention corruption in high and low places.

Yes, it is safe to say that at the macro level this Holness Administration has done very well, but when it comes to bread and butter issues, Holness should become acutely aware that he and his party are in trouble; hence the recent polls findings that have shown them weighed in the balance and found wanting. This is not propaganda, this is reality.

Against this backdrop, the JLP Leader should tone down on his fiery rhetoric because this would suggest that he is running scared. In the meantime, he needs to crack the whip in his own camp, because many of his MPs and councillors have a failing grade and are simply waiting to win their seats by hanging on to his coat-tail, instead of becoming disciples of prosperity, going to the byways and hedges to preach the gospel according to Brogad.

In the meantime, the JLP leader’s scorch the earth approach towards the PNP could help set the stage for a very warlike campaign that may be even reminiscent of what happened in 1980, what with all the guns that are out there and with so much at stake, including the emergence of a Mark Golding who is seeking his first term as a victorious PNP leader.

Let the campaign be more about policies and programmes, ideas and vision, bearing in mind that when all is said and done, Jamaica will need both Labourites and Comrades, inclusive of the many uncommitted citizens out there, to make this country great. One hand can’t clap, Holness.

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Lloyd B Smith has been involved in Jamaican media for the past 49 years. He has served as a Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. He hails from western Jamaica where he is affectionately known as the Governor. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or lbsmith4@gmail.com.