This space has been insisting that as we get deeper into the election season we scrutinise very carefully the words and utterances of our political leaders as they offer themselves as people we should trust to rule us.

One of the reasons for my insistence is that we are now living in a post-truth world, a post-post-modernistic era in which evidence-based thinking and truth derived from evidence no longer govern the thinking of many. We are living at a time when mere opinions are trafficked as facts. You only have to say it and it becomes fact or law. America, starting this month, will begin to see the true and virulent implications of its subscription to falsehood when the first convicted felon to become president enters the White House.

In a recent address to the people of St Andrew East Rural, Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding stretched credulity when he lambasted the Government for its abysmal failure regarding its handling of the economy. The ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation came in for special mention. It is true that the economy has shrunk in the last quarter and Hurricane Beryl has been blamed as a major factor in this decline. It is also true that there are serious impediments to economic growth that have to be confronted and overcome.

However, Golding studiously avoided the significant strides that the economy has made over the past six years. He failed to mention the macroeconomic strength of the economy, the commendable increase in revenue that has allowed the Government to embark on significant projects without borrowing. Equally ignored was the strong and growing foreign exchange reserves and the massive salary increase for public servants. There are others that could be mentioned, but the simple truth is that the economy is at the healthiest it has ever been in my lifetime. And I have been around a long time, offering public opinion about these matters for almost 50 years.

It is one thing to whip up a crowd to score political points. All politicians do this. If you listen to Golding and other spokespersons in the party you would think, like Chicken Little, that the sky is falling. But citizens have to be wary when the leader of the other major political party would want to present one part of a story and studiously ignore or erase a great part of what the facts and realities are. It is an insult to our collective intelligence when this happens.

This also relates to his criticism of the state of our roads. Everyone knows that our road networks are in an abysmal state. But even Golding will acknowledge that this is not a recent phenomenon but has been a matter with which successive governments have had to contend since Independence. While lamenting the dilapidated road conditions, was Golding not aware of the contours of the Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) Programme which the Government kicked off at the end of December 2024? At a cost of $45 billion, this is the most massive and comprehensive road rehabilitation programme ever to be undertaken in the history of Jamaica. And it is being paid for by the taxpayers of Jamaica. It is the first time in my memory that a project of this size and scope is being done without loan intervention from bilateral partners.

What was really galling in his only reference to the project was to cast aspersions at the character and integrity of those involved in the procurement process, including the politicians. To say that the Government would use the project to feather its nest and those of its cronies was not only unconscionable but unworthy of one who holds such a high political office in our country. Any attempt at corruption would have to involve the complicity of the civil servants associated with the project. Is Golding insinuating that there would be collusion between these civil servants and the politicians to enrich themselves at the people’s expense? Come on, Golding, I believe you know better. But this is what a loose tongue on a political platform produces. This kind of loose talk by people seeking a job should not be rewarded by the voters who are their employers.

As I listened to Golding speak about the ostensible corruption of the project, I could not help but think that there is a way in which projection as a psychological principle becomes an albatross around the necks of those who like to indulge it — a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy which eats at the soul of those who would want to embrace it. We often see in others the mess we would want to ignore in our own environment. Consider the many scandals that beset his party over the many years it was at the helm of power. Sometimes silence works best.

President Jimmy Carter

This column pays tribute to the late US President Jimmy Carter. He was the consummate politician, a thoroughly decent, honest, and hard-working human being. He was an enigma where truth telling and integrity in Government was concerned.

As I watched a grateful nation pay tribute to him last Thursday, and beheld the exclusive club of presidents, I could not help but think how things have changed in the brazen self-aggrandisement that characterises so much of politics in America and the world. Carter’s faith in a power higher than himself served him well as president and as a human being who subscribed to the principle of love and respect for others as overarching principles of successful living.

May his soul find its eternal rest in the peace of God.

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest, social commentator, and author of the books Finding Peace in the Midst of Life’s Storms; Your Self-esteem Guide to a Better Life; and Beyond Petulance: Republican Politics and the Future of America. He hosts a podcast — Mango Tree Dialogues — on his YouTube channel. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or stead6655@aol.com.