“Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt,” is a wise saying created by our ancestors many decades ago. Its meaning is especially relevant to today. Nine days from today, eligible citizens of Jamaica will have an opportunity to make a decision that will assuredly have generational consequences for all Jamaicans. Do we regress or progress? The outcome of our 19th general election since universal adult suffrage will determine that.

Understand this: No one from elsewhere is coming to save Jamaica. We are our own saviours. Global economic, political, and social opportunities and uncertainties are aplenty. Even a cursory look at the state of the economies of our major trading partners and the world economy in general will attest to that fact.

In June 2025 the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that the unemployment rate for new college graduates in America was 4.8 per cent, while the unemployment rate for all workers was 4.0 per cent. A news item by
PBS in America noted that these jobs numbers and the state of the American jobs market in general “was one of the most challenging in 10 years”.

In the United Kingdom, economic growth is moving at the pace of molasses up a hill and demands for tougher immigration restrictions are getting louder and louder. In Canada, the tariffs imposed by the Donald Trump Administration in the US on Canadian goods and services have hit hard. Housing costs, especially, are skyrocketing in Canada. Talk of a global economic recession abounds. Awful noises and menacing whispers of wars are abundant too, while at the same time technological advances are mushrooming.

Should the world be alarmed? Some say the world should be frightened, very, very frightened, while some say the world is simply witnessing the fading of the light of one generation — this so that another can shine. In the midst of the severely topsy-turvy state of social, economic, and political happenings internationally, the worst thing that could happen is for Jamaica to socially, economically, and politically backslide.

The painful miseries that were dumped on most Jamaicans, especially in the 1970s and 90s, must be avoided like the plague. How? We must firmly reject yesterday’s men and women. They cannot and will not gainfully advance Jamaica. This is simply common sense.

BIG RED FLAGS

How can we easily spot yesterday’s men and women? There are five big and scary red flags. First, yesterday’s men and women in our social and political contexts spew a mountain of promises, especially in the run-up to national elections — promises minus realistic evidence of how they will be practically funded and/or implemented.

Understand, these are charlatans; naked power seekers offering you a shirt. Believe them at your own peril.

Billions here, billions there, and billions nearly everywhere, this sounds like confetti money to me. Don’t be fooled! Those who are trumpeting multi-billion-dollar promises must show us the money first, and show us the implementation timetable second. Without those we must conclude that our barns will be raided.

Reggae singer Anthony B warned us about those who “raid the barn”. And history has shown us that naked people have no compunctions about raiding the barn.

Believe it, “There is no such thing as public money, there is only taxpayers’ money,” former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher famously said. I agree.

Second, yesterday’s men and women display an appalling lack of intellectual control, especially on the hustings. They indulge in drive-by shootings on people’s reputations. They revel in character assassinations. And, additionally, they coddle the lowest common denominator. That is their scaffolding.

These are core traits of nakedness. Don’t let them fool you. Don’t be fooled by individuals who are almost always shouting into amplification devices like microphones. It is a settled matter that the lesser you use your brain, the louder you use your mouth. People who almost always scream into a microphone use the screaming as a method of distraction, especially for the unsuspecting.

It is accepted in the arena of rhetoric that if your argument is strong you do not have to constantly shout. We have to make up our minds what kind of country we want to live in and what kind of country we want to leave for our children to live in. Do we want mere talkers or competent doers? Do we want doers who facilitate and create meaningful results which materially benefit especially ordinary Jamaicans? Or do we want talkers who scream platitudes, emit bombast, and peddle gimmicks?

Third, yesterday’s men and women delude especially the unsuspecting with the fanciful idea that positive change can come about by mere declaration. This is tomfoolery. I have said it here and elsewhere, but it bears repeating: There is no magic wand that anyone can wave to remedy especially our long-standing problems of underachievement in education, crime control, social decadence, institutional decline, and dwindling national productivity. Those who tell us that they have developed a magical elixir are liars.

There are some global realities that are before us and some on the immediate horizon which Jamaica cannot paper-over. Here is one: “Beggar thy neighbour.” This refers to an economic policy wherein a country attempts to improve its economic situation by making its trading partners worse off. How? Invasive economic policies are carried out principally through protectionist measures like tariffs or currency devaluation and/or related mercantilist activities. Jamaica cannot ignore the realities of the world as it is for one that we imagine. Socialists just don’t get that.

Fourth, yesterday’s men and women use the poor as pawns to satisfy their lust for power, especially State power. Whenever you hear particularly politicians pontificating how much they love the poor, be alert. These are invariably naked people. “The hands that help are better, far better than lips that pray,” said Robert Green Ingersoll, renowned lawyer and orator. I agree.

The Good Book says, faith or prayer without works is dead (James 2: 26). There are some among us who dishonestly lead the unsuspecting into buying a narrative that they can get something for nothing. This is a blatant abuse of people with outright treachery. The Bible tells us that, “By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3: 19)

As I see it, those who pull wool over the eyes of Jamaicans by selling trickery are mere peddlers of poverty. They are among the worst in our midst. The best way to release the poor from the prison of poverty is via the provision of quality education, training, and related purposeful opportunities.

Fifth, yesterday’s men and women weaponise “bad mind”. It’s the corruption of one’s thinking process. Lies, fake news, and bad mind are not the tools for success. Bad mind is never a virtue. Those who sow the poisonous seeds of bad mind reveal their own sorry state. These are naked people. It is best to run, “tek weh yuhself”, from their sad midst.

Bad mind is fuelled by mediocrity in thinking. Bad mind is a proven formula for backwardness and generational poverty. Recall that the People’s National Party (PNP), in the run-up to the 2016 General Election, tried its best to weaponise bad mind.

Recall this: “For the second consecutive week, Andrew Holness’s house came in for special mention at a People’s National Party (PNP) meeting.

“We have a leader with a proven record. I say so and dem don’t like it. We know what her values are. She has spent more than 40 years in the political vineyard working for the poor and the dispossessed of this country. Her mission is not to build nuh big house. Her mission is not to accumulate wealth for herself. Her mission is service of the people of Jamaica,” Peter Phillips, the PNP campaign director, said. (
The Gleaner, November 22, 2015)

The majority of Jamaicans are aspirational. The majority of Jamaicans want nice things. The PNP seems not to understand this reality. Today, factual information is available at the press of a button. Most Jamaicans have a cellphone with access to the Internet. We are seeing in real time what is happening globally.

During the last four years Opposition leader and PNP President Mark Golding has been up and down the byways of Jamaica making loud noises about the statutory declarations of Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness. To date, among other things, there is not a shred of evidence that Holness has used any public funds to acquire any material and/or related advance for himself of his family. Still the pernicious smear/whispering campaigns continue. The objective is very clear. Bad mind is a terrible disease.

Understand this, the choice before Jamaica is clear: We can tacitly or otherwise stay fixated on mediocrity or put a national premium on excellence. We can hold on to claptraps like a fully- clasped vice-grip or embrace helpful technological advances which will improve national efficiencies.

Elections have consequences

Regarding matters of national efficiency, goodwill, and self-confidence, we must never forget to remember these three words, “Elections have consequences.” They were made famous by former president of the United States of America, Barack Obama.

What has become a catchphrase of recent political times, were first uttered in January 2009. Why is a thorough understanding of the practical implications of the mentioned three words so vital to the life chances of especially ordinary Jamaicans?

The political choices we make, or don’t, determine our quality of water, schools, roads, transportation systems, hospitals, police services, environmental protections, housing, management of the national cash box, relationships with the regional and international community, etc. Individual political choices are critical and they invariably have critical consequences, especially in a country like ours.

Every time Jamaicans elect naked men and women who belong to the scrap heap of yesterday, the country nosedives, politically, socially, and economically. We have seen that reality play out with deadly and generational consequences several times since 1962.

It is ordinary Jamaicans who are made poorer, weaker, and less respected whenever naked men and women who belong to yesterday are given the keys to Jamaica House. It happened in the 70s and the ghosts of the 70s were resurrected in the 1990s. Thousands of ordinary Jamaicans were impoverished. Why? Jamaica’s resources, especially our economic resources, were mismanaged.

Ponder this: “Speaking at a PNP St Andrew North Western constituency conference on Sunday, [Finance and Planning Minister Dr Omar Davies] said the Government made public spending decisions during the election campaign knowing they were financially unsound.” (
The Gleaner, February 14, 2003). Those who believe the wrong choices can be made and then the best results will be produced are indeed mad, as Einstein told us.

Those who are too busy, too ‘stush’, too apathetic to vote need to understand this: “One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors,” advised Plato.

INFORMED DECISION-MAKING

Our participation in Jamaica’s social, economic and political processes must be predicated on verified and factual information.

US President John F Kennedy famously said: “The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.” I agree!

Well-thinking Jamaicans must not idly sit and assume the posture of “Mi nuh able.” That is not safe and or sensible for this country. To sit on our verandahs, in our living rooms, in bars, and/or in other social and religious sanctuaries and romanticise, encourage, preach divorcement from voting in elections is self-defeating. No well-thinking Jamaican must exclude him/herself from the critical democratic process of selecting the most able team to manage Jamaica’s affairs. When we do so we leave our futures in the hands of those who will gladly sell their votes and our country’s future for a mess of pottage and/or worse. See you at the voting booth on September 3, 2025, God willing.

No well-thinking Jamaican must exclude him/herself from the critical democratic process of selecting the most able team to manage Jamaica’s affairs.

OBAMA… elections have consequences. (Photo: AFP)

Garfield Higgins