AS we approach another general election, some can’t help but think that our political class expects the Jamaican people to make peace with the mediocrity that defines their performances. It is unarguable that voting matters, but who or what we are being asked to vote for matters more.

The growing refusal to vote at our elections must, with urgent necessity, be seen for what it is — a growing rejection of a political class that is noted for its political role in the collective, unchecked failings of successive governments. It is, perhaps, not premature to say that our present political trajectory is the real threat to our democracy.

I will refer to a Don Anderson poll which sought to capture the feelings or mood of the electorate following the February 2024 Local Government Election that was billed as a referendum on the incumbent Government. (See
Sunday Observer, April 7, 2024 for findings). With a mere 29 per cent of electors voting, the #1 reason given for not voting is the belief that both parties are corrupt. Other reasons given include “no difference between the parties”, “none of them helping people”. These findings mirror the terrible shortcomings of both political parties and paint a picture of serious political decay.

Careful analysis of these findings unmask the consequences of our political failure to reverse or slow the entrenched social and economic inequities inherited following the fight for the right to vote and choose our Government. Our political leaders seemingly think that the right to vote is an end in itself, rather than a means to elect responsible Government to tackle the pressing issues of poverty, inadequate education, housing, health, and economic injustice.

The great leap to suffrage in 1944, following the uprising in 1938 and the formation of political parties and trade unions to agitate for amelioration in governance and living conditions, is being squandered as the maladies it was meant to address still tear at black skins and heartstrings.

It is mind-boggling that despite these grave findings, neither party has publicly commented or outlined plans to deal with the issues raised by the poll findings. The clear message, it seems, is that the electorate is expected to accept and make peace with corruption on both sides. So, just as thieves were on either side of Jesus at his crucifixion, so too are our people sandwiched in their sufferations.

It is not surprising therefore that the voters are avoiding the polls. Indeed, I do believe that if our forebears, including those who fought for voting rights, could shake of their eternal sleep, they too would join in withholding their votes. What is becoming alarmingly clear is that a growing number of people view voting as giving support to their continued suffering and demise in a society in which governments untether inequality and dig graves where hopes and betterment should rightly spring. The evidence fills their eyes, each from his/her own vantage point.

Some see voting to change Government like the changing of guards who preside over their confines of impoverishment and hopelessness. For others, it’s like getting off a bus going the wrong way and boarding another going in the same direction, albeit with a different driver.

These lamentable poll findings aside, there are other reasons not to play the election game. So why vote for Members of Parliament when a few have indicated that they are not empowered to do anything to improve the quality of life in, and the development of their constituencies? They are not even saddled with job descriptions and cannot be recalled for poor behaviour or non-performance.

The problem with our politics and its failure to positively impact the socio-economic trajectory of post-colonial Jamaica is structural in nature. Elections and change of Government are mere cyclical manifestations of the dominant structural apparatus that was put in place long before Independence, and kept in place by our politics, hemmed as it is to the Westminster model. In a true democracy people are the repository of political power. And that power to govern in the people’s interest is assigned by voting at elections.

But where the evidence and the lived experiences suggest that voting matters little, who can dare blame them when they abstain? For the prevailing sentiment in our communities is that the only use politics has for poor is their votes. But votes empower others who are unable to enable them or their interests. Tellingly, this particular sore point is an institutional and defining feature of our politics.

The advent of voting was meant to remedy the injustices of governance being in favour of only the rich and privileged. During slavery our children were not taught to read or write; today the majority of our 12-year-olds can’t. our masters built Great Houses, whilst the majority of people lived in huts. Today. politicians and their family members are in the business of building and selling expensive houses to the rich. Try explaining this to the over one-third of poor Jamaicans who live on untenured lands.

Poor voters have every reason to question — if not openly challenge — the narrative that it is in their interest to vote if these are the outcomes. The stench of failure and expiration which trails our incumbent Government would ordinarily see voters clamouring to vote in an Opposition. But these are not ordinary times for Jamaica. The Opposition is led by a successful venture capitalist who was ushered into the role after someone thoughtlessly and ignorantly said that the party’s “greatest need is money”. But now they have the money, yet are getting much more love from the electorate. This is not surprising, for only the shallow can think that the elevation of money over ideas and ameliorative policies will be politically attractive to the poor.

Historically, the convergence of money and political power in one polity has never favoured the poor. This unholy marriage cradled the introduction of slavery and colonial exploitation in the Caribbean. It is the root cause of today’s growing inequality and generational poverty. That party’s present incestuous embrace with money is not only delusional but far removed from its founding egalitarian ethos. I am saddened to say to the darkness that was once the light, do take heed of the wise words of Franklyn D Roosevelt: “A Government by organised money is as dangerous as a Government by organised mob.” I feel compelled to do this because of the troubling utterances of “the tapanaris” who can’t wait for a win.

What is sorely lacking in our political process is a paradigm move away from our colonial class and economic prejudices inherited at Independence. That inheritance of division and exploitation remains unchecked and have seemingly been cemented in the bedrock of our politics. And so, even the young, new candidates are captives to their party’s discipline, and offer no hope for change. There are no cross-party, bi-partisan efforts to tackle issues in our Parliament. Not even the issue of reparation for slavery escapes the PNP and JLP no-brained divide, as former Member of Parliament Lloyd B Smith recently shared.

Just imagine only three Members of Parliament since 1944 had the fortitude to stand against the tyranny of the party line at a budget vote — F L B Evans (Westmoreland North Eastern) in 1955, Portia Simpson Miller (St Andrew South Western) in 2006, and Barrington Gray (Hanover Eastern) in 2008.

Our present political practices force one to draw parallels with the colonial Maroon Treaties 1738-39 and the colonial Act of Independence 1962. In the former, freedom was limited to a few on pains of obligation to capture or kill runaways who too aspired for freedom. The latter grants economic and social liberation only to those who have or are so enabled, whilst its institutions, political and otherwise, suppress the majority. It is very arguable that just as the Maroon treaties worked to extend slavery for another 100 years, so too is the political system spawned by our Independence Act has for the past 63 years stymied the development and growth of economic liberation for the majority of poor, black Jamaicans.

I believe that this is the observatory from which most voters measure progress and why voting has becoming meaningless to them. The majority are no longer interested in the donkey race between the parties on election day. They are shunning, instead of choosing between political corrupts and non-performers. Their refusal to vote needs urgently to be seen as a clarion call for change, not a cosmetic change of governments that produce the same outcomes. A lip gloss on a pig changes nothing for the poor creature; it’s neither lasting nor enhancing.

What will be lacking on election day is vividly captured by an old African proverb: “Why send us butterflies when it’s an eagle that we need?”

Delford G Morgan is an attorney-at-law. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or delfordgmorgan@gmail.com