There are things known and there are things unknown, and in-between are the doors of perception, offered English writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley.

On general election night, Wednesday, September 3, 2025, People’s National Party (PNP) candidate Paul Buchanan led the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Andrew Michael Holness, prime minister (PM), in the vote tally for a long time. PNP supporters nationwide, I can imagine, were ecstatic, while JLP supporters had excretory problems. Then an Internet service provider glitch — that seemed to have been happening intermittently all day — took joyful, joyless, and casual observers offline.

When we all returned, Holness had — miraculously, some say — found the needed votes plus a whole heap more to win his election against Buchanan.

For PNP activists, this seemed a bit suspicious and scurrilous. For the JLP supporters, who perhaps had wet their diapers before the online glitch, they no doubt quickly cleaned up and breathed a sigh of relief or uttered a praise to God.

For the new Jamaica Progressive Party (JPP) Christian grouping, it members must have hopefully said a prayer to God, asking Him to make manifest a similar miracle for their candidates.

Speaking of miracles, I am told that American songwriter, singer, and guitarist Jon Bon Jovi said, “Miracles happen every day, change your perception of what a miracle is and you’ll see them all around you.” While I agree with his posit, I must tell you that changing one’s perception is one of the hardest things to do, especially about others.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness is a good case in point. Many seem to have the perception that he is somehow involved in corruption, supports corruption, or is not troubled by it whatsoever. Omar Newell, writing in The Gleaner in 2017, opined that Prime Minister Andrew Holness should be troubled by the latest Transparency International (TI) report, in which Jamaica fell 14 places on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2016. What action has he taken. Seems like inaction to me; which would suggest it is no trouble to him whatsoever.

Andrew Holness

Seemingly aware that some people hold negative perceptions about him, the Jamaica Observer in its reports on September 4, 2025, offered that Prime Minister Andrew Holness delivered a powerful victory speech after his green-wearing JLP was first past the post in the general election, declaring: “No weapon formed against me shall prosper,” during his address to supporters at the JLP headquarters on Belmont Road in St Andrew. His remarks, the Observer went on to say, were made against the background of a gruelling campaign during which he had to fend off allegations of corruption.

The problem with perception is that once you allow it to form and take root, even your most innocent actions are viewed with suspicion by friends and foes alike. The only difference being that the friends usually laugh with you and congratulate you at your Anancy-like smartness. Your enemies, on the other hand, demand probes and investigations and never let go of the hunt for proof.

This case of the prime ministers’s election day massive turnaround victory against Buchanan and, of course, Holness’s lack of integrity submission certification issues linger on the mind.

The problem with negative perceptions is that while they may not harm you in the short term — though some thought the PM would lose the election because of it — it changes people’s opinions of you in the long term. So while Holness is creating a legacy of good fiscal management in the eyes of the World Bank and other important external institutions abroad, at home he is developing nicknames such as Craven A — yet he has never been seen smoking.

If the prime minister doesn’t carefully manage and delete these negative perceptions, he may find that a weapon formed against him will one day prosper and destroy him. Or, at the very least, his legacy building is tarnished.

Talk is Buchanan is not letting go of his campaign to have the election results reviewed or overturned. We watch. And, no doubt, Buchanan’s PNP, led by President Mark Golding, will find opportunity to again reference those uncertified integrity filings.

So, Prime Minister Holness, while you bask in the afterglow of a personal and party win in the 2025 General Election, remember the words of American politician John Rowland: “The problem is that perception is reality.” That is after it goes unchecked, unmanaged, and undeleted for too long!

Let’s together transform Jamaica! From Waterhouse to Jamaica House, from Parliament to every tenement; for true transformation begins with you, me, and every pickney!

MICHAEL AIKEN

Michael Andrew Aiken is a member of the National Transformation Programme. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or mandrewa@aol.com.