We are one year in since the People’s National Party (PNP) lost the September 3, 2025 General Election to give Dr Andrew Holness and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) their coveted third term in office.

Since the loss, the PNP has been trying to find its footing, but is failing to do so. The leadership of the party, especially its president, Mark Golding, is demonstrating in very significant ways that they are not up to the job and are certainly not ready to be a credible Government-in-waiting. Despite important stumbles by the JLP, especially in the management of post-Hurricane Melissa recovery, the PNP has failed dismally to be a voice that the people of Jamaica can respect and entertain any hope that under the party their future could be brighter.

Yet, in all these circumstances, the leader seems obsessed with a ghost of Christmas past, one which the country had banished — democratic socialism. A brief historical context is necessary here to put this obsession in perspective. In his first term as prime minister, then leader of the PNP, the “great conceptualiser” — as he was dubbed by leading journalist at the time Wilmot Perkins — settled on democratic socialism as the leading light to move Jamaica to prosperity. His populist rhetoric, infused by his charismatic personality, convinced many Jamaicans, including this writer, that he had a message of hope the people of Jamaica could relate to and he meant well by the philosophy he espoused.

Socialism, as he preached it, promised the masses a new Heaven and a new Earth. As Joshua leading the children of Israel into the Promised Land, he convinced many that he could provide them with an economic renaissance worthy of their devotion. This would lift them out of poverty and transport them into a new land of prosperity.

But Manley’s vision faced one daunting and severe problem, the economic wherewithal to fulfil his grandiose promises. No one, not even his most implacable enemies, doubted his sincerity. But, as it turned out, this sincerity was built on a naivete that suggested you could have great social transformation without the economic underpinnings to support it.

Social scientists will explain why this promised glory by Manley did not materialise, but to my mind, there are two dominant factors which buttressed Manley’s failure.

The first, alluded to above, was the great gulf fixed between economic realities and social expansionism. Jamaica was a poor country and even poorer when Manley’s socialist experimentation began. The country simply could not afford the grandiose social projects that Manley and the PNP enunciated. So while there was a kangaroo-like leap in social expansion, there was a corresponding frog-like jump in the economic prospects of the country. In trying to enact some of these social projects, unnecessary tension was created in the society, and people, especially in the middle class, became poorer. Inevitable conflicts between the Government and captains of industry became palpable.

The second was the perceived flirtation with communism. The hot socialist rhetoric soon pitted the business class against the Government. This was adumbrated in the fatalistic suggestion by Manley that if captains of industry did not like his policies, there were five flights daily to Miami to which they were welcome. Many in the business class took his invitation seriously, sold their properties and businesses, and started to book their tickets.

His growing friendship with Fidel Castro of Cuba and his desire to go mountaineering with him did not help. Rightly or wrongly, many Jamaicans then believed that he was trying to introduce a version of Cuban communism in Jamaica. This spelt a loss of the freedom which Jamaicans covet above everything else. In the general election that followed, Manley and his party lost resoundingly to the JLP under Edward Seaga.

Enter today and “Markie G’s” seeming failure to have learnt one important lesson from history — even from the mouth of Manley himself, who Golding obviously idolises — that democratic socialism was a failed experiment.

Manley even abandoned his signature Kariba suit for a capitalist suit and tie, perhaps to demonstrate his sincerity that he had made a clean break from this failed economic philosophy. Perhaps if he had not got sick and died not long after, Manley might have morphed into a Deng Xioping — supreme leader of the People’s Republic of China from 1978 to 1989 — or a Mikhail Gorbachev — the last leader of the Soviet Union — who, while maintaining communist/socialist commitments, were able to seize on the pragmatic economic realities of capitalist societies to drive economic reform and make their people’s lives better.

Markie G would be well advised that he is no Manley, whether in intellectual capacity or charisma — the hallmark of Manley’s oratorical skills. He needs to recognise that the Jamaican people, especially the young, have moved on. They are not looking for a messiah to take them to a new Promised Land. Their pragmatic sense of being advises them that they cannot build their lives on the pledge of politicians who promise them largesse and goodies.

Markie G, a duppy in 1976 will not look prettier than a duppy in 2026. In the immortal words of a former leader of your party and three-time prime minister, “Faget it!”

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 also hosts a podcast — Mango Tree Dialogues — on his YouTube channel. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or stead6655@aol.com.