PREDICTING that the country will face some serious hardships in the post-election period, former National Democratic Movement (NDM) president Bruce Golding has told his one time Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to be prepared to offer Jamaicans more than just an alternative government heading into the election mode.

General elections are constitutionally due this year, but the polls have shown the JLP slightly ahead of the ruling People’s National Party (PNP).

But Golding, in an address to a JLP annual fundraising banquet for North Central Clarendon on Saturday night, told his former colleagues that in getting ready for the campaign trail, they must be prepared to put more than just an alternative to the present government on the table.

“I suggest to you, that as you prepare for the campaign — and that you no doubt look forward to victory — remember that what is going to happen on the date that is going to be set by Mr Patterson is not the war that is going to be won. It is just the battle…the war is a much longer struggle and is going to require an approach that is different from what we have had before,” Golding argued.

According to Golding, the people of Jamaica were not looking for a government that is “less corrupt” than the present one. Instead, he said the people wanted “a government that is absolutely incorruptible. They don’t want a government that is going to manage the economy a little better: They want a government that is going to start creating opportunities for them so that they don’t need to depend on government and political parties and MPs,” he told the large gathering of JLP officials and supporters who attended the banquet.

“And therefore,” he continued, “it means that it cannot be business as usual. It has to be a new day. It has to be a new paradigm… and I suggest to you that you commit yourself to that.”

In highlighting the many difficulties awaiting the party that emerges successful from the polls, Golding argued that the challenges are enormous.

“There is the problem of economy….there is the problem of jobs and of investment…there is the problem of crime… there is the problem of injustice,” he said. He also lamented the lack of job opportunities for young people. “….one of the things that this government has done,” he claimed “is to sweep a lot of this (the many challenges) under the carpet to the point where the carpet can’t hold anymore”.

And harking back to the 1980s, the former JLP minister remarked that the country faced similar challenges when it took over the government back then. “I want to suggest perhaps as a sobering offering to you, that you be in no misunderstanding about what awaits you.”

“I was part of the experience of the 1980s… I knew that at the second meeting of the Cabinet in 1980 we were faced with a crisis — the country was out of oil… We inherited structures at the time that had to be dismantled in order to rebuild. So, I speak with all the experience I have had over these years when I tell you that the challenges that await the next government make that (the 80’s experience) look like a Hope Gardens picnic,” he commented.

Golding also called for an end to divisive politics, arguing that the time had come for Jamaicans to unite and build the country. “I think that it is more than enough time now for us to get to a stage where an election is held, a government is installed and the entire country can move forward in a direction.”

Meanwhile, Pearnel Charles, the JLP’s caretaker for North Central Clarendon, also called for unity among Jamaicans, arguing that the “time for rebuilding” was now.

“I believe that Jamaica today cries out for the labour party to start rebuilding now,” Charles said. “The Jamaica Labour Party can rescue the nation.”

According to Charles, the JLP “under Edward Seaga will be the force to lead the crusade” to bring about regeneration, economic reconstruction, social redistribution and renewal. “I am sure that the country has accepted that we can do it and we have to do it,” he added.

This year’s banquet was held under the patronage of trade union leader Hugh Shearer and Denise Eldemire-Shearer