‘Dissing’ of Portia caused electoral tsunami, says AJ Nicholson
THE ‘electoral tsunami’ unleashed on the People’s National Party (PNP) in the general election was caused by the “disrespectful treatment” of former president and prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller, A J Nicholson said yesterday.
Nicholson, officer emeritus of the PNP, also warned that “no peace or blessing” would come to the party until it had apologised, atoned for and sought redemption for that sin against Simpson Miller.
“No blessings will attend and flow to the People’s National Party until there is a positive answer to a plea for forgiveness for the unkind display of ingratitude toward Sista P, and only after a curse that has germinated and grown to full bloom has been exorcised,” Nicholson charged in a statement.
At the same time, he lashed a “most apathetic and shamefully weak Opposition” for allowing “the most corruption-challenged Government since 1944 to be rewarded with a landslide victory at the polls in the form of an electoral tsunami!”
The charismatic Simpson Miller was noticeably absent from the PNP’S ground campaign but no public explanation was given by party central. Nicholson seemed to link the low 37 per cent turnout of voters and the 49 to 14-seat whipping to the “hounding out” of the former leader.
“Astonishingly, some 130,000 persons who voted for the party last time out, with Sista P at the helm, could not bother to bestir themselves to exercise their franchise this time round,” the former foreign and justice ministerlamented.
He suggested that there was an inescapable first step that the party was obliged to take, in order to be able to embark upon any meaningful road to resurrection.
“There has to be that long-overdue apology, atonement and seeking after redemption for the uncalled for disrespectul treatment that was meted out to Jamaica’s already legendary political figure, Portia Simpson Miller.
“Breathtakingly beloved of her people, Portia, of course no where near perfect, faithfully rendered yeoman service in the cause of the development and upliftment of the less privileged sector from among whom she sprang.
“For them, without any restraint, she laboured long and hard in the political vineyard throughout all her working life; and in the year 2012, having smashed through the glass ceiling as Jamaica’s first female head of government, Sista P came to be ranked among the 100 most powerful women across the globe.
“And yet, unlike in the case of the three leaders of the party before her, she was hounded out of the position and not allowed to leave at her own chosen speed.
“And what is that curse? Residing deep in the subconscious of the everyday Jamaican is an imprisoned nagging puzzle, deposited there by the lingering question: If you can do that to Sista P — one of your own, with whom you supped and broke bread — how can I be sure of what you would not do to me?
“INGRATITUDE IS A HUMAN CURSE. More often that not, it stems from pompous self-centredness and a warped sense of entitlement. Left to fester, it feeds on, and eats away at, all that is wholesome in the body of any public institution. And where does that lead? For example:
“According to the open public reckoning, evidenced by a mere 37 per cent voting participation, a most apathetic and shamefully weak Opposition allowed the most corruption-challenged government since 1944 to be rewarded with a landslide victory at the polls in the form of an electoral tsunami!
“…The seed of that curse was firmly planted in the public psyche from a political platform in the parish of St Thomas in 2006 when Portia’s competence was thrashed, and her ability to lead ‘Me’/the party was attempted to be slaughtered on the altar of ‘she don’t have no sense’. Really?
“There is no escaping, there will be no peace, no blessing: the curse must first be exorcised!” Nicholson predicted.