Making it a safe Christmas
Chief Medical Officer Dr Jacquiline Bisasor-mckenzie has given a stern warning: With 70,000 expected arrivals of Jamaicans for the Christmas holidays, we may very well see a COVID-19 spike in January. Oh, no!
We have been counting the days for 2020 to be over, please give us a break 2021!
On the positive side, scientists are saying that if 95 per cent of the population would wear a mask we could get COVID-19 under control and two vaccines should be available in a few months.
We Jamaicans have been fortunate that our leaders have not politicised mask-wearing, yet as we move around we notice that less than half of folks are not wearing masks.
We should be aware that over 90 people are now in hospital here with COVID-19. Older people are the majority of those who have died from the virus. As much as grandma and grandpa will be happy to see family returning from abroad, the welcome home hugs have to be replaced by blown kisses.
Further, we hear that people arriving from abroad think it is clever that they can dodge the authorities by breaking quarantine and gathering with friends at popular hangouts.
There are many young people who are Covid-19-positive and asymptomatic. That one hug could be a death sentence for an elder, so, please, restrain yourselves.
As for family dinners, I admit I am in a state. How can I face Christmas without preparing a feast for all the people I love so much? But I must accept that for their safety and ours; we have to stay in our bubble. Let us try to live to see another Christmas where we can finally get together. We can deliver Christmas treats to our loved ones and plan a Facetime or a Zoom Christmas get-together. Our family enjoyed a Zoom Mothers’ Day brunch, showing off dishes and toasting each other.
It is beyond belief that there was a mob killing of a police officer who had tried to break up a party which was breaching curfew.
Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association (JMEA) President Richard Pandohie is appealing for a later curfew time over the holiday season, but that will only happen if, right away, we work with our families and communities to mask up and keep infection numbers down. Come November 30 the prime minister will have to listen to the health experts before he reviews the hours.
Meanwhile, let us look at organising ourselves to get out earlier to do our shopping.
We were pleasantly surprised to know we could call ahead to Island Grill and skip the line to collect our order. Our Caribbean Community of Retired Persons (CCRP) shopper Charmaine has also organised with seniors to collect their purchases at various supermarkets if they call in their orders, and National Health Fund (NHF) will deliver prescriptions drugs to persons over 65.
We are sad to hear that the global death toll for COVID-19 has passed 1.3 million, and we grieve with members of our Jamaican Diaspora, and indeed our entire human family, who are mourning their loss. Let us do our best to avoid becoming another COVID-19 victim.
Boost for special needs
Over the years thousands have gathered in downtown Kingston for Jamaica’s first-ever night run — the Digicel 5K for Special Needs. This year the company has had to find a way around COVID-19, staging a virtual 5K last month and inviting the Jamaican Diaspora to join in.
Last week the Digicel Foundation was able to present a total of $7.5 million to the Jamaica Association for the Deaf, Jamaica Autism Support Association, Early Stimulation Plus, the Jamaica Downs Syndrome Foundation, and the Promise Learning Centre.
In addition to the building and renovation of 10 special needs schools, the foundation recently partnered with the Ministry of Education to establish two new schools for special needs — Rosebank School (formerly Rosebank Primary) in St Mary, and the Pear Tree River School in St Thomas.
It is heartening to see the progress made by special needs students when they have the right teachers and facilities to help them develop their skills.
oliver samuels honoured
Oliver Samuels, the only CCRP Living Legacy honoree this year, shared his love for theatre and his dedication to those in need at a recent live broadcast from the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (PBCJ) studio. He is celebrating his 50th year in Jamaican theatre and shows no sign of slowing down.
He describes cultural icon Louise Bennett-coverley (“Miss Lou”) as his mentor. After a pantomime performance early in his career he recalls Miss Lou asking him: “Likkle boy, where yuh come from?” He was thrilled when his idol told him that his recital of her poem Love Letter was the best interpretation she had ever heard.
Samuel’s innate generosity and empathy with ordinary Jamaicans is a quality that has remained with him throughout his career. He has donated proceeds of his productions to several good causes. He has also been a mentor for many young people — his own children, as well as many others he has “taken under his wing”. He maintains that his children are his greatest blessing in life.
that call to prince phillip
As I watched season four of Netflix series The Crown, which focuses on the British royal family, I recalled the day that I had an actual telephone conversation with the Duke of Edinburgh. It was the summer of 1966 and the Duke and Princess Anne were in Jamaica for the Commonwealth Games.
We were at home on holidays and we had read that the royals were staying at the Olympia Hotel. Our parents were out, so this daring teenager decided that she would call the hotel and ask to speak with the prince. You can imagine my shock when the operator put me through, and I heard this lovely voice saying, “Hello?”
My siblings can attest that I asked first if this was Prince Phillip, to which he answered, “Yes,” then I asked if he was the Duke of Edinburgh and, sounding a bit amused, he again said, “Yes.” Well, at that point I lost my nerve and said, “It was nice to speak with you Sir. Goodbye.”
He was kind enough to stop me, ask my name, and say it was a nice name. I was able to stutter that I hoped he would enjoy his visit and asked him to say hello to The Queen. He said he would, and we ended the call.
Well, you can imagine the breathless laughter with my sisters and brother. Our dad, an ex-royal Air Force man, was strict on protocol, so we were afraid to tell him. He finally learned about it a few weeks later and was delighted, only sorry we didn’t tell him earlier as he said he would have called The Gleaner to report it.
When my sister told her classmate, she tried to call Princess Anne the next day, but she didn’t have the same luck.
On november 7, 2020, 52 per cent of eligible delegates at the People’s national Party (PNP) conference (translating to 55 per cent of those who voted) elected Mark Golding as the sixth president of the party. With his victory, Golding inherited an officer core of 13, with only one publicly endorsing him; and a parliamentary Opposition of 20 (14 Members of Parliament and six senators), only five publicly endorsed him. Included in his inheritance is an executive committee and a national Executive Council (NEC) whose construction was heavily influenced to protect the Dr Peter Phillips-led presidency.
With the stocks possibly against Golding, real or perceived, in the eyes of an objective onlooker, he should be given an opportunity to unite and organise the PNP for the impending local government elections and beyond. With media reports surfacing that defeated contender Lisa Hanna has resigned as party treasurer, reportedly giving the PNP’S executive and new leadership a free hand to choose personnel for key positions, there is also the anticipated resignations of Fitz Jackson and Julian Robinson as PNP chairman and general secretary, respectively.
It is not unreasonable for Golding to be allowed at least two people who, in his best judgement, share his vision to reshape the PNP as a viable political party. Of note, the newly minted president have expressed publicly his desire to have Dr Dayton Campbell and Dr Angela Brown Burke as general secretary and chairman, respectively.
The position of general secretary is one that requires a seamless relationship with the president. As a result, the National Executive Council, for at least three decades, has always, without a challenge, ratified the pick of the leader. During the presidency of Portia Simpson Miller, Julian Robinson was seen as Peter Bunting’s successor; however, the party president desired Paul Burke. At the National Executive Council, Julian Robinson nominated Paul Burke as general secretary, ending all speculations that the convention would be broken.
Fast-forward to 2020, where we saw former Member of Parliament for St Ann North Western, Dr Dayton Campbell, securing 55 per cent of the votes for Golding making him victorious in his bid as president of the party. Dr Campbell first won his marginal parliamentary seat in 2011 by regaining it from the 2007 Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) win. He retained it with a swing
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against the PNP in 2016, but lost it when a former PNP activist entered as independent candidate and during a period when the PNP was trounced 49-14.
He has consistently demonstrated organisational skills, a renewed temperament, and the aptitude to function, even when others are asleep. The office of general secretary, now more than ever, requires someone who, in the immediate decade, is not actively engaged in a process to become or remain a Member of Parliament.
The office of chairman also requires a close working relation with the president and general secretary. Michael Manley was the first president of the party to have a chairman. That person was one of his best friends and schoolmate, David Coore, who was succeeded by founding member of the PNP and later Governor General Sir Howard Cooke. Following Cooke, Michael Manley’s most trusted lieutenant and protégé, P J Patterson, became chairman of the party and was succeeded by his protégé Robert “Bobby” Pickersgill.
Pickersgill served P J and his successor, Simpson Miller, of whom Pickersgill was the closest of confidantes. When he retired, Fitz Jackson succeeded him. Jackson was campaign manager for Peter Phillips on his two unsuccessful runs for party president and one of his closest allies. In all these instances, the party president was given the chairman he or she desired. Mark Golding should be afforded the same privileges and courtesies of his predecessors.
Dr Brown Burke was the campaign director in Golding’s convincing campaign and,
Dr Campbell, pulled it off. Her style and flavour calmly charted the winning course, bringing forces that once strongly opposed each other at one table. The office of chairman requires, among other things, a conciliator — a trait showcased by her.
She first entered the Lower House when Simpson Miller retired in 2017 and, amidst the trouncing of the PNP in 2020, increased her vote count.
It is widely speculated that PNP Vice-president Phillip Paulwell intends to run as party chairman. If successful, he will create another vacancy in the PNP — a position for vice-president. This clearly means that, at least in the immediate future, the PNP will not be allowed to settle and will further erode the little confidence the public has in it.
Paulwell was Member of Parliament; however, Brownburke has served as councillor, mayor and PNP vice-president. It is rumoured that their relationship, now strained, led to his run as vice-president in 2018, edging her out as a long-standing vice-president. If the rumours about their relationship are true, then it can be reasoned that his sole purpose to run as chairman of the party is more of a personal fight than an intention to provide the conciliation that the party currently needs.
During his 2018 run for vice-president he promised party workers a health insurance scheme — a very good idea, I must say, and with the adverse spate of the novel coronavirus, in which over 10,000 Jamaicans have contracted the virus, of which over 200 Jamaicans have so far died, he should focus his attention on delivering on that badly needed unfulfilled insurance plan.
Paulwell was a close confidant of Simpson Miller and is said to be the person that negotiated her transitioning of power to Dr Phillips. None of whom, while president, elevated him to the two other powerful officer corps roles.
Paulwell as campaign director before becoming co-campaign director in the recent general election demonstrated an inability to connect and organise the PNP to effectively participate in elections. The result has been bruising defeat. He, for decades, has been marred with a series of scandals, which, in the eyes of the public, is bad for good order. The Trafigura matter is still before the courts and he is also rocked by the adverse US visa issue. If these matters remain unresolved, the PNP runs the risk of a further erosion of the public’s trust. Paulwell, having actively supported Hanna’s failed bid, should take a cue from her and allow good order to prevail in the PNP.