Poor political communication engenders mistrust
HISTORICALLY, most politicians are perceived in a negative light as the average voter believes that they mainly enter representational politics to enrich themselves and promote their personal interests.
The recent announcement by Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke about the massive hike in politicians’ salaries encourages the citizens’ view that the Government is not for the average person.
They have, like on many other occasions, shown that they are insensitive and tonedeaf to the people’s cry. Despite the protests — though not very well supported — the message is crystal clear that the people are dissatisfied with the level of increase allotted to the political directorate. By now, the message is obvious that most people are not opposed to them getting an increase, but it is the enormous percentage of the increase that is unsettling.
Dr Clarke has made some bold moves regarding the country’s economy, which have led to positive outcomes. There are no questions about his expertise to transform the state of the country’s economic affairs for even greater benefits. He and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government have taken some bold and critical initiatives that successive administrations have avoided for many decades. However, for the JLP to suggest that the hefty hike in politicians’ salaries aims to attract the best and brightest talent in politics is low-key insulting to the other civil service professions.
Daily we complain about the state of education in our country, which seems to be decaying even more. Is the Government saying that the teaching profession does not need the best minds? Are they saying that the police force should recruit mediocre officers to enforce law and order and fight crime? The Government’s position has suddenly caused many professionals to be attracted to politics because that seems to be the only sector that grants such a humongous raise in compensation at one go.
Minister without portfolio for information Robert Morgan seems to “tek people for fool”. He sought to justify the ridiculous hike by saying that there are many other professions that have received a 100 per cent increase. The truth is: Some people do not even know the true amount they received because it is still confusing for them.
It behoves me that people argue that some teachers are moving from an annual gross package of $1.3 million to $2.3 million. But can you believe that an educator was earning just over $1 million per year? Make it make sense.
With all the allowances previously given now infused in the overall salary, it means that employees will be paying more taxes. People do not pay much attention to gross salary; they look at their net. And with cost of living going up daily, everyone now wishes they were part of the royal representative corps so that they could brush their teeth to the tune of $34 million. Perhaps some Sabbath keepers would even consider working on the Sabbath for this amount of money.
The Government needs to improve the way it communicates information to the public. Failure to do so will give further rise to the already high level of distrust with which the populace perceives them. Too often they find themselves having to clarify pertinent information after the fact. Both traditional and social media outlets have been flooded with press releases, videos, and press briefings aimed at rectifying information that is said to have been misinterpreted by the public and misrepresented by journalists.
The Government has been very reactive and it is not a good look. We know that certain media practitioners and civil society groups have a certain agenda, but if communication were clear from the beginning, there would be little room for ambiguity. Perhaps it needs to assign the beloved newly appointed senator, Akba FitzHenley, to help out with the information portfolio.
Let us consider the level of communication coming out of the Constitutional Reform Committee. People have been complaining about the tardiness with which they communicate information regarding public forums. Often, it is the day before that the public sees the flyers circulating on social media. Another thing is that there is no known centralised location, such as a website, from which citizens can obtain pertinent information. We, therefore, welcome the news that there may be a delay in tabling the republic Bill in Parliament. Hopefully, we can have more in-depth consultation with the public in the true sense of the word.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced that there will be accountability measures to guide politicians, including specific performance criteria. In fact, the Government has disclosed that some of these measures have already been worked on and will be tabled in Parliament soon. But why didn’t this needed information precede the announcement of the grand salary increases?
The Opposition People’s National Party also needs to work on its communication strategy. Everyone seems to be the spokesperson of every ministry. It has no clear message either and members seem to speak only to gain political mileage. Even some of their press releases make little sense.
For us to trust their message, our politicians will need to communicate better.
Oneil Madden is interim chair/head of Department of Humanities and lecturer in language(s) and linguistics at Northern Caribbean University. He is also a PHD candidate in applied linguistics at Clermont Auvergne University, France. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or maddenoniel@yahoo.com.