Politicians on the periphery?
MAYBE IT’S just me, but somehow it seems as if elected politicians in this country are losing the relevance they once had in the communities within their constituencies and divisions.
By politician, I mean elected members of parliament and councillors in the municipal corporations. And by relevance, I mean the direct influence they have on events and people within their area of political responsibility.
There was a time when a visit from the politician to a particular community was the only time residents would see a professional of a certain kind, say, a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer in the flesh. By virtue of their professional training and political office, they represented the ideal the children in these communities were urged to aspire to. A politician then was a country or ghetto boy or girl’s hope and not their pipe dream. When those residents spoke to their children about being successful in life, the politician was exactly who and what that success meant.
The politician held such sway over events in their areas that the police would lean heavily on their support to quell outbreaks of violence. One phone call by the MP or councillor and certain elements would lay down arms out of respect for the wishes of the big man or woman. Not anymore.
There are criminals running amok in communities who are more likely to train their weapons on a politician rather than take any instruction about how often, and at which enemy, they should fire their rifles. Apart from a rogue few, politicians aren’t even giving gangsters guns anymore. And because they didn’t provide the guns, they can’t determine when and how the guns are used.
Remember what happened in September 1998 when Donald ‘Zekes’ Phipps was given a megaphone to disperse a huge crowd of his ‘people’ who were threatening to storm Central Police Station and free him from detention? That was an exercise in the kind of power and influence that politicians once had in Jamaica.
POLITICIANS’ ROLE TODAY
Politicians are still required to fund burials, wakes, weddings, back-to-school activities and street dances, as they were back in their glory days. They still have to turn up at graduation time to press flesh with constituents.
But the maintenance of this handout aspect of the politician’s role is simply because, as we say in this country, ‘money can’t too much’. And the politician will always be kept close enough so they can fulfil their purpose of providing a $100,000 here or a $50,000 there.
They’ll most definitely be kept sweet so they can fund the annual back-to-school treat or pay for the digging of Mama’s grave or buying the suit that Papa, who in life was one of the politician’s most loyal foot soldiers, will be buried in. Every circus needs a clown. And so every formal event, be it a graduation or a funeral service, needs a politician in a suit to honour the tradition and ceremony of such occasions.
The expected rebuttal to my position is that politicians make laws and represent the interests of their constituencies or local government divisions in Parliament or at parish corporation meetings. Well, they do indeed make laws. No counterargument from me there. But they are well below average in the quality of representing the views of their constituents in these formal settings. The parish corporations are perhaps a bit different because their politics is local. But I have already written about how the structure of the business of the House of Representatives prevents MPs from raising constituency matters in the chamber.
Apart from the Budget and Sectoral debates, where politicians thank persons in, say, West Central St Andrew or East Central St Andrew for sending them to Parliament, precious little is ever said about the direct activities in constituencies.
For those who believe my overall assessment is off, just ask within your group of friends about the feelings towards politicians. If you still disagree, look at the voter turnout numbers in the last five general elections. My advice: Don’t waste time looking at the turnout for parochial elections.
Selah.