Where is the political party reform?
THE EDITOR, Madam:
AS JAMAICA pushed for constitutional reform and journey on the road to becoming a republic, there is a niggling sense that the vehicle and drivers themselves may not be up to the task.
Political parties, their leadership and membership, based on our current Westminster model, will essentially be spearheading this constitutional reform agenda as their members form the government and as parliamentarians. They, essentially, will set the course by directly influencing decisions, as they did during Independence.
There is no doubt that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and People’s National Party (PNP) have undergone various changes and ideological cycles over the many decades of their existence. But from an outsider point of view, they seem to be old, rusty and broken down, with very little spark left to be vehicles of upliftment and change in a modern Jamaican democracy.
If recent internal events are anything to go by, the PNP and JLP may want to seriously consider reflecting on what their organisations, values and processes should become to align with a new Republic of Jamaica.
For example, should candidate-selection processes be more transparent and open to include a wider representation of a constituency, similar to t he primary system in the United
States? Should candidates serve at local government level before being promoted to Parliament, and should candidates reside in a constituency that they wish to represent?
Political parties must realise that closed-door, gag-order and ‘it’s party business’ approach is a major turn-off for most young Jamaicans who would like to participate in the political process. The youth value transparency and deserve to understand how things work, just as how campaign finance reform brought some transparency. These sorts of opaque internal policies should not follow us into a republic.
Beyond organisational structure and processes, they have softened their philosophical differences, which makes it very difficult to separate the policies and solutions.
Jamaica suffers from a lack of substantial policy differences as a catalyst for unique and interesting ideas. This also concerns the political parties’ inability to have actual positions on current topical issues within the world as they try to come across as pragmatic.
It may be that law governing registered political parties needs to set out a standard of operations for all political parties to follow, or the political parties declare an agreement, as this would not only benefit them, but our democracy and nation on a whole.
MARIO BOOTHE
Youth & Governance Advocate