Sixty-three members, but only two voices
THERE ARE 63 members of parliament, but instead of hearing 63 voices, we hear two – that of the People’s National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). Earlier this week, the Political Ombudsman (Interim) (Amendment) Act, 2024, was passed in parliament to allow for the office of the political ombudsman to be subsumed under the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ).
It’s conceivable that there could be convincing reasons both for and against the passage of such a bill. That is not the relevant issue here. The issue is that yet again, the country sees its leaders playing politics with another issue of national significance.
Merely four weeks before the upcoming local government elections on February 26, the government tabled a bill to effect major structural change to the office of the political ombudsman. When the vote was taken, quite conveniently, every single voting member of the JLP agreed that the bill should be passed. That is, the ECJ commissioners should take over the role of the political ombudsman. On the other hand, though much fewer in numbers, every single voting member of the PNP disagreed. Surprise, surprise.
I hate this fake-and-pretentious system of governance where our politicians obviously care first and foremost about defending party positions and much less about the actual issues on the table, however far-reaching the implications are for the Jamaican people. Once again, another decision has been made in parliament not because the country called for it, and not because it went through the rigours of intellectual parliamentary discourse, but because one party beat the other in a numbers game. How uninspiring.
NOTHING NEW
This is nothing new, anyway. It happens all the time. The various states of public emergency that have been declared by the government in recent years all came to an abrupt end because of a deadlock between the government and the Opposition. More than once, the government needed at least one vote from the Opposition senators to achieve the two-thirds majority required for an extension to be granted. In each case, they didn’t get the vote.
The Opposition senators objected on the argument that the extension would be unconstitutional, and the government senators supported the extension because, according to them, it would reduce crime.
Is the calling to national leadership so trivial that all it takes is a group decision to muzzle the ‘bold’ leaders we vote into power?
To be fair, I suppose the problem is the system and not so much the people. Clearly there is a tendency by the country’s political leaders to put party interests above national interests, but they are almost bound to do so because the platform through which they have risen to political prominence is that of their political party, the same political party they joined in their younger days as a stepping stone into a booming political career.
Without the‘ links’ afforded them by their respective political parties, many would be nowhere with nothing. And what better way to say thanks than to sell their voice and conscience to the parties which made them?
Some Jamaicans will tell you that they feel stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea every election season. They don’t want to vote for either of the two major political parties, often for a different set of reasons. Well, for me, the issue goes beyond the two current political parties.
DESTROY OBJECTIVITY
The issue is political parties and how easily they destroy objectivity and honesty. Maybe it’s time to consider how this party-centric political system has not only held us back from honest leadership, but has also helped to fuel tribalism and partisanship, where we should be working together.
Recently I came across an election campaign video posted by Young Jamaica, a youth arm of one of the two major political parties. It capitalised on a popular TikTok trend characterised by the participant giving descriptors of him/herself as a member of a particular demographic. The video featured two young women, who took turns explaining why they are ‘labourites’.
One said “I’m a labourite. Of course, I’m gonna vote for the JLP, because with them in government, young people like myself are sure to have access to jobs, even straight out of high school.”
The other followed by saying “I’m a Labourite. Of course I also want you to become a Labourite, because now working at least $13,000 a week is awesome.” Sigh.
It is okay to support a particular political party even if it is just because you like the colour that represents the party. But it is not okay to pretend, or blatantly lie. Lies are the reason the average Jamaican can’t stand politicians. If the truth is that bad, just choose silence instead.
At what point did it become great to be earning $13,000 per week? And who is getting jobs straight out of high school? And what jobs?
What is really disappointing is that the upcoming crop of young politicians we expected to usher in a new dispensation of collaboration, cooperation and overall productivity, seems equally as beholden to the chicanery, pretence and time-wasting of the olden days, as previous generations.
What will really get us out of this mess?