PJ’s focus on scoring own goal instead of the real goal

The need to respond to a recent perspective from former Jamaican Prime Minister, the Most Honourable P.J. Patterson, I believe, sadly reflects, to a great extent, the failure of much of the country’s past leadership on critically important issues and the need, over time, for major changes to the political landscape and thinking.

In focusing on the causes of our continued challenges as a nation and in seeking to spotlight the underlying causes for the vortex of decline in which we have existed for some time, it is unfortunate that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has, tragically, entered the mix.

But amid the realities of such hugely significant developments, it should be recognised that the central cause of our failures in the past has been the failure to recognise on merit, the geo-political syndrome that has traditionally thrived on keeping the poor across the world poorer and continually exploited.

Within that context, while conceding the relevance of much of the prognosis from Mr Patterson in respect of the global implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, I find it imperative to bring some attention to an element of hypocrisy that appeared to have emerged among his pronouncements on the means to effectively combat the pandemic.

Mr Patterson rightly cited the need for a concerted global effort to battle the virus and pointed to the extreme and life-threatening challenges that the poorer countries across the world face in their bids to survive the negative consequences of the disease. But he appeared to have, in the process, demonstrated a selective positioning on a few critical realities of the global political order and its imperatives for states like Jamaica and much of the wider Caribbean.

The former prime minister, the longest-serving person in that position in Jamaica’s history, urged a focus on debt forgiveness from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for poorer states, globally, which, in principle, was a reasonable position.

Then he also urged the African Union and CARICOM to “renew international campaigns for reparative justice against the enslavement of African people and its residual consequences on affected populations in the African Diaspora”.

All good again, right?

Wrong! Not in its messaging, but in its reflective application as for the record, Mr Patterson as prime minister of Jamaica for 14 unbroken years, had the best opportunity of all of Jamaica’s heads of government to foster the process of reparation for the descendants of African slaves who were wantonly abused and exploited by European powers in the Caribbean centuries ago, but he was never at the forefront of the drive back then when he was at the pinnacle of his influence.

Not a useful partner

I have been there front and centre on this mission, and nowhere along the way can I recall him as a useful partner or even a fervent supporter on this very long journey.

Indeed, as I prepare to release an upcoming book on my fight for reparation, with the proceeds to help fund the remainder of the fight, I personally find it heart-rending, and almost amusing in the same breath, that this giant of a political figure in Jamaica’s history is only now seriously calling for a focus on the subject matter, this while conveniently pitching for debt relief for poorer countries like Jamaica when he never, from my memory, pitched for reparative justice for the Jamaican and wider Caribbean people, of whom he was one of the most recognisable leaders who, interestingly, benefited immensely from the Black Power syndrome.

It is extremely ironic that someone who had full opportunity to bring about real change for our people on a position of solid historical grounding remained pretty much silent on the issue for all his time in power and effectively failed us where and when it mattered so much but is now seeking cover behind a call for debt relief from the global financial community for the ravages of COVID-19.

Instead of going after what we are clearly owed as a nation and people, some of our past leaders, like Mr Patterson, dithered at the wheels of State, only to be now, at least in his case, batting for virtual handouts from the rich when both rich and poor countries are being, perhaps, equally devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Indeed, for the records and to reinforce the point, what was Mr Patterson’s contribution over his 14-year leadership span on the matter of reparation? And even when he retired but maintained a commentary focused on the country’s national path, where was he, and how silent was he when, for example, then British Prime Minister David Cameron, a descendant of owners of chattel slaves, strode into Jamaica in 2015 and refused to even discuss the question of reparation with the Government and people of this country?

Yes, debt relief is quite relevant, but it has been historically used almost like a chemically created plot or tool for use by the traditional colonial masters to dangle before our leadership to keep us subservient and effectively in eternal poverty as we hang out our caps and seek what we are not owed in any clear-cut way.

This is while reparation is the exact opposite – what we are intrinsically owed based on legal, historical, economic and human right grounds. Yet people like Mr Patterson, him with all of 14 years as the team captain at the wicket, did not have the foresight or, perhaps, the backbone to fight for this right of ours!

As the saying goes, “None but ourselves can free our minds”, it is important to note that continued lack of belief in ourselves as a people, stemming significantly from the examples of some of our past leaders, has been essentially to our peril as a nation and people.

While his call for debt forgiveness for poorer states globally within the increasingly challenging COVID-19 circumstances does have merit, were the gross exploitation, racial disenfranchisement, and human degradation of chattel slaves in the Caribbean not more compelling grounds for reparation? And who does not know that debt forgiveness has been a central plank of the claim for reparation.

One could reasonably ask, what would it take for the average person to reach this logical conclusion on the matter, much less a gifted mind like Mr Patterson?

But indeed, in just the same way that we insulted our forbearers and liberators, including our national heroes, in allowing David Cameron to pompously speak in our Parliament without any request or requirement of him to reference the subject of reparation, some of us as leaders continue to almost ignore what is our intrinsic right, preferring instead to panhandle on the global financial stage.

n L. Michael Henry (Mike Henry) is member of parliament for Central Clarendon and minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister. Email feedback to michaelhenrylmh@yahoo.com.