Orville Taylor | New Year: We need two seeing as one

Seven days after they made their speeches; some say one is ‘week.’ Starting the new year, both Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding spoke to the nation, regarding the challenges of 2022 and the way forward. Most important is that both have the awesome task of not only galvanising their troops behind them, as politicians do; but to offer solutions that non-partisan, patriotic Jamaicans, will find palatable.

Having listened to the extremists and tribalists, the address of each was either full of nonsense and doom and gloom, or the best speech in years. Truth is, they are neither and both. Like Holness, “We look forward to all the opportunities the New Year presents with a spirit of hope, optimism, determination and faith.” And of course, reprising the theme from our national flag, “Hardships there are, but the land is green and the sun shineth.”

Golding for his part, “The start of a new year is an opportunity to focus on what lies ahead, while taking into account the year we have just gone through, and where we are today.” He says it at the beginning; Holness leaves it for the end. Make whatever you want of that.

GAME OF CRICKET

In many ways, it is like a game of cricket, where the side sent in to bat has to demonstrate how many runs it has scored and the shots it has made. Being its own umpire and scorekeeper, Holness outlines some factual achievements. Count our blessings, indeed, “Jamaica has staged a remarkable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic despite the global economic shock from the war in Ukraine, continuing supply chain bottlenecks, and inflation … economic output is now higher than pre-COVID-19 levels … record low unemployment … business and consumer confidence is high.”

Understandably, Golding is less elegiac and in doing his job, notes that, despite the employment generation and recovery, “Our people have endured a major spike in the cost of living, without much help to cushion the crisis.” Further, the Government “must raise the minimum wage and make it a liveable wage, so that parents can support their families without enduring the deprivations of poverty”.

It might seem like a paradox for both to be right, but one of the vagaries of capitalist development has always been the contradiction of increased economic activity, while the ‘working poor’ continues to grow. In fact, increasing underemployment has been a feature of the Jamaican labour market for the past 30 years, with more and more workers being engaged under ‘indecent’ working conditions.

No administration has addressed this phenomenon, despite the irrefutable fact and body of research, that there is a very direct and indirect relationship between socio-economic abuse in the world of work, especially for women, and the propensity toward violence among their offspring and other family members. Stay tuned for this.

For Holness, in reducing our levels of hostilities, we need to be more humane. Thus “… making a resolution this year to be gentler with one another, kinder to each other, more forgiving and more loving.” No doubt this is more than needed. However, from the lack of courtesy and often blatant disrespect exhibited within and outside of the Houses of Parliament, across the political aisle and against the average citizen, our political leaders must accept the blame, change their game and lead by example. When there is a gap between what leaders do and what they say, the trust deficit remains as wide as the mouth of a regular sleeper in the House.

DON’T TRUST YOU

We don’t trust you; because you have squandered our trust.

As it was in his 2016 campaign promises, Holness has thrown all his remaining capital on a ‘double or nothing’ bet with crime. Honestly, as a nationalist who cannot afford for him to fail, I hold him to his word that, “2023 is the year when Jamaica will start to see a sustained reduction in violent crimes, particularly murders, and see an increase in public order and safety as well.”

In making this bold assertion again, he points to the initiatives such as, new Firearm Act, Bail Act, Road Traffic Act, Fingerprint Bill, Enhanced Security Measures Bill, a new Corrections Bill, increase likelihood of offenders being caught and more severe penalties for criminal convicts.

Yet, Golding is justifiably cautious, because of Holness’ consistent reliance on states of emergency (SOEs) as sine qua non in the battle, celebrating the anecdotal success of the use of “emergency powers”. A three-decade lawyer, he notes that the “Supreme Court has on two occasions ruled against the Government in their recent use of the SOEs … Jamaica needs a strategy which does not violate the Constitution; one which tackles the root causes of the problem in a way which can be supported by all well-thinking Jamaicans, including the Opposition.” Touché.

Herein lies the solution. Too much unidirectional action, too little consultation and too little proper negotiation and openness, regarding many of the very things which affect us the most.

This country does not have enough Labourites or Comrades to exclude the other. We have two sides of the brain, two ears, eyes, nostrils and hands, but only one mouth. Respectful dialogue is not only desirable; it is indispensable.

Otherwise, there is one other organ at the end of the digestive process, where it all comes to an end.

- Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer at the Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.