Mark Wignall | Politicians and their runaround with scandals

If you are entirely honest with yourself you would know that the modern male of the human species is not that far removed from his primal self.

To the extent that his earliest part of him expressing his manhood was him physically encroaching against his ‘neighbour’ in the next cave, it would be obvious that the items taken would be freshly killed food, tools and women.

The male of the human species is extremely weak at the points in his life when he most desires strength. But overall the most precious thing that he desires above all others is the sexual possession of a beautiful woman. In that chase, many sensible men make damn fools of themselves.

Some men enjoy the power that wealth gives them. That power also gives them their choice of women. It comes by way of an unwritten law of the land. The more power a man has, the more he wants to use it to create an easy alleyway for desirable women to enter his life and visit his bed.

Our society at its most honest level is one where sexual relations do not necessarily move into relationships. The conquest is the objective. A powerful man like a politician who has friends and associates at key levels operating in this country knows that he is protected by a wide umbrella of enablers.

I cannot speak to the merits of the characters of politicians like the People National Party’s (PNP) Dayton Campbell and the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) George Wright, but at the very least they expect us to see them as honourable.

Some damning allegations have been made and many people in the public space have expressed a multitude of views. To my way of seeing it, only the politicians themselves know at this time if those allegations are sound. If the women are lying, the truth from another side may eventually emerge.

Experience tells us that many powerful men tend to take social and economic advantage of women more exposed to the shocks of life. At the same time, we must bear in mind that allegations by themselves can be very damaging. So, in any judgement we must bring our thinking in many different directions all at the same time.

SUPREME VENTURES VS MAHOE GAMING

I had been one of those who was convinced that the gaming market in Jamaica should have learned from other jurisdictions on the international market where the move is towards single supplier gamer.

Unlike the telecoms market where two players have not convinced us that we are being given the fairest deal possible and another entrant on the horizon is being welcomed, many people who expressed satisfaction with the products of Supreme Ventures were also in a mood to see what Mahoe Gaming would offer.

“You can’t get rid a Supreme Ventures. Dat just inna wi system,’ a 57-year-old painter told me. “Mi nuh mind Isizzi use one mega ball fi all dem game. But dem just a try a ting.”

One man told me that he knew of a woman who had won over $27,000 at ‘one of the new place,’ and no money was available. As he explained it to me, the lady eventually collected her money the next day.

Most people who operate a Supreme Ventures (SV) outlet also operate a bar or a shop or both. If there is an unusual win at, say, Cashpot, if the outlet has not yet generated the cash to pay out, the business person will often take cash from, say, the shop to pay out the Cashpot win.

Mahoe Gaming (Izizzi) did what many would say made sense. They arranged the setting up of outlets in many instances next door to a SV shop. In the short term it appears that the new operator is still in its novelty phase with players and potential players feeling it out. In about September a better reading of the street comparison will be made.

WHICH PARTY WILL HURT THE MOST

I have consistently stated that all political parties, whether they hold power or are champing at the bit for it, are always operating in some back room with ‘strategists’ and everything which spills over into the public space is critically examined.

Rest assured that sexual allegations and a crude admixture of physical abuse floating over both the ruling JLP and the opposition PNP are being crunched in the finest points of certain computer programmes.

The PNP and the JLP are mostly made up of men where it matters most. I am reminded of a joke I read in Playboy magazine in the late 1960s.

The salesman for a well-known company had been travelling. After a successful trip abroad it was now time to write up his expense account. One line item just did not make any sense. It was for US$100 and it was titled, ‘Man is not made of wood’.

The man’s boss questioned him. “Well sir, I had just sealed up a contract for $50,000 and I felt like you did when we were in San Diego, powerful and … and you went off with that …”

“It’s okay,” said his boss as he approved the report.

When Michael Manley of the PNP and Hugh Shearer of the JLP were ‘sparring partners’, it was said that many beautiful women deliberately set themselves in the paths of those powerful men. In the case of Manley, one did not even get the sense that anyone was trying to hide anything.

The basic model of the man produced from the early 20th century to now has hardly changed. Well, maybe the level of hypocrisy has increased. Or it could be that there are still many men in both the PNP and the JLP who have never fully moved out of their primal caves. But I suspect that the JLP will weather this storm better than the PNP.

Let me reiterate, many powerful men believe that they ought to be served what they order as their main menu of the moment. And if it cannot be had here there is always another table over there.

- Mark Wignall is a political and public-affairs analyst. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com.