Letter of the Day | Penalise political victimisation, no matter who

THE EDITOR, Sir:

Junior Minister Ruddy Spencer's statement last Sunday at a political meeting in Bellefield, Manchester, highlighted a practice in our political culture that embodies divisiveness, unfairness and is reflective of one of the ugliest parts of our society - political tribalism.

After coming under pressure, he publicly withdrew the statement, which is very understandable, as it was shameful. However, a withdrawal of the statement is just not enough!

If we accept his retraction as the end of the matter, as a country, we are explicitly accepting this ugly, unfair and unjust practice in our politics. This is part of the reason why close to 50 per cent of our citizens do not vote.

I came into representational politics aware of this problem and I am committed to stamping it out! We must bring integrity back in our politics beginning with standing up against the practices that do not align with who we are, and what we want as a country.

 

THE REAL PROBLEM

 

The problem we face as a country is not simply that Ruddy, a minister of state, made an inappropriate statement. The problem is that in our political culture, the actions he spoke to are perceived to be the norm. The problem is also that this state minister sees it as acceptable behaviour and therefore not an unreasonable practice in his political sphere. None of the other leaders on the stage saw it necessary to denounce the statement in the moment or immediately thereafter.

His colleague minister, Everald Warmington, made a similar pronouncement during the recent St Mary by-election. He stated, "It makes no sense to elect a PNP member of parliament when you have a Jamaica Labour Party Government. It is quite clear and obvious [that] if you have a Jamaica Labour Party member of parliament, it means that he will be able to serve you far better than a PNP member of parliament."

Do we have the will to say "no more" to this practice, no matter who is in power!?

It is one thing to say it should not happen, but how do we assure that Jamaica can move away from crony politics? All politicians do not practise cronyism and systemic political victimisation, but enough do to sufficiently cause a dominantly negative perception of our politics by our citizens.

 

PROPER PROCEDURES

 

We need to put in place procedures for the appointment of persons to government bodies and the awarding of contracts.

When construction and other government funded projects are being implemented, we need procedures that remove the politician from having the final say in who is employed from the communities where the work is occurring. They should be able to make recommendations, but an independent person must be engaged to have the final say.

We need rules that prevent anyone who has represented a political party in an election or is a known activist from being employed to or being appointed chairpersons of government agencies that are involved in dispensing social services.

We need laws that would penalise anyone involved in acts of discrimination against an individual because of political affiliation.

Jamaicans, let us lobby for change.

PATRICIA DUNCAN

SUTHERLAND