Golding in the rear-view mirror

Daniel Thwaites, Contributor

As Bruce Golding races to exit Jamaica House, a number of early retrospectives have been offered. Reading and hearing them, I've sometimes felt as if the ordinary meanings of words have changed into the opposite of what they meant last week. But assuming the Oxford English Dictionary has not been jumbled without warning, words like 'statesmanlike', 'graceful' and 'patriotic' don't readily spring to mind. 'Failure' and 'disappointment' do.

Mr Golding has the best and sharpest mind on the government benches, and can hold forth on any area of government or policy with fluid ease. His capacity has never been in doubt. After a colourful early career during which he exported the garrison model into St Catherine, he at least appeared to confess and repent, and that set him apart and above many other lesser men. Most important, though, is that while roaming the political wilderness, Mr Golding developed the rhetoric of fiscal prudence, transparency and constitutionalism. These were powerful calling cards, and I, for one, don't think that Mr Golding's slim majority in 2007 was a true reflection of the massive goodwill and pent-up expectations that ushered him into office.

The trouble is, he went in the opposite direction immediately upon grabbing the wheel of actual power and leaked political capital faster than the Urban Development Commission leaks carpet, chairs and Pegasus shares.

Loosening purse strings

Fiscal prudence was first to be thrown unceremoniously off Driva's bus. The previous Government had taken the politically costly but economically sound move of introducing user fees for some health services and structured cost-sharing for education. These were, in effect, selective tax increases carefully hedged by the National Health Fund programme, and by a means-testing for the school contribution. To my mind, this represented a daring and momentous shift away from the easy populism of 'freeness' towards nurturing a concern for responsibility and quality in health and education. It was, at long last, a reversal of Carl Stone's famous diagnosis of 'politics over economics', but as such, it left the Government politically vulnerable.

Naturally, the budgetary support promised in the campaign did not materialise, and the negative consequences of the electioneering are everywhere around us. Cost sharing has effectively returned with a vengeance in the education sector, but this time without structure and proper regulation. Meanwhile, professionals on the front line of Golding's health disaster suffer parliamentary abuse for telling the truth that the health service is in crisis. When the Seiveright Doctrine of purging the public sector isn't implemented with sufficient rigour, professionals will tell the country the truth about broken machines and deteriorating outcomes.

Transparency index

In terms of transparency, Mr Golding did extend P.J. Patterson's innovation by having all the parliamentary committees chaired by opposition members. Although he probably regrets the move, he deserves commendation. But it is the single credit on a scorecard with demerits too numerous for an average-size book. The Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme is the most glaring example. This, the largest infrastructure programme in the history of the country, was carefully designed to avoid scrutiny, and information about the initiative is about as difficult to get as is word on the country's status with the IMF. On the bright side, I'm told Jamaica has inadvertently developed another attraction where tourists and locals converge to see the famous billion-dollar half-mile stretch of road.

Further towards transparency in Govern-ment, although polite society seems to have formed a consensus that it is impolitic to ask, the public still awaits news about who paid Manatt's bill to maintain Dudus in his kingdom. As Golding bolts towards the door, the public has been given the political equivalent of a break-up by text message or Facebook posting, not a credible explanation as to why, and why now. On transparency, Golding fails.

On broadly 'constitutional' matters, he has to be credited with passing the Charter of Rights Bill, establishing INDECOM, and engineering a proper office for the leader of the Opposition. Against this, having preached the non-politicisation of the public service, Golding struggled mightily to do just that, taking it to unprecedented levels. He wasted little time in dismissing the whole Public Service Commission for refusing to obey him. As mentioned, Golding's minions have advertised a desire to purge the public sector of whomever they consider non-aligned to their cause. Then, of course, there is the whole Dudus mess, where every hallowed principle of law and justice was systematically rubbished, to the cheers and endorsement of his Cabinet who, like Pilate, presume to wash their hands now.

Damned by Dudus

To my mind, Golding crossed the Rubicon with his 'human rights don't begin in Liguanea' speech, when he took the 'reformist' human-rights language he had developed in the political wilderness and applied it to the darkest ends. In a short performance, Golding had committed himself, his Government, his yes-men in the party and in media, and ultimately the whole country, to a path of lawless, reckless folly sure to end in disaster.

Jamaica has had some leaders whose antecedents and capacity propel them into the spotlight. Mr Golding was one such, pretty much genetically engineered for the mantle. For much of his political life, the dangerous status of 'potential leader' or 'prime ministerial material' hung over him, sometimes as halo and sometimes as cloud. Even when the National Democratic Movement was scattered into irrelevance, one knew Bruce was a lion without a lair.

Now, unable to complete even one term, Golding will look across the political barricades at Patterson with a new-found respect. As Clif-twang Brown said, "Is only who can monidge de wata!" Who can take any pleasure in seeing it come to this? The Golden One with a legacy forever welded to Dudus and the Shower Posse's infamy, corpses strewn around west Kingston, and a massive political talent ended "gawn to St Thomas pond".

Daniel Thwaites is an attorney-at-law. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.