The dark art of obfuscation

by Tyrone Reid, GUEST COLUMNIST

IT HAS been several years since I have written an opinion piece. But the recent garrison row has compelled me to break my public opinion sabbatical even though I am on vacation. Prime Minister Andrew Holness' fear of using the word garrison after his initial use of the expression in his inauguration speech was repudiated by Opposition leader Portia Simpson Miller, and her insistence that there are no garrisons in Jamaica are among the reasons I am still on the political fence. The pedestrian and parochial politicking by both political leaders over this issue is typical of the behaviour of politicians that has turned me off from politics.

The Opposition leader's refusal to accept that there are garrisons in Jamaica and the prime minister's hasty retreat to a more politically correct terminology to describe these political zones of exclusion is symptomatic of what is wrong with politics in Jamaica. Our politicians have proven again that they are masters of the dark art of obfuscation and denial. It seems the prime minister is afraid of losing the grass-roots vote and, as such, doesn't want to rock the boat too much by continuing to use the word, and the opposition leader is apparently trying to score political points with persons who live in these areas by her constant denial that these zones of political exclusion are a figment of our collective imagination. Or, by suggesting that the use of the word garrison is polarising, and if the word is used people will feel so bad about themselves that it would somehow hinder the change that is required.

Why I refuse to vote

Madam Opposition Leader, the garrisons or zones of political exclusion in this country are real and will not disappear simply because you have chosen to bury your head in the sand.

Every bullet hole in the concrete structure of the family home I grew up in forms part of the reason I have refused to vote. (I couldn't understand and still haven't grasped how people who live a stone's throw away from each other could be friendly with each other for four years and then become sworn enemies during the silly season. It didn't make sense then and still doesn't make an iota of sense now).

Every night on the eve of an election that I could not sleep on my bed but on the floor between the concrete walls of the hallway of my home have driven the stakes and nails into this fence I've been sitting on and refuse to vote.

Each time I had to forsake the warmth of the covers of my bed and head for that designated bunker in the hallway is a chilling reminder that garrison-type politics is real.

Do your job, PM

Mr Prime Minister, you are the leader of this country. Do your job. Lead! You can't back down because a word is uncomplimentary. Euphemism will get us nowhere. The truth will set us free. The time for pleasantries has been far spent. Have some backbone and stand up and use the word garrison, not in defence of that awful old-style politics but to end it. Everything requires leadership, Mr PM. Now man up and go do what needs to be done. Call a spade a spade and a garrison a garrison. Then and only then will we end that rabid political philosophy. If we don't accept that we have a problem it is next to impossible to have it remedied. All the lives that have been lost to garrison-type politics call for it. All the votes that have been denied or coerced demand it.

These are the same politicians who would deny that they have dons performing strong-arm tactics during the silly season until one of these hoodlums die and they turn up at the funeral. Or, better yet, they don't know the dons until an extradition request turns up and then the party, not the government, forks out thousands of US dollars to defend a don they wouldn't admit to knowing in public.

I accept that our politics is not as tribal as it was in years gone by. General elections are no longer bloodbath. But a wise man once said that you don't always have to use force, just project strength. After years of unchallenged control of constituencies, many of these henchmen are still running in the strength of the carnage they unleashed in the past. People are still afraid of what they can do.

Our politicians have lacked the collective will to take tough decisions for the betterment of this country. Until there is a change in that mindset, I'll remain on this proverbial fence. But I won't sit quietly.

Tyrone Reid is a senior staff reporter at the Gleaner Company. Email: columnist@gleanerjm.com