A new politics: a pipe dream?

Keith Noel, Contributor

THE 'NEW' POLITICS, at the moment, is more smokescreen than a tangible reality. For years, we have been promised a 'new' approach to governance, a moving away from playing to the garrison, 'people power', and transparency. Yet, in reality, we have made little progress in this direction.

So my dream, some would call it a pipe dream, is that on New Year's Eve, the prime minister and leader of the opposition of this country would quietly call their MPs together and resolve that, in the New Year, much of the old politics would be shed.

Neither leader would need to expand on this. It would simply mean that they would begin, in earnest, to do what they have been promising to do for so long. It would mean that, whoever forms the government would strive to alleviate poverty for all in the country. We would hear much less of the catchphrases like 'dismantling the garrisons' which no one has stated how it would be done. A garrison in Jamaica is a working-class 'ghetto' community in which the people are all or nearly all supporters of one political party. We know how they came about. Some were unabashedly constructed, concrete jungles built with government money, and into which known supporters of the then ruling party were placed. Others developed through the political patronage of persons in depressed areas, until they became their fervent supporters. So you cannot 'dismantle' Tivoli, or Rema, or Jungle, or Grant's Pen or Rivoli. The people in those areas would for some time to come, be ardent supporters of one party or the other.

What must change are the attitudes of politicians to these communities. When a politician speaks of 'helping my people', he must speak of all of his constituents, not his political supporters.

So, in my dream, if 'Mama P' wins, there would be no 'tit for tat'. There would be no 'making up for four years of neglect' and, for example, priority road repairs in the country would be decided upon by engineers and development planners, and no decisions would be made based on the political affiliations of the people whom the roads service.

If 'Brother Andrew' wins, the blatant politicising of decisions of this sort would stop. There would also be no more fear in the Ministry of Education, and for that matter in the civil service as a whole, that if one does not toe the political line, one's job can be in jeopardy.

And then, loyalty to the party leader would no longer be so important for political survival. It would be possible for a person in the People's National Party, who is discontented with the leadership to freely criticise, within the party, and so not have their disagreement made to fester until they become a malcontent and find themselves crossing the floor.

real action

And there would be honesty in leadership. If the reality of modern politics means that things like Trafigura would happen, there must be immediate admission and disclosure when it is uncovered. So the Jamaica Labour Party leadership, if another Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme atrocity was uncovered, would not do like the PNP and simply demote the relevant minister with promises of future action. Real action must be taken.

But most of all, Mrs Simpson Miller would make good on her promise of 'people power' and return to her plan of putting real power in the hands of the small man, through the community-based organisations which would form community development committees and cevelopment area committees. The community would have a real input in decisions regarding government expenditure on small projects in their communities and would help to monitor them. No longer would community development be seen as political largesse.

And Mr Holness would refrain from making statements and decisions without doing the proper research. It has harmed much of his good intentions in education. His announcements on textbook choice for CXC literature panicked parents and students, his hasty decisions when the results of the grade-four tests were delayed, caused turmoil among Ministry of Education employees, his premature statements about failing schools angered teachers. As a prime minister, he must promise to be more circumspect, more careful, probably speak more often from prepared notes!

keith Noel is an educator. Send comments to columns@gleanerjm.com