Warmington good medicine for our sick politics

Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer

IN A POLITICAL culture in which independence of thought is taboo, no one within the political domain, or outside for that matter, seems to be indifferent to Everald Warmington, unquestionably an independent-minded individual whose candour has, more frequently than not, landed him in hot water than any other politician in recent memory.

Intriguingly, in this anachronistically ingratiating culture in which Jamaican politics languishes, Warmington has unabashedly refused to toe party or political lines. After more than 30 years in politics, the survival instincts of Warmington, a long-standing member of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), are legendary as he continues to attract public attention. He has miraculously or mysteriously survived politically while swimming upstream against an all-pervasive tide of political sycophancy that has crippled the politics in Jamaica over many years.

'necessary evil'

Becoming a parliamentarian at the relatively tender age of 28, Warmington was born in Brown's Hall, St Catherine, in 1952; educated at Brown's Hall All-Age School, St Andrew Technical High School, and the College of Arts, Science and Technology (now UTech), before migrating in the 1980s.

The member of parliament for South West Catherine has turned out to be an authentically seasoned campaigner and perhaps a 'necessary evil' in Jamaica's antiquated political culture.

Toughened by years of controversy in which he appears to revel, Warmington has amply demonstrated that he will not be browbeaten by detractors in and out of the political domain.

As a young politician who won his seat in the political avalanche that was the 1980 general election, the outspoken young man fell out of grace with a then JLP General Secretary Bruce Golding. His small pumpkin farm became a casualty of war, before he was barred from contesting the snap election of 1983.

Warmington drifted out of the political glare, but his fire, as many found out 20 years later, was not extinguished. In fact, his spark was rekindled with a vengeance on his return to active politics in 2002. He has not been quite out of the public glare following his rather jolting public comments in the lead-up to the 2007 local government elections when he allegedly warned of their role.

a mind of his own

Indeed, while not very many appear to like his style, Warmington has demonstrated in no uncertain way that he refuses to be aligned to any one person or faction. In doing so, he has ensured that his voice is heard whenever he speaks.

Warmington's comments in Parliament have failed to endear his colleagues to him. It was, however, his bullish confrontation with the former Leader of the JLP and Prime Minister Bruce Golding at a meeting of the JLP's Standing Committee in 2011 that drew wide-scale public attention to the beleaguered party.

In a forthright move that is alien in the local political culture, Warmington took on Golding and outlined in extensive details the predicament that the party had been placed in as a result of his handling of the Manatt/Dudus issue.

The wider populace, yet to recover from a string of issues relating to the Dudus extradition fiasco was riveted by Warmington's audacity, a foreign characteristic in local politics. Needless to say, Warmington turned out to be on target, as Golding tendered his resignation at a meeting of the JLP's Central Executive later and the JLP was floored in the national polls.

thorn in the flesh

Since then, Warmington has proven himself to be a thorn in the flesh of Parliamentarians who are not particularly keen on Standing Orders, procedures and rules, as he has taken the leadership to task on a range of issues relating to procedures and has turned out to be correct in all of them.

The adamant positions Warmington has adopted over the years have an uncanny knack of being procedurally correct or grounded in firm, principled positions. That he dared to confront the powerhouse within his party when he discovered that three of four deputy leaders were unconstitutionally nominated ahead of the party's recent annual conference, speaks eloquently to his intrepid nature for which he has been repeatedly berated. If some in his party had thought that he would have been silent because it was an internal party issue, they were wrong. When his appeal to the party secretariat fell on deaf ears, Warmington turned to the court - and the rest is history.

The internal elections at last Sunday's meeting of the JLP's Central Executive suggest that, after all, Warmington may have instilled some valuable lessons and principles within his own party. Indeed, one has to clean up his own yard before focusing elsewhere, to paraphrase a popular proverb.

Warmington may not be so bad after all; he appears, rather, to be an excellent addition to ward off the evils and ills inherent in Jamaica's politics.

Gary Spaulding is a veteran journalist. Send comments to columns@gleanerjm.com or gary.spaulding@gleanerjm.com.