JLP at 70: cake, anyone?

Gary Spaulding

Tomorrow, July 8, marks the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) 70th birthday, but is there anything to show for it after its flying start out of the electoral gates in 1944, beyond its propensity to be a serial loser of national elections and its reputation for self-inflicted wounds?

The milestone coincides with the reign of the JLP's fourth leader, Andrew Holness', second full year in office, and mumbling within the party that his throne is under threat.

Notwithstanding the marked youthfulness of the leader, an apathetic JLP, appears to be stuck in a time warp.

Holness' meteoric rise to the helm of the JLP was fortuitous in light of the 2010 Christopher 'Dudus' Coke extradition saga, that helped to red-card Bruce Golding to the political sidelines. Prior to that, Holness held no real official position in the party.

However, there are indications that he was anointed by his predecessor, Golding, who urged members to elect a young person, much to the chagrin of grey-haired stalwarts.

Former leader Edward Seaga also appeared in favour of Holness, his mentee. The JLP top brass, especially the seniors, obliged.

The contrast was obvious as he was to be pitted against the matriarchal figure of Portia Simpson Miller, affectionately called 'Mama' by many adoring Jamaicans.

Notwithstanding Simpson Miller's unquestionable popularity, the extradition fiasco of 2009-2010 created a glorious opportunity for Holness to change the course of a party bedevilled by political misfortunes of its own doing.

As the JLP celebrates its 70th birthday, Holness, the youngest leader to be given the reins of authority, appears to be allowing them to slip from his grasp.

It's against this backdrop that the leadership, stalwarts, diehards and other members of the JLP should rise tomorrow and soberly reflect on the bumpy journey that started in 1943 and struggle to regain relevance today.

Holness, only 41 and still the youngest political leader in Jamaica's history, still has a chance to reclaim some semblance of respectability for his party.

But he has to shed his penchant for indecisiveness and discard his propensity to be more preoccupied with the safeguarding of his image over the well-being of the organisation.

As leader of one of the two major political parties in the country, Holness must acknowledge that he has nothing over Simpson Miller, who studiously keeps the media at bay. For, he is still not convincing or inspiring in his utterances on matters of national importance.

Holness may be able to buy some time at the helm in recharting a viable course for the JLP, not because he is young, but because others in the JLP - while contentiously critical of his style - are too yellow-bellied to challenge him.

But with the party's political fortunes plummeting in the middle of an electoral tenure with the governing party hardly shining, Holness needs to stamp his authority as a leader, even as he transforms the JLP's anachronistic legacy of being 'leader-centric'.

Roller-coaster ride

That the JLP has meandered recklessly over the last 39 years, teetering on a precipice and squandering the bulk of its early political gains, is an open secret.

The party was founded on July 8, 1943 by Alexander Bustamante as the political wing of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union. It won the 1944 general election with 22 of the 32 seats, then the 1949 poll with a reduced majority, before losing power to the People's National Party (PNP) in 1955.

As political analysts Richard Crawford and Professor Anthony Clayton have argued, both the JLP and PNP have had near-equal time in government since 1944. The JLP has had 34 years from seven election victories, and the PNP 35 years from nine victories.

But it was the JLP, the younger of the two political parties, that sped to the forefront of the political husting in the 1944 general election when Jamaica achieved universal adult suffrage.

The two parties were always forced by voters to relinquish political power at the completion of two electoral terms, until 1997 when the PNP won and the JLP lost three consecutive elections and followed up with a fourth to reshape the political landscape.

The JLP remained in opposition following the 1959 election, but was victorious in 1962 to lead Jamaica into Independence.

Changing Baton

In 1964, Bustamante retired from politics, but did not relinquish the title of party leader for several years until the party gave him the honorific title of 'The Chief' following its defeat in the 1972 election.

In the interim, the party was led by Donald Sangster (until 1967) and Hugh Shearer (until 1974), having the title of first deputy leader.

In 1974, Edward Seaga became the second leader of the party. The party lost the 1976 election, but Seaga became prime minister after victory in 1980 when the party won 51 of the 60 seats. In an election boycotted by the PNP in 1983, the JLP took all 60 seats.

They were defeated in the 1989 election and went on to lose polls in 1993, 1997 and 2002. In 2005, Bruce Golding succeeded Seaga as head of the party and led it to victory in the 2007 election.

Golding resigned as head of the party in October 2011, and was succeeded by Holness, under whose leadership the JLP lost the 2011 general election.

Born on February 24, 1884, Bustamante, the streetsmart labour agitator for the poor and vulnerable, was less than a year younger than his cousin, political ally-turned-rival Norman Manley, the cerebral barrister and political visionary.

After the ascension of leaders on both sides of the divide who have paid their dues - Donald Sangster and Hugh Lawson Shearer who were not actual, but de facto leaders of the JLP - Edward Seaga and Golding spent years before they were elected.

So did P.J. Patterson and Portia Simpson Miller in the PNP.

Andrew Holness still has a fighting chance to change the course of history.

It is left to be seen whether the milestone of the 70th anniversary of the JLP will propel Holness and his team to make a renewed, conscious, concerted and creative effort to re-emerge from the political doldrums.

Gary Spaulding is a political affairs journalist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and gary.spaulding@gleanerjm.com.