JLP wobbles from spin to booby traps

Glenn Tucker, Contributor

I am now satisfied that if this government buys a pound of liver, half of it will turn out to be bone.

The Opposition, ably assisted by its friends in the public sector and the media, seems determined to prevent it from completing its term in office, and the Government seems equally determined to assist them. It seems that Bruce Golding's first act in office was to visit Mrs Portia Simpson Miller - fresh from her "worst nightmare" speech/threat, and ask her to choose and manage his public relations team. The Opposition has repeatedly led this government, like sheep, to the edge of a precipice and shouted "jump!" The Government invariably obliges. On the rare occasion that they hesitate, words like "arrogance" and "disrespect" are used and that usually does the trick.

The Opposition would have us believe that the Government hired Manatt, Phelps and Phillips to help Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, and - by extrapolation - they are untrustworthy and "linked to organised crime". The Government says Coke was not the reason for hiring Manatt. The Opposition does not believe them. Manatt says they were not hired to help Coke. The Opposition does not want to believe them. If they know something else could they just tell us so we can move on?

Major logistical nightmare

I believe that when members of the Government received the extradition request, they may well have turned 'white'. For Dudus is no dud and the PM would be acutely aware that he was facing a major logistical nightmare with negative implications for the country, the Government and his career. The Opposition was equally aware of these possibilities and, for the very same reasons, pressured the Government to speed up the process/nightmare.

But here is my real concern. The Jamaica Labour Party came to power when the country was reeling from extraordinarily high levels of corruption and crime, low levels of growth and productivity as well as a kind of fiscal colic. They were given a long-distance race and asked to sprint the distance. My tax dollar is paying them to harness all their creative energies to reverse this situation. At present, they are wobbling, punch-drunk, from rumour to spin to booby traps. It is impossible to perform when one has to respond to assorted kass-kass on a daily basis.

If Mrs Simpson Miller is ready for power again, may I ask her to present to the country a package of credible alternatives to the government's initiatives and let us decide. But we can't re-elect them simply because they demonstrate a superior ability to embarrass, discombobulate and distract the Government. The Opposition is supposed to keep the Government on its toes, not on its knees!

One wonders what the socio-economic landscape would be like if this sudden tsunami of morality that is now drenching and drowning the country had landed when a minister bragged, publicly, that he had manipulated $15 billion (not US$15,000) of the country's money to ensure his party's victory in a general election. And when an inquiry is ordered into the circumstances leading to our greatest financial meltdown, rumour, character assassination and the courts are used to derail the process.

Payback

Last week, I heard one man shout, "We not dropping it ... . This is payback for Trafigura!" But are both matters similar? Manatt, Phelps and Phillips is a distinguished law firm with an impeccable reputation. They engage in hanky-panky to their peril. The speculation about Manatt is quite different from a factual case in which an international company of dubious reputation, secretly used a circuitous route to sneak money into the back pocket of a governing party about to review its contract.

May I warn the Opposition that this road they have chosen to return to Jamaica House is fraught with dangerous, deceptive potholes. The country wants to see a government in waiting demonstrating the capacity to constantly hold the Government to account, thereby raising the quality of decision-making. The people want to see both Government and Opposition building and maintaining effective systems of co-operation on procedural matters, while raising the quality of debate on policy matters. We will know when it happens, because Parliament will be transformed. And we won't leave there wondering if we were in that bar beside the Ward Theatre.

The Opposition cannot be judged without judging Government, nor can the Government be judged without judging the Opposition.

Glenn Tucker is an educator and sociologist and may be reached at Glenntucker8@hotmail.com. Feedback may be sent to letters@gleanerjm.com