JaRistotle’s Jottings | Mouth mek fi say anything

As I sat lamenting on things Jamaica April Fools' Day, what came to mind? Politicians and their penchant for repeatedly uttering never-to-be-fulfilled promises, readily and repeatedly swallowed by ever hopeful people. I wanted to laugh. Unfortunately, the reality was too painful.

Back in mid-September last year, the Government announced that the Junction road linking St Andrew and St Mary would be rehabilitated under a $626-million project. People may also recall that a major brouhaha arose because of the pending by-election in the St Mary South East constituency, which housed a major chunk of the Junction road at the heart of the rehabilitation project. Nuff accusations and denials, a lot of irresponsible grandiloquence.

Last weekend, I drove through the Junction from Kingston to St Mary. Upon entering St Mary, my vehicle threatened to sue me for aggravated endangerment and abuse, believing that I had decided to take a donkey trail instead of staying on the main road. The road was awful, with countless craters and unmarked breakaways, not to mention the non-existent lighting in many places.

I was expecting to at least see some evidence of the $626 million contract being executed; instead it was more of a half-assed attempt to patch a few potholes. Alas, as with most things political in Jamaica, I could only shake my head and resign myself to another case of 'fool dem up', with the buy-election long past the six-month mark and other fools awaiting. Politician mouth mek fi say anything.

Foot in mouth disease

I recall the controversial statement attributed to the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Everald Warmington during the aforementioned campaign: "It makes no sense to elect a PNP (People's National Party) MP when you have a JLP government!" and that "it is quite clear and obvious; if you have a JLP MP it means he will be able to serve you far better than a PNP MP".

More recently, while addressing persons at a meeting in Manchester, Minister Rudyard Spencer reportedly expressed similar sentiments, allegedly promising JLP supporters increased assistance through RADA now that a member of the JLP was the chairman.

Very inappropriate statements, as they were interpreted by many as being very divisive, even somewhat extortive, depending on individual perspective. However, let us not kid ourselves, regardless of what anyone says or wants you to believe, party-based preferential treatment has always been the order of the day. After all, favour peddling secures votes, nuh true? Mr Spencer's problem, like that of Mr Warmington's, was that he spoke aloud in public. They let the puss out of the bag.

Controversial utterances, whether intentional or bloopers, are recurring decimals on the political circuit; after all, mouth mek fi say anything, especially when you can get away with it. Just remember, preferential treatment for some amounts to victimisation for others.

However, the main issue is not so much what was said, but more in terms of what has not been done to address such cases. Prime ministers must have the testicular fortitude to deal with errant pickneys and send them to go stand in the dunce corner. The public deserves better than token acknowledgement of the occurrences and spin-doctor responses which only serve as incentives for repeat performances.

Politicians should bear in mind that contemptuous words do nothing for their already tarnished credibility, given that they ranked the lowest on the totem pole for trustworthiness with 88 per cent of persons polled viewing them as untrustworthy (Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson poll, 9-11 June 2017). Kindly put brain in gear before engaging mouth. Ah nuh everything mouth fi say.