While the PNP’s move to release its manifesto in accessible formats is welcome, voters still face limited time to understand and compare party platforms ahead of the election. The delay in publishing such documents, especially with the JLP yet to release its manifesto, underscores the need for parties to provide citizens with sufficient lead time. Adequate access to manifestos is essential for informed decision-making and for holding governments accountable to their promises.

Manifestos have value

Jamaica Gleaner/18 Aug 2025

THE GLEANER commends the People’s National Party’s (PNP) attempt to widen accessibility to its manifesto for next month’s general election.

The document is delivered not only in written formal English, but is being made available in audio form - in English and Jamaican creole/patois. This, on the face of it, should open the manifesto to larger audiences, including those Jamaicans who struggle with speaking and reading formal English, especially when dealing with complex issues.

But, even with this action by the opposition party, there are questions about, if not of, the seriousness of the PNP’S commitment, but the urgency with which it approached this exercise, or perhaps more critically, the weight Jamaica’s parties give to manifestos.

Indeed, a week after Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness announced the September 3 date for the poll, his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is yet to release a manifesto, or a document outlining the programmes or projects it plans to undertake, should it retain the government. Instead, it has published a glossy document listing what the party characterised as over 250 significant achievements in its nearly a decade in office.

DRIBBLING APPROACH

While the PNP’S innovation is applauded, it is surprising to this newspaper the dribbling approach it has taken to the delivery of the audio versions of its manifesto.

Simultaneous with the publication of the soft copy version of the document, there were audio segments of the manifesto dealing with some of the party’s plans for early childhood development, primary education; a proposed school bus service; and the feeding of children at school. These, however, represent only a small proportion of issues covered by the manifesto. Other chapters were promised for release this week.

The question now is whether the audio version, English and creole, will be ready and posted before the election, and whether the people who need them most will really have the promised access.

Which leads us to the more fundamental issues of the value of manifestos, whether registered political parties should be legally obligated to publish them, and, if so, when.

While Jamaican political parties, at least the major ones, have historically published manifestos, they have largely approached the documents with an overburden of cynicism.

First, manifestos tend to be delivered very late in political campaigns, not long before citizens vote. The one published by the PNP last week came two days after Prime Minister Holness announced the election date, and a mere three weeks before the vote.

This is perhaps the earliest a manifesto has been released in recent decades, but, in this newspaper’s view, it is still too late for voters to fully dissect the document and to compare and contrast its offerings with the promises of the other side.

The opposition party will no doubt remind us of the JLP’S failure, so far, to deliver a manifesto of its own, which the governing party promised will come soon. For now, the JLP is content to run on its own record.

This is a strategy best suited for incumbent parties, especially if it believes it has a record worthy of defending.

NONSENSICAL FEAR

But the largely blasé attitude of parties towards manifestos is driven by a nonsensical fear of opponents supposedly stealing their ideas, and the view that the documents are mostly demanded by an intellectual elite. They are hardly read by their core supporters who gather most of their information and make their voting decisions mainly from the declarations by politicians while at the stump.

There may be substantial truths in these arguments, especially in societies with educational and language challenges. Which underlines the value of the PNP’S attempt at enhancing the accessibility of its manifesto.

But, as The Gleaner observed previously, no party that takes seriously the idea of good governance, or efficiency in government, should enter an election without a manifesto - or a written declaration of the policies and programmes it intends to pursue.

Indeed, a manifesto is an implicit contract between a political party and voters, which becomes morally explicit once the party becomes the government. As written concordats, they are easier reference tools for use in holding governments accountable, both during the life of administrations and at elections.

Even if a society’s particular circumstances cause manifestos not to be deeply perused by the majority of voters, that hardly limits their value. For they are reported on by the press and expert analysts, whose take-aways help voters shape their opinions on the programmes and policies of parties.

Further, it would be unwise for a government to enter office without sharing with citizens, in written form, coherent policies and programmes and clearly defined priorities. Should this be the case, governments and ministers are likely to soon find themselves overwhelmed by immediate crises.

In that regard, manifestos are more than statements of promises. They are solemn declarations of trust between parties and voters, and instruments of guarantees of good governance. Hence The Gleaner’s insistence that, as part of the institution of a fixed election date, that it should be mandated – if they intend to participate in a general election - to publish manifestos at least three months into the recognised six-month ‘campaign period’, ahead of the completion of a government’s five-year term of office.

The PNP and the JLP should add these as addenda to their manifestos for next month’s election.

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