The final of the three political debates held last Thursday (August 28) was the finest verbal battle that I have witnessed between two people involved in Jamaican politics.

My earlier decision to give the edge to Mark Golding, leader of the opposition People’s National Party, over Prime Minister Andrew Holness stems from, among many other things, the control that Golding demonstrated, the substance of his presentation, and his capacity to bring analysis to the table that, at least on the surface, appeared to be credible.

Holness, followed an idiot like Everald Warmington from the early stage of the campaign, to target Golding’s ancestry and place of birth, which was also bound to fail, and that it did, for Golding, the smart lawyer, came armed for war with the requisite ammunition – this time a simple old birth certificate, otherwise referred to as ‘cerfiticate’ and ‘age paper’ by elders of the 1960s era, when he came into this life.

When Holness uttered the now infamous words ‘being born in Jamaica does not make you a Jamaican’, I brushed it aside as a slip of the tongue and nothing to be alarmed about. But what transpired hours and days after is something that I am yet to truly fathom.

The statement, which has not been clarified by Holness, has offended many in Jamaica and overseas. Upon reexamination, it now comes across as offensive, reckless, and a general show of ignorance.

The number of messages that I have received from abroad, in particular, is frightening. The remarks have thrown the Jamaican Diaspora community into a spin, with many now questioning whether or not the prime minister had before spent a quiet moment with one John Wray and his esteemed Nephew before he walked to the debating platform, or even paused for a while on his way to CPTC studios to check on his friend Nyah Z and became subsumed into a smoking activity meant to control mosquitoes, that was just too much.

Maybe the PM did not have time to remind himself that remittances, naturally from the diaspora, remain Jamaica’s largest source of foreign exchange earnings, and many of the same ones in the diaspora, also contribute to the second highest earner, tourism.

The matter of the citizenry has had many jokes created from it. Serious questions have been asked, too, and at times leave me to wonder even about my own nationality. My research shows that my father’s mother had deep links to India; his great-grandfather came originally from Paisley in the Glasgow region of Scotland, while my mother’s ancestry points to a place named Funsi in Ghana, close to the border with the country later to be named Burkina Faso, formerly Upper Volta, Africa.

Wonder if I would be accepted in those places now, if I were to unveil that bit of history to the authorities there, or continue to build here in Jamaica in the hope that I will continue to be recognised as one who was ‘born ya’?

Crucial time to decide Jamaica’s future

So, we are at that point again when Jamaican citizens, born right here or not, will exercise their right to decide which political party will lead the north Caribbean island for the next five years.

Compared to years gone by, the campaign has been relatively peaceful, although underhanded tactics have been employed by some candidates, aimed at destabilising the voting process.

My hope is that more Jamaicans will see the need to turn out and mark the ‘x’, for only then will parties involved be kept on their toes. Jamaica cannot be comfortable or satisfied with 25, 30 or 35 per cent of those eligible to vote doing so.

In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, only 37 per cent of eligible voters participated in the process. It means that the vast majority did not care to determine the future of their country. That is why the administration of the day got deeply involved in so many corrupt activities. Truly, I have never seen corruption in the manner that the JLP administration has been involved in the last nine years. It would require an entire article to outline them.

And it was not even good that the prime minister could not have his statutory declarations certified over four years. No amount of sweet talking could justify that kind of shortcoming by the senior policymaker in the land. I am unhappy, though, that not one member of the JLP was bold enough to say, publicly, that what Holness did in that situation was wrong.

The state of the health sector was cause for much concern, what with the suffering that citizens of the land went through, and the simplistic way that money that was budgeted for important things seemed to have been sucked up in activities outside of what they should have been used for.

One of the most stupid decisions that was made came towards the end of the political term, with the purchase of old left-hand-drive buses for the rural schools’ transport system, which was clearly a waste of money and warrants a deep investigation, regardless of which party is successful on September 3.

Spending what was quoted as J$1.4 billion to land 110 vintage buses here was one thing. The question is: what is the overall cost of retrofitting them, including switching entrance and exit doors to the left, buying new tyres and other parts and accessories? My information is that the cost has gone past the J$2 billion mark, which points to a stunning case of wasting the people of Jamaica’s money on this ill-advised scheme.

The drop in murders was a positive, although shootings by the police climbed in a way that had never been seen in several years. 

It is left to the majority to decide whether or not it is time for a change, or the time has come for change.  

Reckless of Chang to blame PNP for bomb threats

It seems utterly ridiculous for National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang, who happens to be Jamaica’s deputy prime minister, to blame the opposition for a series of bomb threats which targeted State agencies last Friday, without any form of statement by the police.

Chang is a reasonable man. Sensible too. But it was highly irresponsible of him to have stated that the People’s National Party should be held responsible for the threats without any shred of evidence to support his claim.

It was the worst example of irresponsibility that I have seen in recent times.

Now, I have to wonder what could have led Dr Chang to do something like that. Had it been the police commissioner who made the comments, then it would have been far easier to believe, even if he did not come forward right away with reasons for saying so.

I hardly even think that the commissioner would have even leaked something to Dr Chang, unless he had compelling reasons to do so, and even then, it would be unethical for that to happen.

Elections have the effect of altering people’s thinking, and I am left to wonder whether or not Dr Chang’s brain led him through that process. 

A statement as reckless as the one that he issued demonstrates desperation. What will happen if the investigation that I am told is underway churns out information that suggests that the opposition was not at fault?

Dr Chang knows better. He ought to have acted with maturity.

No more waste of public funds

Unfortunately, the Office of the Prime Minister is stubbornly continuing to advertise Government projects and achievements, a vulgar activity costing the State hundreds of millions of dollars over a long period leading up to the general election.

It is a wrong move by the prime minister, and apart from giving the ruling Jamaica Labour Party an unfair advantage, it is a downright disgusting waste of public funds, some of which could have been used to fix that ugly pothole along Washington Boulevard which has damaged the front ends of so many vehicles; or resurface the Belfield main road in St Mary South Eastern which has been neglected for many years. Indeed, much of that money could have also gone toward improving so many surfaces in every parish of Jamaica.

In my years on planet Earth, I have never seen an administration dive into public funds in that way – designed only to send a message to those willing to watch, that good things were done over a period.

I hope that never again will we see something like that happen under any administration, where money is taken from ministries like economic growth and job creation, labour and social security, agriculture, and transport in particular, and thrown into a meaningless public relations scam.

Parties must stand up and run their campaigns from their own coffers. The cheeky way that the JLP went about things ought to be outlawed.