The politics of potholes

Incredibly, the nation heard claims by Prime Minister Andrew Holness last Wednesday that the disgusting pothole-filled roads that Jamaicans are up against were the work of the previous political administration.

Mr Holness might be excused for speaking out of turn, as in the height of politics, and a political gathering of partisan supporters at that, mouth could slip and say anything. But it was not a normal or ordinary slip that showed. It was at a nomination day exercise for former Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke’s St Andrew North Western constituency at which Holness’s ruling Jamaica Labour Party had put forward Duane Smith—councillor of the Chancery Hall Division of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation—as its candidate.

It was, perhaps, the only thing that spoilt the day for the JLP, as its supporters, large in number, had turned out to give Smith a ‘strength’ in his quest to not only succeed Dr Clarke but to continue his father Derrick Smith’s rich legacy of having been in charge, politically, of the seat for seven terms over 29 years from 1989 to 2018 when Dr Clarke took over.

The matter of fixing roads is not to be toyed with. Political parties have lost power due to the state of roads across the island being one major factor in voters’ decision-making process. We often hear of the SPARK programme, a road improvement project which is said to begin soon. The programme has been labelled a “game changer” by JLP officials, and for the sake of Jamaica and what it has masqueraded as roads, it had better be.

Jamaica’s roads are in shambles. They were bad before Hurricane Beryl came visiting in July with unwanted gifts that made so many sick and disgusted. So the talk that had it not been for Beryl, the road surfaces would have been as smooth as a baby’s bum, is idle talk. Steady rainfall after Beryl too, would have contributed to the road issues, which also leads one to how the roads are maintained over time, and the quality of the material used in their rehabilitation.

But back to the prime minister. He needs to stop the foolish talk about inheriting bad roads from the previous People’s National Party administration. In some cases that was so, but in others, absolutely not, and Mr Holness knows only too well.

The prime minister has been head of the Government for over eight years, so he must expect that under his administration, roads will deteriorate, and he must be prepared to lead the charge in having them fixed. In this case, he heads the oddly named ministry, that of Economic Growth and Job Creation, that is responsible for the maintenance and building of roads. He should do better.

The issues that the people of this country face on the roads are humungous. There is hardly a road in the Corporate Area, for example, that does not have a pothole on it. Some have deteriorated so badly, that one has to wonder whether or not the Government cares. 

In my years of living in this country, I have never seen roads as bad as now. Go a bit further, Jamaica has the worst roads in the Caribbean. I have been to every island in the Caribbean and I have seen what their roads look like. I am aware that they are being maintained for the most part, and the count includes Haiti.

The time has come to stop playing politics with bad roads, and for the ruling administration to start the possibly long, tedious process of repairing them. 

The reality of by-elections 

While the subject of by-elections is in the air, in around two weeks, four more will reshape Jamaica.

The Jamaica Labour Party will likely win both vacant seats in the House of Representatives—Trelawny Southern, and St Andrew North Western—because the People’s National Party, unwisely chose not to participate in the process, citing mandatory fresh elections in less than a year.

Calling a general election or a by-election is a dynamic privilege of the prime minister, which every thinking politician knows about. Thus, the main opposition party in this case, should have been a part of the process, no matter what, as their representatives are seeking to represent the people.

The matter of the by-elections to fill blanks in the municipalities of Clarendon and St Thomas could be quite complex. Should the PNP regain the Aenon Town division that they lost nine months ago in February, after having won it for decades, there could be a fundamental shift of power in the Clarendon Municipal Corporation, as there would be a tie and the job of mayor would be decided on the popular vote. 

While there will be no such change in St Thomas, a win for the JLP would strengthen its hand by the time the general election is called.

Hopefully, there will be no violence in the mad rush for power.

Why Trump won

Goodness gracious! So Donald Trump has triumphed. The win was not a surprise, but it was the manner in which a majority of those eligible to vote in the United States of America, gave him the fillip that he had been begging for.

We were hearing that the election for President of the United States would be close, but no such thing occurred.

Those who voted for Trump did so for a variety of reasons. In the end, so many did not think, quite foolishly, that a woman should lead them … and a woman of colour at that. They were prepared to accept corruption at any cost, and embrace a man who was found guilty of 34 felony offences in a criminal court, and who has not been sentenced, but will likely walk free, even if a judge decides that he should wear short trousers and break rocks with a sledgehammer for a while.

Mistakes were made by US Vice President Kamala Harris too, one of which was that she did not take her message of how she intended to improve the American economy, seriously. 

Perhaps she spent too much time on the issue of abortion, and I must say that as an anti-abortionist, I was not impressed with how far she went in trying to make the case of effectively allowing a woman the right to choose when she becomes pregnant.

Maybe it is not too relevant, but Ms Harris’s consistent laughing mood, something which to me is not bad at all, was too much for certain American voters, who wanted to hear tough-talking, preferably by a man.  Her failure to tell Israel to stop killing the women and children of Gaza, and reduce the supply of arms to the dreaded Israeli political regime if it didn’t comply, also played a role in switching the lights off her dream.

Trump, on the other hand, kept pounding away at limiting and expelling immigrants, something that the typical American white men and women wanted to hear; stopping the war between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours and throwing other attention-grabbing approaches into the ring which resonated deep and wide.

The next four years in the geopolitical space will be interesting—to put it mildly. 

Cricketer Alzarri Joseph got off too lightly

Amid the one-day international cricket victory by the West Indies over England in the decider at legendary Kensington Oval in Barbados last Wednesday was the obnoxious behaviour by a senior player, Alzarri Joseph of Antigua & Barbuda.

Joseph, a fast bowler and effective lower-order batsman (not batter) incredibly walked off the field at the end of a wicket-taking over when England batted, following a bout of obvious disagreement with his team captain and the best batsman in the region, Shai Hope. His act of remonstrating moments before he went on his unapproved pilgrimage into the Sir Garfield Sobers Players’ Pavilion, was one of the lows of West Indies cricket, as never before had I witnessed that in my years of following the West Indies at home and abroad.

Strange, the conduct may seem to some, but Joseph has always been a member of the arrogance club, but has been allowed to get away with other things that could have subtracted the word ‘gentle’ from what is known as the gentleman’s game.

To compound the problem, Cricket West Indies sloppily suspended Joseph for two matches, which means that he can return for the ongoing T20 series against England.

There is a saying that I believe originated from rural Jamaica that ‘duppy know who fi frighten’, and had Joseph had the luxury of playing under the captaincy of his fellow Antiguan Sir Vivian Richards, he would never have contemplated that shoddy stunt. He should have been banned from all forms of cricket for a minimum six months for bringing the game into disrepute.

A slap on the wrist it will be though, for the same Cricket West Indies that named him vice-captain for the three formats of the game, does not have a handle on discipline.