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The current government has developed a nasty habit of characterising the electorate’s concerns as not worth answering and not worth being clear and direct. This behaviour has been more prevalent recently with NARRA and the TCN. This arrogance, and I call it that because whether or not they want to admit it that is what it is, needs to stop.

Before I Start

Before the Government and the social media warriors come for me, I voted for the JLP in the last election. I felt that Nigel Clarke’s handling of the fiscal policies of the country was painful but effective and put Jamaica on a great path for growth.  I am not a political activist. I am simply a citizen who calls out BS when it is on display. And right now, the BS is overflowing.

Further, yes, this is a generalisation. Not all current government ministers do this. But you are part of a team, and you all picked your teammates, so the good must suffer for the bad. If you don’t like it, tell your brethren to clean up their act.

Ronald Reagan coined a great phrase – trust but verify. However, this Government seems to feel that trust must be blind and any attempt to verify is the equivalent of the electorate begging for something. The electorate is not Oliver Twist begging for some more porridge.

The electorate determined whether you have a job, and the electorate will again determine whether you should keep your job, and more importantly, what your legacy will be. The money you spend comes from the electorate. So, disabuse yourself that when the electorate asks questions, we should be sent back to the kids table with no supper. The Government’s behaviour is pure disrespect – nothing else.

NaRRa

Let us first take NARRA. The electorate’s concerns were characterised by the Prime Minister himself as self-interested, vested, mistrust, ignorance and created by political activists. Never mind that the Government has the biggest war chest this country has ever had and that the Integrity Commission has many government members under investigation. We should just trust you.

Seriously, that is your response. I know you know this – trust in earned, not given. Wheatley’s situation and the Prime Minister’s decision to retain him in Cabinet are exactly why we don’t trust the Government. Whatever trust you earn, you squander. So be prepared to start at square 1 every single time.

TCN

Regarding the TCN Agreement, Fred Astaire would have been proud of Horace Chang’s tap dancing at the post-cabinet briefing. Chang did not answer one question straightforwardly. Instead, he attempted to ridicule the Gleaner, even though the Gleaner brought receipts.

For example, Chang said the TCN’s are in transit, but they can freely roam the country – that is laughable. Transit does not mean I can hop off at the destination for a holiday until things work out. Further, Dana Dixon is repeatedly chiming in with silly distinctions without a difference.  

The Government has signed the agreement, so the details are at their fingertips unless the Government of Jamaica is in the habit of signing documents that no one vets, which seems highly unlikely. So answer the question. Grow a backbone and defend your decision because your behaviour right now shows that you can’t defend it.

Being forthright is what earns respect

If you follow business, you have likely seen interviews by Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan. The reason he is so respected is that he answers any question about any subject, any time, any place and with no BS. Straight down the line with no room for interpretation. The Government should really take a page from Dimon’s book because it is this forthrightness that has earned Jamie Dimon the world’s respect.

So that the Government can’t say well, Dimon runs a business, and we run a country, let us take Mia Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados. When Mottley speaks, she is deliberate and specific. I have yet to find a video of her dismissing her electorate’s concerns or fudging her responses. She gives detailed reasons why she made her decision, and the reason is so well-reasoned that it is hard to clap back.

Closer to home, most of the electorate trusted Nigel Clarke because he held himself accountable to the electorate. He did not dismiss concerns; he was direct.  He told us what he was going to do in detail, did it, and provided us with receipts. And to be honest, the electorate trusts the current administration less with money matters since Clarke left. That vacuum has not been filled, no matter what you want to think.

No electorate fully trusts its government, nor should they. The electorate will maybe give a government the benefit of the doubt, but past is prologue. Blind trust you will never get.

Politics is a blood sport. Get used to it or leave.  But this Government’s skin has gotten so thin for ‘experienced politicians’. They are becoming a set of crybabies. Clarke never cried, accused the media of lying, blamed political activists… take your pick. The Clarke ship sailed directly into the wind, took his licks when he needed to, put his head down, and got the job done. I did not agree with everything he did, and his licks were well deserved, but in totality, he earned the trust he got.

So to the JLP, I say this. You are pissing off the people who voted for you. Get your act together because the strategy you are employing will have you out of work, and your legacy will be nothing more than one of mistrust and arrogance.

Signed

Someone who voted for you