Ian Boyne
THE HOUR has come. The heir-apparent must inherit the hotly-contested throne. It has been a tortuous, treacherous and rocky road, but the inheritor has vanquished the Grand Old Man and has turned the Rockstone Labourite into a pebble.
Today, Bruce Golding's dream of leading the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) becomes reality. Ten years ago, he stormed out on Daddy Seaga and the JLP family, establishing his own, the National Democratic Movement (NDM). He told me then that he had tried relentlessly to bring about change in the party but had become convinced that renewal was not possible under the Edward Seaga-led leadership.
RIGHT MOVE?
But why didn't he remain, wait it out, endure the frustrations and have his loyalty rewarded by Seaga who saw him as the favoured son?
I put this to Golding in 1995. I pressed him on this, pointing out the disastrous history of third parties and the improbability of his making any headway electorally. He insisted he had made the right move and he gave every indication that he really believed he could gain state power through the NDM.
I was not surprised when he had to throw up his hands in frustration
after the catastrophic electoral performance of the NDM. He soon found his voice in media as a talk-show host, safely sniping at the Government and enjoying the luxury of dispensing medicine which he did not have to take.
But the political animal that Golding is, he could not be tamed. There was a restlessness to fulfil 'the calling'.
Meanwhile in the press, Mark Wignall was urging him to make his way back home. Party financiers and party insiders were speaking privately to Seaga to urge him to bury the hatchet with Golding and to bring him back in the interest of ending the political drought.
Seaga did not jump with alacrity, never one to be accused of lacking confidence in his own invincibility.Golding has his pride and was not going to grovel to return to the party. But the influentials kept pushing for the door to be opened to Golding. Seaga finally gave in. (It must be pointed out that Seaga had always respected Bruce and was not motivated by
bitterness toward him).
Golding was brought in shortly before the 2002 election and the media influentials clobbered him: He was selling out his principles; expediency had triumphed over the moral high ground; he would be again under the shadow of Seaga.
A seven-point Memorandum of Understanding was signed with Seaga, but commentators tore that apart, showing that Seaga had given nothing. So it was Bruce who had bowed, in the media's eyes.
I hailed Bruce's return to the JLP as an unqualified positive both for himself and the party. He was being savaged by former NDM colleagues and the press, but I believed that he had made the right strategic calculation and that politics being the art of the possible, history was on his side.
The man who had been dogged with the image of a flip-flopper and with indecisiveness made the one crucial political decision in his life which has resulted in this political bonanza.
In 2002, I wrote a column ('The JLP's Golden Opportunity') sharply criticising and diverging from my media colleagues who were blasting Golding for returning to the JLP without concessions from Seaga. I said they were myopic and I have been proven right. I pointed out that through bitter experience Bruce realised that reforms to the political system--which need urgent attention--would not come any time soon through third parties.
I said then :"He realises that he seriously miscalculated the third party option and that his best chance of having his ideas and principles implemented is through one of the two political parties ...Rational human beings learn from experience. He sees a weakened, chastened JLP whose leadership is not able to capture the imagination of the Jamaican people. In short, he sees an opportunity for himself."
Bruce stepped into a vacuum. Seaga had become unmarketable. The polls were reflecting that, and certain anti-PNP moneyed
interests realised that, too, along with grassroots Labourites, hungry for political spoils. Bruce was the best bet of this disparate and
desperate lot.
Yearning for political power, Seaga and the Labourites,
including aspirants to the JLP top job, realised that a marriage of
convenience had to be quickly arranged with Bruce Golding. No political virgin, Bruce did not have to dread the political bedroom. Indeed, he anticipated it with exquisite and carnal delight.
I wrote then that, "Bruce is not thinking of October 16 (the date of the last election). Whatever
happens on October 16, Bruce Golding cannot lose. If the JLP is defeated, as the polls indicate, Golding will emerge to Labourites as a selfless, sacrificial, courageous leader who did not shun his party at the time of greatest need."
I had predicted then that "it is not likely that Edward Seaga would stick around long after an electoral defeat. And Golding would be his choice as successor. Bruce would then be able to
fashion the JLP in his own image and likeness. And within the next few years, with an established party machinery and network behind him, he would pose a serious challenge to the PNP".
A NEW GANG OF FIVE
What did not emerge clearly in 2002 was that Bruce would have it even better than expected. What was not known generally was that a new Gang of Five had formed, and would prove to be the most formidable and the only
successful group of dissidents to unseat Seaga from the throne, making the way for the Anointed One. Bruce Golding has in Tom Tavares-Finson, Don Creary, Daryl Vaz (working, amazingly, outside the party then), Bobby Montague and James Robertson, the finest and fiercest group of foot soldiers, political strategists and organisers that this country has seen since the 1970s. The political scientists and historians must get together with this group for their story of how they carefully, methodically and systematically plotted the leadership coup within the JLP, and forced the hand of Edward Phillip George Seaga.
The fellows carefully planned how they would carry out the revolution and, working assiduously in the highways and byways and in the corridors of the moneyed interests, including the New Money people, they undermined the Old Order and routed the Old Guard.
You did not hear them in the media doing a lot of talking (except Daryl who was officially outside the party), and the media would not catch them making
disparaging remarks about Maximum Leader Edward Seaga.
In private party meetings, they would confront him and speak boldly, but they tried to keep themselves from the forefront of the public battles. Mark
Wignall waged their battles valiantly in the press, but mum was the word officially from them. It was brilliant political strategy, flawlessly- executed.
Golding owes a tremendous debt to these men dubbed Reformists. Where Golding lacked the decisiveness, cojones (guts to act), they pushed him. When he wasn't moving fast enough, Wignall would add his lashes from the press box, his being one of the most feared columns in Jamaica. This Gang of Five knows emotional control.
When James Robertson's integrity was questioned by Seaga at the last JLP conference where his favourite daughter Olivia 'Babsy' Grange and Prodigal Son Ed Bartlett were trounced, Robertson remained the gentleman, not only turning the other cheek, but publicly praising Seaga.
You have never heard Robertson say one word publicly about Seaga that was anything but respectful and restrained. The emotional competencies of this group have been high, at least in the public arena, though their private
behaviour has attracted criticism.
MUST DELIVER NOW
The New Gang of Five has done its best for Bruce Golding. It is now time for Golding to deliver. He must first prove that the old policy of isolation and recrimination is no more. He must embrace not just as public relations gimmicks Mike Henry, Pearnel Charles, Abe Dabdoub, Babsy Grange, Derrick Smith and the Seaga loyalists.
Unity is the biggest need for the JLP. Following the hotheads who are recommending a purge and a scorched earth policy for the JLP environment would be disastrous.
Pearnel Charles must have his say to the JLP delegates today. Only political stupidity and blindness, borne of malice and bad-mindedness, would prevent that.
Golding also needs to build a culture of trust in the party. One Labourite said this week: "We buy washer and dryer now and we naw wash no more dirty linen in public". We in the media love the public show of the dirty linen in the JLP backyard, but you Labourites can't afford that.
Golding's first task is to genuinely unify the party. He canot help to unity the nation as prime minister if he does not learn to dance at home first.
GOLDING'S VISION
Golding today must also give us a sense of his vision for the country. I guess he will have to play to the gallery and engage in theatrics in attacking the government and in whipping up emotions.
But in the midst of the polemics and the grandstanding over the CCJ, he needs to reach out to those who are not aligned to the political parties, and who are
looking for reasoned arguments and a sense of direction.
He must play to the constituency which he so skillfully played to as NDM leader. He must appeal to the uncommitted, the disaffected, the alienated, the cynical.
After he speaks today, someone who had given up hope in the political system must say, "I believe there is some hope". Talking problems but no solutions is old-style, 'dutty politics'. We have had enough of that.
Is his vision of constitutional reform still on the table? Where does he stand on the issue of
values and attitudes and the need for moral reconstruction? How can the youth be mobilised and how can he inspire hope and
optimism for the future?
Does he really grasp the
implications of the forces of
globalisation and their profound challenges for developing
countries like Jamaica?
He must also make some clear statements disavowing garrison politics. He must pledge to change not just the image but the reality of West Kingston. You can't fool us about Tivoli Gardens. It is not Angels Estate! And any attempt to project it as such is a sure way to squander the respect some people have for you, Bruce.
Remember, there are many still unwilling to believe you have really changed from your days as a
garrison MP from Spanish Town, that city of blood. You have moved from one garrison to
another and you must demonstrate that you have not just switched garrisons but have had a change of heart. Whitewashing Tivoli Gardens does not help.
Today, the marriage will be consummated, but as far as the media are concerned, there will be no honeymoon.
* Ian Boyne is a veteran journalist. You can send your comments to ianboyne1@yahoo.com
or infocus@gleanerjm.com
