Garth Rattray
I'm told that annual party conferences held near election time herald the commencement of earnest campaign activities. So, although the calamitous Trafigura Beheer issue marred the People's National Party's (PNP) campaign thrust (and it will dog them right into the upcoming elections), their conference was a way to publicise their fitness and readiness for political battle. This was also true of the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) much touted, supposed, 'Last conference in Opposition'.
But, party conferences are all the same. An indeterminate number of people making up the throng are forced, coerced or sometimes paid to attend. There's always music and food. There's the build-up before the main speakers arrive and then come the rhetoric, hyperbole, criticisms of political opponents, happy-looking on-stage 'dancing' and a plethora of campaign promises.
The air of frenzy blurs the boundaries of decorum and distorts rationality, but desperate and eager souls nevertheless foolishly cling to ethereal words as if they were solid convictions. And, after the event, as the passage of time consumes the waning excitement and the harshness of their mundane existence retakes control of their senses, the same throng is left with fading memories of the part that they played making their political leaders look good on stage. Soon, speechmakers suffer selective amnesia as their many forsaken promises, starved of life-giving attention, slowly and unceremo-niously wither and die. What truly surprises me is the number of times that this scenario is repeated over and over again. Obviously, many of our people are slow to learn.
Acculturated into voting
From very early in our political history, the 'masses' were accul-turated into voting based on enlightened self-interest (self-preservation) or family tradition (bias). Many businessmen and women (willingly or unwillingly) contribute cash and/or kind to one or both political parties. The big spenders expect reciprocity in the form of contracts or favours.
On the other hand, symbiotically, poor people often depend on politicians for help and support and the politicians in turn depend on poor people for votes. It's only very recently that I hear some people threatening to use their votes (or lack of votes) as bargaining chips for better roads and utilities.
Between Trafigura and the Cricket World Cup, I'm guessing that the general election will be held around the middle of 2007. In the meantime, I hope that Jamaican voters took note of the recent United States mid-term elections. American voters flexed their political muscles. They refused to tolerate President Bush's illegal war and bungling policies in Iraq, which cost the lives of over 3,000 Americans servicemen and women and between 50,000 to 150,000 innocent Iraqi citizens.
We, too, are a democratic society and we, too, have the power to tackle our extremely serious issues whenever the general election are called. But, I fear that many, if not most, Jamaicans will continue to vote blindly or selfishly along party lines and not on the critical issues of crime, corruption, education, medical care, national debt, housing and environ-mental issues. It's full time that our people realise that true power lies with them and not with the politicians. They must seek sustainable social development and not mere handouts. They must ignore the hype and empty promises and instead listen for the real issues.
With their annual conferences behind them, both parties have begun scheming to win our votes. We, in turn, should begin separating the real issues from the hype in order to choose individuals (PNP or JLP) based on their ability to deliver for the good of our country.
Dr. Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.
