Letters

The Editor, Sir:

I am sure the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is spending as many hours figuring out how to overcome Manatt, Phelps & Phillips (MPP) as the People's National Party (PNP) is spending time figuring out how to ride it all the way back to Jamaica House.

Regardless of the positives in the economy or on crime, the headline is always MPP. That is the nature of the media beast, the Opposition beast, or any other beast. Negative trumps positive every time, and this is pretty much the only negative to latch on to, hence its longevity.

There are only two ways around this: 1) another bigger scandal; 2) a series of bold, powerful, and compelling initiatives that can begin to crowd out the behemoth of the MPP. The JLP should choose the latter.

We have benefited from bold action against criminals (albeit delayed and hence the MPP affair, etc). We have also benefited from bold action to achieve stability in our economy, putting us at what I hope is the curved section of the 'U'. The Government now needs to lay its hands on initiatives that are similarly bold that have the ability to move us toward the other side of the 'U'- the up side.

No country has ever moved forward without bold leadership willing to stomp through the vines of naysayers and axe grinders (kudos to Audley Shaw). But it seems Bruce Golding is spending his time cowering from certain media commentators, the Office of the Contractor General (OCG), and the Opposition. These persons do not have the people's mandate to improve their lives. In fact, with the exception of the OCG, these groups thrive on the failures of the Government. The OCG, being the exception, is not concerned about the greater good, but about dotting 'Is' and crossing 'Ts', and how things 'appear'. There's a place for that, too, though, and we must accept that.

Difficult descent

The tail, however, is most certainly wagging Mr Golding. The fact that the MPP affair has struck at the heart of our PM's argument to win power, i.e. integrity, must only have made the last few months a tremendously difficult descent into his own personal hell, and will certainly require that much more treacherous an ascent to redemption.

The public needs to realise, however, that pontificating (by whomever) about MPP is not going to move the country forward. It will take us nowhere. Clear enough? Those who continue on about it are not concerned about the country moving forward; they are charting their own path of self-interest.

The challenge is that every bold action will attract a swarm of criticism, no matter how much good will come of it. And this is where the mettle of the leader is tested, for it is a leader who will take bold action, weather the criticism, see it through to the end, and leave his/her legacy.

Notorious criminal

Mr Golding's last brush with boldness was standing in Parliament and defending the 'rights' of arguably the most notorious criminal and most comprehensive and pervasive threat to law and order in our island. A bad move, to say the absolute least. With the maelstrom that has resulted from this brush with boldness, I can understand his reluctance to tread that path again; but alas, it must be trod, for that is his duty, privilege, and his mandate.

To Mr Golding: Be bold. Put MPP behind you, and the country in front of you. A second term is not promised to you, this one is - make the most of it. Don't let your legacy be MPP; create a new one. Own something(s) that can move us forward. Give us something else to judge your party on aside from MPP - for our own good, if not for yours.

I am, etc.,

HUNGRY FOR CHANGE

aijohnsonjm@gmail.com