The anatomy of a defeat - Why the JLP lost the election
Published:Sunday | January 8, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Correction & Clarification
It was incorrectly stated that Robert Collie would chair a committee to review Genration 2000's role in last month's general election.
However, while Collie was approached to chair the committee, he did not accept. Instead Kamina Johnson-Smith will chair with Gail Dingwall as her deputy.
We regret the error.
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Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer
Paula, a young businesswoman in the East Central St Catherine constituency, told The Sunday Gleaner that she was paid $5,000, wrapped in green T-shirts, to attend the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) annual conference in November 2011 and other political events in the lead-up to the December 29 general election.
Notwithstanding, she rushed to the polling station early in her Gregory Park community to put her 'X' beside the head - the symbol of the opposing People's National Party (PNP) - on the ballot paper.
She asserted that she was repaying the JLP for the treatment meted out to her by the East Central St Catherine candidate, Camille Buchanan, and mayor of Portmore, Keith Hinds. She was upset that they had torn down her business, in an open lot in Gregory Park, in a move to rid the area of illegal establishments, more than three years ago.
Her sentiments were echoed by others who felt that the quality of their lives had dipped since the containers in the informal business district were dislocated.
The people of Gregory Park, a long-standing, strong JLP-supported community, were also upset over the shoddy manner in which they were treated by two politicians to whom they had given support over the years.
Verbal Abuse
It was a matter with which the leadership of the JLP had to contend at the 11th hour after they received complaints about verbal abuse being meted out to members of the electorate by several of its representatives in St Ann, Clarendon, and St Andrew constituencies.
"I believe what people were saying was that the members of parliament were self-centred and arrogant," asserted an influential party stalwart.
Aundré Franklin, the JLP general secretary, has been been out of circulation. But Arthur Williams, the man who had responsibility for the communications arm of the JLP campaign directorate, said while individuals have formulated their own theories, a party position is yet to be established.
"We have decided to do a proper study on the matter and that is to be undertaken shortly," Williams disclosed.
Contrastingly, the PNP's André Hylton, who brought home the tough Eastern St Andrew seat, has echoed the sentiments of PNP Campaign Director Dr Peter Phillips and General Secretary Peter Bunting that organisational work did the trick.
"Doing the work on the ground was the major factor," said Hylton. "I got to know people, and at the end of the day, good sense prevailed."
Hylton, who had been working for the PNP in Eastern St Andrew for three years, said he was careful not to leave out the middle class.
"I tried to attend their citizens' association and other meetings to get a sense of their concerns and grouses," he said.
JLP outperformed
There are those in the JLP who agree, retrospectively, that the party was outperformed by the PNP on the ground, which translated into the devastating loss.
As the post-mortem on the electoral blowout of the JLP intensifies, feedback from some party insiders indicates a myriad of reasons for the loss.
Some claim new leader, Andrew Holness, was sent the wrong signal when he got the green light to call the December 29, 2011, general election. There are those who contend that calling the election so soon did not allow for a proper campaign message to be crafted, and that the "overuse" of a 'youth" platform backfired.
The most common reason identified so far, however, is that too little real groundwork was laid in the lead-up to the election. The claim is that while the party was distracted with the Manatt- Christopher Coke extradition controversy in 2010, the then Opposition PNP was effectively rebuilding its constituency numbers to outflank hard-core committed JLP support.
At the same time, while Generation 2000 (G2K) has been criticised over its role in the campaign, some within the leadership of that organisation say they had to step in because the party machinery was in shambles.
Machinery not ready
Party insiders also complained that general secretary Franklin and his four deputies failed to ensure that the machinery was ready, with G2K taking on a number of matters that should have been handled by the party, including the organisation on the ground in the absence of party coordinators.
Dr Charlton Collie, who was the JLP's candidate in Central Kingston, has attributed the JLP's loss solely to public reaction to the Coke extradition mess.
Political historian Michael Burke has always insisted that an election is won on the day. But others believe that while this exercise is essential, there is need for constant organisation on the ground before the polls - something the JLP failed to do effectively.
Another mistake that led to the JLP's demise, some insiders believe, is what is being described as poor candidate selection. Insiders suggested in the aftermath of the election that those dispatched should have been shown the boot earlier, while some who were allowed to stay, needed to go.
A JLP stalwart suggested that heads should roll, but not that of Holness. He suggested that elections are events in which people are called to perform.
"What I am not hearing people in the party talk about is what happens next. There must be consequences for an electoral defeat such as this."
Word has surfaced that the JLP plans to resurrect the Jamaica Institute of Political Education of the JLP to assist young politicians such as those in G2K. Although energetic, it was felt that the organisation veered off track during the campaign.
The group announced last week that it planned to appoint a committee to be chaired by attorney-at law Robert Collie (son of Charlton) to undertake a comprehensive review of the organisation and its effectiveness in the JLP campaign.