Peter Espeut | Election manifestos – caveat emptor

By the time my next column comes out, the 2020 general election will be over and done with. It is unlikely that the result will be any different than that unanimously indicated by all the opinion polls, whatever new promises are made by either side.

Many believe that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) won the 2016 general election with their campaign promise of what has come to be called the ‘1.5’ – no income tax for those earning under J$1.5 million per annum, along with no new taxes; and therefore, all parties have been searching around for an electoral promise with the same or greater potency to turn around the minds of the electorate.

Of course, the JLP did not fully keep their 2016 promise, for although they did eliminate income taxes for those earning J$1.5 or less, which helped the middle class, they increased indirect tax on consumer items to make it up, which was a greater burden on the poor.

While campaigning for the 2011 general election, the Portia Simpson Miller-led People’s National Party (PNP) promised that, if it won, it would remove GCT from electricity bills for residential users. The PNP won that election, and although the way in which GCT was charged on light bills did change, residential customers were still charged GCT on their electricity bills. The PNP did not really keep its election promise.

And so ‘caveat emptor’ remains the best advice for Jamaican voters in this 2020 general election, for some of the promises being made to us – by all the parties – may be not worth the paper they are written on.

The 2020 election promises began with the new party – the Jamaica Progressive Party (JPP) – which released its manifesto on August 12, 2020. Their anti-crime plan was – after winning the election, the first 90 days of their administration will be an amnesty period for all dons, gang leaders, gang members and illegal gun holders to turn themselves in.

DISAPPOINTED

The party pledged to restructure the police force into a new Jamaica Law Enforcement Agency with three police commissioners – one each for Cornwall, Middlesex and Surrey. They said they would build a second army base in western Jamaica, and increase the Jamaica Defence Force’s numbers to 100,000. To deal with drug trafficking and gun smuggling, they promised to buy 100 attack helicopters, 150 fighter jets, an air missile defence system, 50 battleships and 10 submarines.

At least they had an anti-crime plan. But after these and other election promises, the JPP dropped out of the 2020 election race.

I have been looking for manifestos from the PNP and the JLP containing realistic promises to put an end to crime and corruption in Jamaica. I have so far been disappointed. I expected both major parties – especially the PNP, which is the more desperate of the two – to promise to dismantle garrisons, and to get the ruling dons and their minions to turn in their guns. I have been waiting for one of the two parties to promise to make all asset declarations by political and civil officials public, and to make all political contributions public. No party is yet so desperate as to promise to sever links with its political dons and the thugs they control, or to cut off corruption and cronyism. Whoever wins this election, certain things, sadly, will remain the same.

But expect the promises to get more extravagant as election day draws near.

Both parties, I hope, by now are aware that the Jamaican electorate is not as gullible as it was in the past. If the trend through previous elections holds, fewer people will turn out to vote in this election than ever before. Those who wish to sell their vote have upped the price.

The 2020 general election is not going to solve Jamaica’s problems either with nepotism, cronyism and corruption, or with garrisons, extortion or crime. We pray that, one day, elements in the private sector and civil society will join together to build the new Jamaica we seek.

Peter Espeut is an environmentalist and development scientist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.