Most Jamaicans have stopped trying to keep track of the JLP’s never ending quarrels. But opposition leader Edward Seaga’s dismissal of party whip Karl Samuda for reported insubordination made many people laugh. For during his PNP sojourn Mr. Samuda accused the JLP head of being a ‘dictator’ whose deputies were ‘a bunch of wimps’. Mr. Samuda ‘found his way back home’ but his re-conversion seems to have been half-hearted. He brings to mind the scorpion in Aesop’s Fables who asked the frog for a ride across the river and stung him half way over, protesting as they both sank that ‘I can’t help it, it’s my nature.’

Mr. Seaga was here the boy who cried wolf. Mr. Samuda’s firing may have been necessary, for no leader can tolerate the undermining of his authority. Yet the ‘one don’ has so often behaved in a needlessly authoritarian manner that this perhaps justified decision came across as just another autocratic act.

Mr. Seaga says only he is capable of leading the JLP, meaning he has no confidence in his deputies. But if he thinks so little of his executives, why should Jamaicans vote for them? And if he is correct he damns his own leadership. For a good CEO fills his organization with persons of ability and puts contingency succession plans in place. Mr. Seaga seems to have no intention of voluntarily retiring as JLP leader. But does he think he will live forever? Or does he want the JLP to die with him?

Yet it is not uncommon for once great but aged leaders to cling single-mindedly to power. The mystery of the JLP disintegration is the behaviour of its deputies. Surely they wish to someday exercise real political power, which means getting elected to government. But the polls make it clear that a Seaga-led Labour party has almost no chance of winning an election. 

When Margaret Thatcher lost touch with the British electorate in 1990 Conservative Party executives realized they had no chance in the next election under her. So they chose 3 leadership candidates among themselves and as a body let Mrs. Thatcher know she no longer had the party’s support. She resigned, an open internal election was held and John Major became leader and won the next election. Sheer self-interest suggests that if the JLP top brass don’t unite in a similar way they will be condemned to perpetual opposition. And Mr. Samuda’s jibe will be proven right.

With the JLP self-destructing many to look to the NDM for a credible opposition. Unfortunately it gives little evidence of being properly organized. I recently wrote a column on the NDM and was glad to see a reply from its organizing committee chairman Bobby Marsh - perhaps he would outline some concrete NDM policies. I was disappointed. He mentioned a few interesting proposals, such as giving each MP an equal share of 5% of the national budget. But it was mostly a mish mash of grandiose promises ($56 billion savings from proper tax management!) and simplistic generalities. “The NDM will retain the good things in our present constitution and replace the bad things with the approval of the people through a referendum”. Surely after 5 years the NDM should be able to say exactly what these good and bad things are. It keeps calling itself a ‘new’ entity. But in 5 years Amazon.com grew from nothing to a US $14 billion company.

Mr. Marsh says “Those of us who stand firm on these principles understand that it takes time for the message to get through to people who have been kept ignorant by the two political tribes for 57 years.” What an insult to the memory of Busta and Norman, who bequeathed to us freedom of speech, an unfettered local press, and mass access to foreign media like the daily BBC news.

He also claims absurdly that ‘God is on our side’. All this makes one wonder if the NDM has a coherent media policy and gives the impression of poor party discipline and structure. No sensible communications executive could approve such nonsense.

Compare this to PNP spokesman Delano Franklin’s reasoned reply to John Maxwell’s open letter to the Prime Minister. Mr. Frankin’s response was disingenuous in parts and by no means addressed all questions asked. But it was mostly plausible and left the image of a well-organized institution that understands modern media techniques.

So Jamaicans are in a quandary. Most realize that this fat and lazy PNP administration is running the country badly. Since 1990 per capita income has fallen, crime has risen, and we keep sliding down the UN Human Development Index rankings. But the opposition parties give us no reason to think they can do any better.

If the JLP cannot maintain discipline in opposition it certainly would not be able to do so if its members had actual power and tax payers’ money to spend. Amidst all the backstabbing leadership positioning, its major shadow spokesmen have practically abandoned their portfolios. They rarely put forward intelligent ideas or challenge the government in a sensibly detailed manner. Where are their claims to competence?

Man for man the NDM cabinet is certainly better than the JLP’s and maybe superior to the PNP’s. No other party has so many proven private sector successes. But for some reason all these intelligent men have created a confused organization with good but incoherently expressed ideas. Yet it keeps arrogantly asserting that its mostly half-baked policies are the only solution to the country’s problems. When the Jamaican people ask it to explain its program to their satisfaction it calls them ignorant. Has any other political party ever tried to win power by telling the populace how stupid it is?

So Jamaicans have to choose between a) a band of bumbling fratricidal cowards in thrall to an out of touch leader b) a disorganized mutual admiration society of self-righteous amateurs c) a cynically manipulative and greedy but professional organization. Some say ‘me no choose none’, but every country must be governed, if only by default. So we have a political horse race between two donkeys and a mule.

Many saw last year’s gas riots as an expression of Jamaica’s frustration at badly wanting a change of government but seeing no viable alternative to the PNP. And here lies one great danger of the present situation. Fed up with the corrupt inefficiency of the present administration yet faced with only worse choices, the people’s sense of resentful helplessness may one day erupt in an uncontrollable frenzy of destruction. It has happened in many other countries. changkob@hotmail.com