Dear Editor,
The Jamaica Labour Party's political expediency has come back to haunt it. For, he who was trumpeted as a political messiah, and the last best hope for Jamaica, has proven to be nothing but an abysmal failure.
The false narrative that he's a transformational kind of leader has been questionable from the outset and was discounted by well-thinking Jamaicans who knew that no protege of Seaga's can be anything but polarising and a magnet for tumult and drama. Therefore, what's playing out now in the party, and with the latest attempt to unseat Andrew Holness as the parliamentary Opposition leader, comes as no surprise.
Those who are pushing for him to step aside are adamant in their stance, knowing that, with him at the helm, the spigot of monetary contributions is turning in the off mode and there are no victories to be won. And such a scenario makes his parliamentarians anxious.
The party is caught between a rock and a hard place.
As much as Edmund Bartlett is correct that removing Andrew Holness as Opposition leader at this time is a doomsday scenario, keeping him on is, equally, just as much as doomsday. And the latter is worse, because as long as he remains the leader, the prospects of the coming back to national governance are slim, if not next to none.
In my opinion, get rid of him now and deal with the backlash now. That way, you get the chance to fix the sails, right the ship, and set sail out of rough and stormy waters.
Who knows, you may, God forbid, sail to victory.
Shane Barnett
New Jersey
USA
Cut Holness now, then right the ship
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The Jamaica Labour Party's political expediency has come back to haunt it. For, he who was trumpeted as a political messiah, and the last best hope for Jamaica, has proven to be nothing but an abysmal failure.
The false narrative that he's a transformational kind of leader has been questionable from the outset and was discounted by well-thinking Jamaicans who knew that no protege of Seaga's can be anything but polarising and a magnet for tumult and drama. Therefore, what's playing out now in the party, and with the latest attempt to unseat Andrew Holness as the parliamentary Opposition leader, comes as no surprise.
Those who are pushing for him to step aside are adamant in their stance, knowing that, with him at the helm, the spigot of monetary contributions is turning in the off mode and there are no victories to be won. And such a scenario makes his parliamentarians anxious.
The party is caught between a rock and a hard place.
As much as Edmund Bartlett is correct that removing Andrew Holness as Opposition leader at this time is a doomsday scenario, keeping him on is, equally, just as much as doomsday. And the latter is worse, because as long as he remains the leader, the prospects of the coming back to national governance are slim, if not next to none.
In my opinion, get rid of him now and deal with the backlash now. That way, you get the chance to fix the sails, right the ship, and set sail out of rough and stormy waters.
Who knows, you may, God forbid, sail to victory.
Shane Barnett
New Jersey
USA
Cut Holness now, then right the ship
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