Dear Editor,
Now that the election is over and a new Government is to be installed, I would like to point out some issues I have with our governance structure and how I think we could mitigate against them.
Firstly, our politics is very divisive by design, and this is played out in the wider society causing hatred among the population. Each one goes to extreme to keep the other from forming a government, and sometimes gets involved in very undesirable practices to achieve that end. It is so sad that sometimes the good name and character of an opponent is attacked and tarnished purely as a ploy to discredit the opponent as a political choice of the people.
Another feature of our politics is that political operatives take occupation of sensitive positions, which change hands when the Government changes. This is too precarious an existence. The holder of the post may be very good and suitable, but there is no guarantee that those factors will feature in the thinking of the incoming party. The person is then forced to find some other means of employment and the country would have lost a good worker.
There is the problem of always starting over. We also tend to reinvent the wheel with each Government. The new Government will want to implement its own economic policies and other social agendas that may be totally different from its predecessor. This would mean that the process would have to start from scratch and we would end up wasting resources that could have been used to build on what was in place before them.
There are so many more unstated disadvantages in the system of governance that we practise, but I think that my suggestions would more generally address them in helping to minimise their effects and eliminate them where possible. I suggest that instead of having several different political parties, with each having its own philosophical, ideological and other platforms, we have one platform for Jamaica. This would mitigate greatly against the hostilities that we see at play among our politicians who represent different political groups with different political agendas. The populace would then choose from a pool of individuals wanting to serve from the sameplatform. Whosoever is convinced that they have the interest of the people at heart, plus the competence to serve in a given area, let them indulge in community service and prove themselves among the people. Then let the people choose the best person as their representative. Let all the good and great minds come together and prepare a programme for the development of Jamaica. Let us establish a foundation on which all who want to participate can come and build. Let there be established principles for the governance of Jamaica so that there is a clear understanding by all the people as to what is required of our representatives and also the basis on which their tenure will be judged.
Let there be national goals set and whichever representative is selected in a particular area must work towards achieving those goals. Such a representative will be judged on the basis of his or her performance in helping to reach the national goals and their performance will be the only determining factor to retain that capacity.
The idea of the people’s voice only becoming relevant every five years, or so, is not good enough for the effective running of a democracy. Our present system of governance is a jokeand our democracy is inefficient as it is practised now. We can draft up a system to enhance better accountability by our leaders and efficient stewardship by our representatives. Let’s decrease the politics in our system and increase nationalism for the betterment of Jamaica.
Urijah Deacon
Manchester
rastadeacon@yahoo.com
Now that the election is over and a new Government is to be installed, I would like to point out some issues I have with our governance structure and how I think we could mitigate against them.
Firstly, our politics is very divisive by design, and this is played out in the wider society causing hatred among the population. Each one goes to extreme to keep the other from forming a government, and sometimes gets involved in very undesirable practices to achieve that end. It is so sad that sometimes the good name and character of an opponent is attacked and tarnished purely as a ploy to discredit the opponent as a political choice of the people.
Another feature of our politics is that political operatives take occupation of sensitive positions, which change hands when the Government changes. This is too precarious an existence. The holder of the post may be very good and suitable, but there is no guarantee that those factors will feature in the thinking of the incoming party. The person is then forced to find some other means of employment and the country would have lost a good worker.
There is the problem of always starting over. We also tend to reinvent the wheel with each Government. The new Government will want to implement its own economic policies and other social agendas that may be totally different from its predecessor. This would mean that the process would have to start from scratch and we would end up wasting resources that could have been used to build on what was in place before them.
There are so many more unstated disadvantages in the system of governance that we practise, but I think that my suggestions would more generally address them in helping to minimise their effects and eliminate them where possible. I suggest that instead of having several different political parties, with each having its own philosophical, ideological and other platforms, we have one platform for Jamaica. This would mitigate greatly against the hostilities that we see at play among our politicians who represent different political groups with different political agendas. The populace would then choose from a pool of individuals wanting to serve from the sameplatform. Whosoever is convinced that they have the interest of the people at heart, plus the competence to serve in a given area, let them indulge in community service and prove themselves among the people. Then let the people choose the best person as their representative. Let all the good and great minds come together and prepare a programme for the development of Jamaica. Let us establish a foundation on which all who want to participate can come and build. Let there be established principles for the governance of Jamaica so that there is a clear understanding by all the people as to what is required of our representatives and also the basis on which their tenure will be judged.
Let there be national goals set and whichever representative is selected in a particular area must work towards achieving those goals. Such a representative will be judged on the basis of his or her performance in helping to reach the national goals and their performance will be the only determining factor to retain that capacity.
The idea of the people’s voice only becoming relevant every five years, or so, is not good enough for the effective running of a democracy. Our present system of governance is a jokeand our democracy is inefficient as it is practised now. We can draft up a system to enhance better accountability by our leaders and efficient stewardship by our representatives. Let’s decrease the politics in our system and increase nationalism for the betterment of Jamaica.
Urijah Deacon
Manchester
rastadeacon@yahoo.com