Dear Editor,
Whoever chose Desmond McKenzie to be a member of the Jamaica Labour Party team for the first of the two local government debates made a poorly informed decision.
McKenzie must appreciate the fact that he is a member of the executive arm of government. And while he is closely invested in the affairs of the impending local government elections, being his party’s standard-bearer, he must also acknowledge the expectations of his ministerial capacity and the impartiality framework within which he must fulfil his duties.
I would imagine that he recognises that his role bridges the gap between central and local government and requires a high degree of impartiality and efficiency. His presence at the debate, in his usual tribalistic manner, underscored the usual rhetoric that both major parties are ‘puss’ and ‘dog’ who have never and will never work together.
The manner in which he speaks about parish councils underscores the amount of work he intends to do and the value of central government input to these councils. He has made it abundantly clear that he thinks the People’s National Party (PNP) is a failure and insists that Jamaicans should vote them out of power.
After all of this is said and done, McKenzie will be expected to bridge the gap, irrespective of the party in leadership, and restore faith in the local governance system. As a minister, he must also recognise that he must work with the PNP to correct their perceived failures. Ending this bitter relationship will only benefit Jamaica and her people. If he truly means Jamaica and the local government portfolio any good, he will recuse himself from any more political public debates and discourse and support the party’s mechanism from behind the scenes.
If he doesn’t, he will continue to ensure that there is a rift which can never be mended.
Timothy Cawley
cawley.timothy@gmail.com
Whoever chose Desmond McKenzie to be a member of the Jamaica Labour Party team for the first of the two local government debates made a poorly informed decision.
McKenzie must appreciate the fact that he is a member of the executive arm of government. And while he is closely invested in the affairs of the impending local government elections, being his party’s standard-bearer, he must also acknowledge the expectations of his ministerial capacity and the impartiality framework within which he must fulfil his duties.
I would imagine that he recognises that his role bridges the gap between central and local government and requires a high degree of impartiality and efficiency. His presence at the debate, in his usual tribalistic manner, underscored the usual rhetoric that both major parties are ‘puss’ and ‘dog’ who have never and will never work together.
The manner in which he speaks about parish councils underscores the amount of work he intends to do and the value of central government input to these councils. He has made it abundantly clear that he thinks the People’s National Party (PNP) is a failure and insists that Jamaicans should vote them out of power.
After all of this is said and done, McKenzie will be expected to bridge the gap, irrespective of the party in leadership, and restore faith in the local governance system. As a minister, he must also recognise that he must work with the PNP to correct their perceived failures. Ending this bitter relationship will only benefit Jamaica and her people. If he truly means Jamaica and the local government portfolio any good, he will recuse himself from any more political public debates and discourse and support the party’s mechanism from behind the scenes.
If he doesn’t, he will continue to ensure that there is a rift which can never be mended.
Timothy Cawley
cawley.timothy@gmail.com