Heather Robinson
THERE IS NO DOUBT that Portia Simpson Miller is PNP. There is no questioning of the fact that she has always been PNP. Portia Simpson Miller's loyalty to the PNP cannot be questioned successfully. There is no doubt that she enjoys support within the PNP and from Labourites as well. Polls suggest that she - from among those polled - is the PNP member who is most likely to defeat Bruce Golding of the JLP. In plain simple language, Jamaicans 'love Sister P'.
I am reminded of April 11, 1962, the day after the general election in which my father R.S. Robinson was the PNP's candidate for Western Westmoreland. Having been elected to the House of Representatives in 1959, my father was seeking to be re-elected. This general election was called by the late Norman Manley after Jamaicans had voted 'No' to the Federation of the West Indies. Norman Manley's PNP was in support of Federation and Alexander Bustamante's JLP was not. The result is well documented, and formed the basis for the statesman Norman Manley to call an early election, which was not constitutionally due until 1964.
He could have remained in office and taken Jamaica into Independence in August 1962. My father lost the election on the night of April 10, 1962. The PNP lost and the JLP formed the government that took Jamaica into Independence.
WORRIED AFTER ELECTION
I will never forget how worried I was on the morning after the election. We were living in Negril and I feared that some Labourites would have come to our home with a 'coffin' to 'bury' my father after his electoral defeat. This was a somewhat popular cultural tradition that existed between political supporters. It never happened. No one came to our home with any 'coffin'. But scores of persons came to speak to my father.
Included in the group of persons who came were supporters and members of the PNP. They expressed regret at my father's loss, and offered words of encouragement. My father who was age 45 at the time, was able to console all who came to visit him, and like the big man he was, he stood tall. And there were Labourites who also came to express regret at my father's defeat.
"Teacher," the Labourites said, "we love you, but we don't like your party." I have never forgotten those words, and while my mother was alive, she would always remind us of this. My father was one who had spent over 20 years teaching children in Westmoreland. Though he was always a PNP, he never allowed that to stop him from assisting a parent who did not share his political loyalties.
Fortunately for my father, who became unemployed on April 11, there was a vacancy for a headmaster at the Little London Primary School. He applied and was employed to do what he did best, teaching. He taught there for the next four years until his death.
DIFFICULTY UNDERSTANDING THE LOGIC
It is against this background that I have difficulty understanding the logic of known, admitted opponents of the PNP government, offering support to the candidacy of Portia Simpson Miller. Perhaps it is time Jamaicans are reminded about what is placed on an electoral ballot. The name of the candidate and her occupation are to the left off the ballot, and on the right the political symbol representing the PNP and the JLP. The head is the PNP's symbol, and how many Labourites will place their X beside the head, instead of beside the bell for Bruce Golding's first term as a Prime Minister?
My own experience of the last 40 years tells me that such political occurrences are rare, and any politician who believes that he/she can be elected or re-elected based on love, is really not living in 2005.
Heather Robinson is a life underwriter and former Member of Parliament.
