SOLID ROCKS do not float. Omar's plan for prosperity came up 'short' and Karl's chances were Blythed from day one. So, as it appears, the best man for the job is a woman and Portia Simpson Miller is now the Prime Minister-designate. I have heard the entire gamut of comments. The most common is 'Woman time now!'
I don't know what the hell that means because women have been running this country since the days of slavery. With perhaps the exception of the departing incumbent, all of the past prime ministers have had women behind them. In fact, some have had several behind and beside them, oftentimes assisted by wives, some of whom were not their own.
Nevertheless, that is not the point. There is a misguided view in this society that women are weak and powerless. Oh come on!
According to historical evidence uncovered by Professor Barry Higman, formerly of the University of the West Indies (UWI), that is rubbish. During slavery, there were at least three 'gangs' of slaves.
The first gang was responsible for the clearing of heavy rubble and chopping down large trees. Well you guessed it! The majority of the slave workers in the great gang were women.
But even before that, the Queen Mother in the ancient Ashanti kingdom wielded considerable influence over the ruling Ashantehene (King).
In the tradition of the Ashanti, where most of us came from, the male blood lines mean nothing because inheritance is traced through females. Perhaps that is why we tend to rate our mothers' offspring as our siblings and refer to those of the father as 'outside children' even when those progenies were conceived prior to the current union.
WOMEN RUN THINGS
The fact is that, although women are underrepresented in the political arena, corporate board rooms and upper echelons of the academy, they have always run things. Women raise boys into men and often control them until they die.
Nonetheless, as we approach International Women's Day on Wednesday this week, we have to treat Portia's rise to the helm of a party that has traditionally been male and intellectual dominated as historic.
Yet, to suggest that she should have been selected because 'is woman time' is an insult to her and to women on the whole. I am sure that Elsa Leo-Rhynie, competent principal of the UWI and feminists such as Dr. 'Gender' Simms will agree that the only reason that she should have been voted in is because she is/was the best candidate.
Therefore, if this was not the real consideration in an age where we are tired of the wrong people running our countries and world, then there is nothing to celebrate.
As the defeated contenders lick (their) wounds, bite their lips and close their eyes, they have to wonder how come a set of the so-called 'brightest and best' got defeated by a moderately-degreed woman.
Despite being unapologetically intellectual with strong loyalties to the UWI, I am also 'grass-roots' and I used to know Portia Simpson well. Nevertheless, I did not and still do not endorse any politician. Yet, inasmuch as I accept that she is the next Prime Minister of Jamaica and, therefore, needs the support of all, including myself, I have to note that her success demon-strates exactly where the problem lies with intellectual élites.
As I indicated a few months ago in my critique of the journalism awards, we 'bright people' spend so much time patting each other on the backs and other places, that we have lost the capacity to engage the common man.
It is not about whether Portia can face or dodge questions from a panel of society's leaders. Neither is it a question of her speaking 'Nettlefordian' English. What mattered is that she could speak to the ordinary semi-employed marginalised delegate.
As my big brother and sister constantly remind me when my head begins to swell, "If you are only book smart and the ordinary person can't benefit from it, you are not really bright!"
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Still, Portia now has a lot more on her shoulders than she can even imagine. Everyone is expecting a miracle. Well, given the poor performances of Seaga, Patterson and others, there is not much worse that she can do.
We are faced with a burgeoning national debt that our grandchildren will be repaying. Violent crime is spiraling out of control, and despite the low unemployment rate, underemployment is a big problem.
As when she took control of the Labour Ministry in 1989, she will have to learn fast. She has to choose Cabinet ministers from a parliamentary group which publicly demonstrated little confidence in her. Even the women's movement did not give her full support.
True, she will have to appear reconciliatory by embracing some of her detractors within the party. However, a greater test will be how she treats her friends. She has to ask herself why she lost the loyalty of some of her die-hard supporters from the 1990s.
Having settled these internal issues, how will she make a difference given that she, like Bruce Golding and other senior politicians, has been part of the negative political history? It was during their watch that guns increased in numbers in the inner cities and her constituency is one of the nation's homicide hot spots.
In the past, she could say, "Well, I am only a Member of Parliament." Now, she will be Prime Minister with absolutely no excuse. Winning was easy, now 'Portia faces life.'
Dr. Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
