Dawn Ritch, Columnist
Opposition Leader Bruce Golding has promised constitutional reform, National Housing Trust benefits for every contributor, the consolidation of payroll deduction into a single security scheme, and much other bureaucratic tinkering of that nature.
This is painful historical irony. I would never have expected any Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader to offer constitutional reform. Labourites are noted for their conservatism, not adventurism.
New green colour
More than anything else, this demonstrates that in their own party, the Labourites have been entirely vanquished by the Endimites. Golding's opportunism never fails to astonish.
The Endimites came along with Golding from the National Democratic Movement (NDM), and 'captured' the JLP. Now the Opposition Leader has stitched the NDM platform unto the JLP, and I for one won't wear it.
The JLP's party colour has always been Kelly Green or Jamaica Green. Now under Golding, it seems that any colour green will do. That is unfortunate because when everyone wears a different colour green on the same political platform, it creates a dappled effect which looks like battle fatigues.
At the conference, the green had a lot of blue infused into it. And now with everybody in exactly the same blue-green colour, it looked even more like a military uniform.
This sense of military fascism was heightened by the Opposition Leader's security being dressed in full black uniforms, and standing on either side of the podium while he spoke.
Why the necessity for all this camouflage? Is it in order to disguise that Bruce Golding is an Empty Suit, a yes-man who fancies himself as a leader? As defined in The Sunday Telegraph, an 'Empty Suit' has little talent, and no fixed opinions, but crawls to his superiors well, and plays office politics with great skill.
The mobilisation of thousands was impressive. But they looked young to me, as though they didn't have a vote. Moreover, there was no spirit. Those watching it on television probably had a better time than those who attended.
The person who brought down the house however, was Steven Golding, who as far as I know, has no standing in the matter. He is merely the son of the current JLP leader. If he is to be so promoted, then at least make him the president of G2K so he'll have some work to do.
This pseudo-Rastafarian made a mockery of the Lord's Prayer. He said 'Our father who art in Parliament, Bangarang be thy name ...'
The JLP has ridiculed Portia Simpson Miller for saying she feels anointed by God. The fact is that she is entitled to feel that way because during her campaign for the PNP presidency, she went to the Kingston Parish Church specifically to be blessed by the Bishop of Kingston. Is young Golding now saying that his father is the God who gave that blessing?
This makes no sense at all. They accuse the Prime Minister of blasphemy, yet the JLP has now used the predominant Christian religion of the country without any sense of sobriety whatsoever, to entertain a vast crowd, which was otherwise bored out of its collective mind.
Golding ought not to have found his son's performance so delightful. The vast majority of Jamaicans are not Rastafarian, and would have found it highly offensive.
For his lengthy parody of the Lord's Prayer, Steven Golding got the loudest cheers for the entire conference. That's quite a price to pay for a few cheers.
Spent so much money
Never before in the history of the JLP has it ever spent so much money on an annual conference. Never before has it ever had so much money to spend. Between first world electronics and the crowd, it was a massive display of money.
One JLP candidate made the Kentucky Fried Chicken in Cross Roads work overtime. His order was 2,400 chicken dinners. He had 120 cases of beer.
One major drinks company in the country had to load a truck specially and park it at the Arena. Another candidate had 800 meals spoiled because no buses were sent for the people. This is when there was absolutely no shortage of buses or cash. Yet for all the money spent, the conference still had no vibe. It was a classic case of overegging.
Had the JLP that kind of money in the last general election, they would have won. It's clear therefore that the private sector didn't want Edward Seaga as prime minister, no doubt because money couldn't cut his red tape.
Nevertheless, both this year and last, the Labourites started to leave the Arena while Golding was still at the podium. Whatever he was saying was, as usual, finding no resonance with the masses, not even those he might have expected to show some consideration.
Constitutional reform is hardly a burning issue, and as Golding subsequently admitted, there will be no NHT benefits for everyone until there is more education and growth in the Jamaican economy.
Consolidating payroll deductions is easily done. Then no one will ever be able to accuse the Government again of robbing Peter to pay Paul.
This looks to me like a three-card trick. But then Steven Golding did imply that governance is regarded as a game of chance by the Goldings. After all, the young Golding did refer to it as a game of cards in his speech.
But he forgot to mention the rest of the chorus of the song, The Gambler, that he was using. It says: 'you never count winnings while you're seated at the table. There will be time enough for counting when the deal is done.'
The deal ain't done. Young Golding is counting his chickens before they are hatched. It seems an awful lot of money to spend on a JLP conference, and have nothing to say but what you've said before.
Golding's proposed constitutional reform, to include the separation of powers between the Government and the Parliament by strengthening the role of the Opposition, is complete nonsense. If, as he says "... in certain critical areas, Government will not be able to act unilaterally, but can only do so with the agreement of the Opposition," a country not noted for much, would now accomplish nothing.
Golding's proposal is a recipe for gridlock. Such a state of affairs would be of interest only to the perennial Opposition. If Golding were interested in people nearly as much as he's interested in tinkering with systems, he might have more popular appeal.
