Kevin O'Brien Chang, Contributor

Well they are over at last, thank God. No more elections please for at least another year, and preferably five. People are sick of campaigning politicians. What we want is a crime plan. The murderous wave sweeping the land has made everything else irrelevant.

The media keep obsessing about state ministers Bobby Montague and Everald Warmington's 'vote for me if you want goodies' platform rhetoric. The public seems mostly satisfied with Prime Minister Golding's condemnation of these outbursts and the apology both men have made. It's more than we ever got when the PNP was in charge. Mr. Montague said sorry like a big man and sounded convincing. Many felt the arrogant Mr. Warmington deserved to be fired. Perhaps only the political realities of a 32-28 Parliament kept him from the back benches.

'No Kern, no water'

In the recent general election campaign, then Attorney-General A. J. Nicholson asserted that "if you don't vote for Kern [Spencer] you not getting no water". Before the 2003 Local Government Election, former Prime Minister P. J. Patterson warned that those who did not vote for his party would "suck salt through a wooden spoon". So it's pretty hilarious to hear the current demands for resignations from people who said nothing about such matters.

Despite 18 years of regular scandals and questionable behaviour and statements, CAFFE did not call for a single People's National Party (PNP) official to resign. Now after three months of Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) rule, it's suddenly demanding the heads of Messrs Warmington and Montague over election platform rhetoric. And CAFFE claims to be a non-partisan citizens' group? A national laughing stock is more like it.

Sharon Hay-Webster's call for the reinstatement of a house ethics committee makes sense. But where was her operatic sense of outraged integrity during the Netserv or Trafigura or the Universal Access Fund or Cuban light-bulb scandals and after Messrs Patterson's or Nicholson's comments? Talk about a political joke.

The recent radio reunion of the Bobby Pickersgill and A.J. comedy duo was as side-splitting as their 'no hanky panky' and 'chicken feed' Trafigura tour de force. First, Mr. Pickersgill tried to misquote Mr. Nicholson's 'No Kern no water' statement. Then A.J. explained that he was merely highlighting the PNP's superior ability to deliver services, in an area that after 18 years of Comrade representation still had no water! Then he topped it off by implying that if the libel laws are changed, he might be able to sue journalists for misquoting him! As they say, you couldn't make it up.

Serious side

But there is a serious side here. Sooner or later, as all governments do, this JLP administration will transgress seriously. But if the PNP keeps making mountains out of sand grains, we will then find necessary criticism from her Majesty's loyal Opposition being dismissed as "wolf, wolf alarmism".

The only senior PNP official displaying any credibility is Dr. Peter Phillips. Whatever his shortcomings as Security Minister, his current crime articles show he is at least trying to grapple intellectually with the problem. His counterpart Derrick Smith has done nothing but utter platitudes and make inappropriate platform threats.

The Public Service Commission impasse between Prime Minister and Opposition Leader has engendered much veranda gossip. Not being a lawyer, I leave the niceties to the shylocks. To my layman's ear, Ken Jones' December 9 Gleaner article made sense. O. Hilaire Sobers claims Mr. Jones' arguments are not legally persuasive. But since Michael Manley and Edward Seaga demanded and got new PSC members in 1976 and 1980, respectively, this hullabaloo seems a tempest in a teapot.

Still, it's in the judge's hands now. Which makes me glad once more that the completely impartial British Privy Council is our final Court of Appeal. If the Bruce versus Portia imbroglio does go to the highest arbiters, it's comforting to know that Privy Council decisions are never influenced by JLP or PNP appointees or friends of friends. If we ever have a referendum on keeping the Privy Council - or indeed the Queen as head of state - my vote will unhesitatingly be 'if it ain't broke why fix it?'

Hope needed

But much as it excites the chattering classes, the PSC "kas kas" barely registers on the ground, where the talk is all about crime. Right now, any crime policy announced by this JLP government would get public support. All people want is hope, a signal that something is being done.

Last week, a Labourite cussed me off as being unreasonable. How could I expect a three-month-old administration to fix a problem the PNP could not solve in 18 years? What did I want, miracles? No, I answered. I would shut up about the issue if Mr. Golding simply said that the JLP intends to keep the promises it made when it launched its much ballyhooed MacMillan crime plan last year.

Forget Warmington and Montague and the PSC. I want to hear a journalist confront Prime Minister Golding thus: "Mr. Golding, last year, the JLP unveiled the MacMillan Crime Report where you claimed it was not resources that were lacking but political will. You vowed to pass the 33 laws outlined as soon as you got into power. What has happened to the report and those laws and you promised?"

Complete overhaul

Mr. Golding says only a complete overhaul of the governance process can address the fundamental problems at the root of our world leading murder rate. Personally, I disagree. Why can't we be both tough on the long-term causes of crime, and tough on the criminals in our midst right now? Yes, we must root out corruption, remove red tape, revamp our police force and judicial system and improve parenting skills, create good schools and jobs. But this will take many years or even decades. How many more thousands of Jamaicans will have been slaughtered by then?

The public wants a new crime plan with specific policies to be implemented forthwith. There is no single magic bullet. But common sense and historical experience elsewhere strongly suggest that measures such as DNA databases and appropriate laws, ballistic records of all legally registered firearms, 'three strikes you're out' laws, and building more prisons for repeat offenders would have a significant impact on crime in a fairly short while.

Now the local government election was either a decisive triumph for the Golding-led JLP, or a decisive repudiation of the Portia Simpson Miller-led PNP, or both. In the September 3 General Election it was JLP 50.2 per cent to PNP 49.8 per cent. Last week it was JLP 52.5 per cent to PNP 47.5 per cent. The JLP's 134 to PNP 94 seat count - up from 126 JLP to 101 PNP in 2003 - would translate into about a 35-25 in Parliament.

Marginal victory

A victory margin increase from .4 per cent to 5.1 per cent in three months is a big shift in modern political terms. Spin doctors talk about 'hard-core voters and low turnouts'. But in September 807,490 people cast ballots, while last week 498,217 did. How can the roughly 500,000 who voted be less representative of the Jamaican electorate than the roughly 300,000 who did not?

The PNP has now lost three straight contested elections for the first time since 1967. Only Peter Bunting, Lisa Hanna, D.K. Duncan, and Ian Hayles - who helped repaint Manchester, St. Ann and Hanover orange - enhanced their reputations on December 5. Considering the turnaround he has wrought since coming to Manchester, Mr. Bunting would seem the logical choice to replace Danny Buchanan as party general secretary.

A strong Opposition is necessary for the proper functioning of democracy. It could not be good for Jamaica if the PNP became as divided and disorganised as the JLP was in the 1990s. Though, if neither can keep us safe, what difference does it make which 'P' is in power?

changkob@hotmail.com