Daryl Vaz and Kenneth Rowe will contest the West Portland constituency in a very important by-election tomorrow, March 23. The Appeal Court's oral judgment came in time for the prime minister to announce the date of the by-election, which he did right away, scheduling it just before the budget debate begins in April. This allows us to have the by-election sooner rather than later and before the budget is presented.

It is a most convenient coincidence that the Court of Appeal's decision came when it did because I would believe that the Government would prefer to have the by-elections before rather than after the budget debate. Indeed, the Gleaner's editorial of March 2, opened with the observation that "by the standards of Jamaica's justice system, we suppose the Dabdoub/Vaz election case has been concluded at breakneck speed, if indeed, it has". It went on to say that "our surprise and concern, however, is that in a case that is so legally and constitutionally pivotal, the justices chose to deliver a verbal judgment, with their written judgment to follow afterwards. No specific date was set for its delivery".

Another part of that editorial was quite telling. It said, "Significantly, almost immediately after the Appeal Court's ruling, Prime Minister Golding, with a razor-thin majority in parliament, announced the by-election." Then the editorial went further to suggest that the whole matter might not end with the by-election. It warned, "Yet, we suspect that this case will not rest at the Court of Appeal, where election petitions usually end, but instead will find new life, even if circuitously, at the Privy Council as a constitutional matter".

Press release

In a press release from the PNP on the same day, issued under Dabdoub's name, a similar concern over issuing an oral judgment without reasons was expressed. Dabdoub also reiterated that precedent cases in a number of countries should have justified a judgment in favour of awarding the seat to him. He decided, however, that he would support Kenneth Rowe of the People's National Party (PNP), but took the position that, "my deeper concern is that the Constitution of Jamaica and the rights of our citizens are strictly observed and given effect". He would continue to work on the four remaining election petitions before the court, "to ensure that constitutional provisions are strictly observed and in particular that all persons not qualified to be members of the House or the Senate be removed, if not by their own voluntary acts then by the courts".

It might take years and consideration by the Privy Council for this matter to be settled as a constitutional matter and Jamaicans should pursue it as one central to their democracy. Most people, however, are for the time being more interested in what happens tomorrow, in who will win. Up to now, the people of West Portland believe they are winning. The Gleaner reported one resident as saying, "You can call it bribery or whatever you want, but I don't think West Portland has ever seen this kind of attention in over 30 years." Roads are being repaired, electricity is being provided to those who never had it before, and more homes now have running water.

Infrastructural development

The PNP says the government has spent some $300 million on projects in the constituency, far more than what has been spent in any other constituency. One Portlander points out that, "if half of the constituencies in Jamaica could experience what we have been seeing in terms of infrastructural development, then the country would certainly be better off". The problem is that after the by-election we might hear from the Government that budget spending has to be tight because of the world economic crisis and spending on many projects have to be cut back.

This spending in West Portland comes against a revenue shortfall that would probably amount to $30 billion by the time the budget debate opens. That shortfall is going to reverberate through the island's constituencies.

West Portlanders are getting electricity at a time that the Jamaica Public Service company has an application for a 23 per cent increase in electricity rates. Without that increase it says it will not be able to invest in further generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. More constituencies won't be able to get electricity or they'll get it at a much higher cost than now. JPS wants this increase as early as July 1.

The budget debate will have to report on the decline of the bauxite and sugar industries and their impact on over half of the island's constituencies, which are sugar or bauxite constituencies, or both. The Government will have to tell us more about the plight of the families and communities in the sugar industry and about how its troubled and repeatedly delayed divestment plans will at some point help to rebuild those rural communities.

Divestment plan failure

The failure of the divestment plan to a Brazilian company cannot simply be ascribed to the problems of the world economy. Government's role in negotiating with a company that did not seem to have money was part of the problem. Meanwhile, the loss of purchasing power by displaced workers has caused companies like Super Plus to be selling off stores that are not doing well in those communities, not to mention the corner shops that have done business with these workers for generations.

The Government must also decide with one voice whether it believes we are, in fact, in an economic crisis. It seems to say so when it finds it convenient to say it cannot do this or that. Dr Christopher Tufton, for example, has ascribed the failure to find buyers for the sugar factories to the "economic tsunami". The sugar-divestment issue, he says, is a casualty of that environment. Will Audley Shaw admit to the crisis, not just of the economy, but also in people's lives?

As for the bauxite industry, the picture is also bad. West Indies Alumina Company (Windalco) has come to an agreement with the company to put 850 permanent employees on three days a week work with a 40 per cent reduction in wages, effective from April 1. It had already cut 250 temporary employed persons. It will suspend operations in Manchester and St Catherine. It seems the best the unions can do, but it still means that there is a crisis in people's lives across the island's constituencies.

Economic problems

These are just some of the national economic problems that work their ways into communities and families in the country's 60 constituencies. The sell-off of a number of Super Plus wholesale and supermarket stores says much about what is happening in communities across the island. Ironically, the company was started over 40 years ago in Portland. The problems reported by the company are symptomatic of what businesses face - tight credit, rising costs, falling sales, and declining profits.

We are happy West Portland is getting some help. But after the elections we will have our democracy and economy to worry about.

Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus. Email: Robert.Buddan@uwimona.edu.jm or columns@gleanerjm.com