IF COMRADE Danny Roberts of the National Workers Union had not spilled the beans in his exhortation to the party faithful to work to ensure a fourth term, the country would not have been aware that the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), as presently constituted, is a feeding tree for supporters of the People's National Party.Confirmation has come from the Minister of State in the Transport Ministry, Dean Peart, who has admitted that people have been employed to the bus company because of their affiliation to the governing party.
According to the State Minister, a key party functionary in a senior position with the JUTC had used that to influence the employment of the party faithful. The remedy has been to continue to employ the individual, but she has had the benefit of a lateral shift where presumably she will not be able to influence employment practices.
The admission is itself a startling change from the traditional denials that used to be a recurrent refrain in the heyday of tribal wars over scarce benefits. But Mr. Peart is insulting the intelligence of the Jamaican people if he would have us believe that one officer, presumably acting on her own, could have been responsible for the stacking of this state agency with the party faithful.
We say this despite the attempt at damage control by Minister Peter Phillips. His apparent contradiction of Mr. Peart is not convincing, in effect simply stating what ought to have been done.
The JUTC is a state agency, paid for by the taxpayers of this country which has already cost in the region of J$4 billion and is not expected to operate without a subsidy. While most people have welcomed the change and the new sense of order it has brought to public transportation in the Corporate Area, the praises will be short-lived if it is to be a political feeding tree. The affair makes a mockery of Prime Minister P.J. Patterson's oft-repeated claim that his administration eschews political partisanship.
The entire episode has distinct parallels with the PNP of the Democratic Socialist 1970s, which only goes to demonstrate that people, despite the rhetoric, remain faithful to their core beliefs.
Those in the party who are quite rightly concerned about the growth of the "donmanship" phenomenon must recognise that it has its antecedents in this type of political partisanship. It is this type of activity that helps to create the sense of hopelessness that is pervading the society and is encouraging many of our skilled and professional people to vote with their feet in a growing exodus.
If this is the promise and prospect of a fourth term, many more will take many flights to wherever.
