D.K. Duncan LAST WEDNESDAY'S triple murder in the political constituency of West Rural St. Andrew represents another brutal manifestation of one of the most negative aspects of our political culture. The approach developed to the distribution of scarce benefits, a central element of our political practice, has served as a catalyst for the spread of this negative aspect - Political Tribalism.
One wonders what it will take to move the collective spirit of our people to sustain a demand for fundamental change in those political practices that retard the country's development.
A CASE STUDY
The events leading up to and including the execution of the three men in Temple Hall represent another classic case of a dysfunctional political system. Essentially a deep rural constituency, West Rural St. Andrew also encompasses some affluent urban areas. The poor conditions of the roads have always been a problem. An electorally marginal constituency, it was held by the People's National Party (PNP) from 1989 to 2002. Sharply criticised by constituents and the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) for the condition of the roads, among other things, the sitting MP, Vernon Robinson, opted not to seek re-election. A young JLP candidate, Andrew Gallimore, defeated another young candidate - the PNP's Carol Archer - in the October 2002 General Election.
Unemployment, especially youth unemployment was also a negative electoral factor for the PNP. Road development and jobs for young people were not just scarce but virtually non-existent benefits. Both of these scarce benefits became temporarily available with the commencement of a $100-million road improvement programme earlier this year. The political system then overtly kicked in.
Professor Carl Stone describes this system in his 1991 Report of the Committee set up to examine "the Performance, Accountability and Responsibility of Elected Parliamentarians". Among other things, the report states: "High levels of poverty, a tradition of party machinery doling out party patronage to supporting activists and a syndrome of dependency attitudes towards government have reinforced each other to define the MP's role and responsibility in Jamaican politics".
Where there is bipartisan agreement on a methodology for job distribution - a truce ensues. In its absence political violence is the traditional result. The Project Officer for the company responsible for the road work is reported as saying that he had not noticed any political friction since the project began five months earlier. He observed: "There was no tension of which I was aware; both sides (JLP and PNP) were working together without any tension". MP Gallimore, however, claims the process was one-sided. By October, the project was about to move into an area politically dominated by the JLP. The rest is history. Both approaches to the distribution of scarce benefits are unacceptable whether they end in political truce or violence.
HOW MANY MORE?
Andrew Gallimore has now experienced the tragic deaths of three of his supporters on the altar of political tribalism. The MP observed: "I believe that fighting over work brings out the tribal nature". Will this personal experience help to raise his political consciousness as to the need for fundamental change? More importantly if he recognises this need, is he willing to become a change agent? Or will he continue to plead that he is a newcomer to the system. Bob Marley's lament three decades ago: "How many more will have to suffer, how many more will have to die", still continues to have relevance.
PROCRASTINATION
OR TRANSFORMATION?
Marley may have also reflected the sentiments of Susan Goffe of Jamaicans for Justice when she resigned recently from the National Consultative Commit-tee on Crime. Set up to monitor the implementation of the recommendations in the Report of the National Committee on Crime and Violence, very little has been heard from them publicly. The implementation plan was premised on the notion that "if the problem is killed at the root, then the effects we do not want will go away". Two of the five problems identified as major root causes of crime and violence by the National Committee are grounded in tribal politics.
The present approach to the distribution of scarce benefits and spoils which cuts across all social classes is a significant element of that root cause. In earlier times, it was referred to as a Vampire a political system "sucking the blood of the sufferer". It is now sucking the blood of the entire country. It is time to kill it at the root. It is a time to strive for genuine political transformation.
One Love, One Heart.
A dental surgeon, Dr. D.K. Duncan is a former General Secretary and Cabinet Minister in the PNP administration of the 1970s.
