Robert Buddan, Contributor
BRUCE GOLDING is likely to be elected the next leader of the Jamaica Labour Party.
The campaign has attracted attention over how the labour and non-labour candidates compare, the reformist and traditionalist camps contrast, and the labels of traitor and loyalty to the party over which the candidates and their supporters contend.
The choice is made more difficult by the fact that, by Mr. Seaga's account, neither candidate is fit to lead the party. Mr. Charles, he had said, is too old, and Mr. Golding too indecisive.
He did not support Mr. Charles' candidacy for a deputy leader in 1999, and despite claiming neutrality, does not support Mr. Golding's candidacy now, blaming him for causing indiscipline in the party and, by extension, forcing him to give up the leadership.
The candidates have not made it any easier to choose between them. Mr. Charles had said he wanted to take the party back to its Bustamante roots but has ended up in the camp of Mr. Seaga, the very man who had taken the party away from those roots.
GANG OF FIVE
It was Pearnel Charles who in 1999 won the backing of the BITU for a post of deputy leader under the pen of Hugh Shearer, but who does not have the support of the new president of the BITU, Ruddy Spencer, who stands in Mr. Golding's camp. On the other hand, while Mr. Golding now leads the reformist section, it was Charles and the 'Gang of Five' before him who led the initial charge for a more democratic party while Mr. Golding remained loyal to Mr. Seaga and the status quo.
It was Mr. Golding who said he would carry out the new NDM agenda in the JLP but who has since backtracked on its showpiece reform, separation of powers. Mr. Golding might say that he is no more a traitor than Mr. Samuda who had joined the PNP government but who is not labelled a traitor now.
REBUILDING THE PARTY
Mr. Charles, though never having left the JLP, might be seen as a traitor to the cause of taking the party back to its Bustamante roots instead of singing a sankey. To be fair to Mr. Golding, it is he that has been the popular choice to lead the party according to numerous polls.
Whichever candidate wins, a few things are certain. Two years after losing its fourth straight general elections, the JLP still remains a divided party lacking clear leadership and a solid identity around which its supporters can rally. As long as Mr. Golding is party leader and Mr. Seaga is Leader of the Opposition, things will remain unclear as to who really runs the party, how united the party is, and what the party stands for. Mr. Seaga has said on more than one occasion that things will only get worse in the party.
The party must choose one path or the other. Its new leadership must take clear positions. Should Golding or Charles triumph, the next leader will have a huge challenge establishing his real identity since, under the current formula of dual leadership, he will remain under Mr. Seaga's cloud.
This is particularly true for Bruce Golding. Mr. Seaga's own assessment of Mr. Golding in 1995 was that Mr. Golding was articulate, methodical, hardworking and analytical. But Mr. Seaga also said that Mr. Golding is not able to make up his mind... He has to analyse all the issues before he comes to a decision and has a difficulty in coming down on one side or the other he has no stomach for leadership.
If he becomes leader, Mr. Golding will have to make up his mind about certain things. He will have to change the tradition where Mr. Seaga makes up the party's policy positions as he goes along, and get the party to start doing its own thinking. For instance, he will have to get the entire party to start deliberations towards the next JLP manifesto. This is something he will have to fight for because Mr. Seaga had said he always makes sure to play a leading role in constructing JLP manifestos. One immediate challenge would be to take a consistent position on campaign finance reform. The party had said it was in favour of disclosure and was ready to meet with the PNP on this issue. The truth is that it is not ready. Its credibility has been undermined by the mystery and acrimony surrounding the 'Friends of the JLP' ads.
This organisation seems more like a secret society in or around the party. The party must undertake a full investigation of the process by which these ads and their sponsors were able to shroud themselves in secrecy and violate transparency, the very thing that campaign finance reform seeks to achieve.
FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS
Another matter is that of free and fair party elections. The Electoral Office of Jamaica has insisted that the party candidates settle on the delegates' list before it agrees to manage the elections since it does not want its own integrity to suffer in the current dispute. It has gone so far as to threaten to withdraw its services. Mr. Charles, in the meantime, has threatened to take the party to court over the list.
The JLP must put the structures in place to make itself a democratic party. The new leader of the party must build trustworthy procedures and end the continuous questions over whether the party's constitution is being followed. Then there are those other issues which Mr. Seaga has claimed to be JLP positions but which, one suspects, have not been taken after proper consultation with the relevant bodies of the party.
The new JLP leader must get the party to decide for itself on a number of positions. It needs to decide on its support for the Caribbean Single Market and Economy and the Caribbean Court of Justice.
The process towards the SME is well under way and Jamaican companies are expanding in the region and listing on the regional stock exchange. They need to have the confidence that a party which might be a future government of Jamaica will not withdraw from the single market on the spurious basis that, as Mr. Seaga has argued, Jamaica cannot compete; or withdraw from institutions like the CCJ on the ungrounded fear that it is a backdoor to federation, another of Mr. Seaga's claims.
CHAMPION OF CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
The party needs to make up its mind on constitutional reform. Its members need to enquire into the delay to agree on the Charter on Rights and how to speed up the process to have a constitution fitting for the 21st century. Mr. Golding had been a champion of constitutional reform in the NDM.
The opportunity is now at hand for him to break the political deadlock and show that the JLP is serious about having a modern and more democratic constitution that entrenches people's fundamental rights, key institutions like the Electoral Commission, and proceed to becoming a republic so that we can then have a referendum.
The new leader needs to get his party to determine whether the JLP should support the social partnerships with government through the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the public sector, and the Partners for Progress with the private sector.
It is surprising that a party of labour and a party that grew out of a trade union, does not support the very MoU that its own union is a partner to; and that a party of free enterprise has snubbed the private sector's Partners for Progress.
Labour and capital need to know where the JLP stands on partnerships. The economy wants to know.
Winning the party leadership is one thing. The JLP needs to make itself relevant and stand for credible positions. Achieving this is the real test of whether Golding or Charles is fit to be the leader of the party.
Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona. Email:Robert.Buddan@uwimona.edu.jm
