Dawn Ritch, Columnist

In a letter to the editor, a reader asks whether or not I "intend to spend the next few years criticising everything the current Prime Minister does."

G.A. Grieves writes that, "by dint of (my) anti-Bruce and pro-Portia rants, (I've) shown myself to be the leader of the tribalist camp." This was in answer to my column last week. I pointed out then that the Labourites are sad and angry because of the dual citizenship issue, and can't crow. Tribalism in the country had, therefore, gone into overdrive.

When I criticised P.J. Patterson every day for the 14 years of his administration, I don't recall G.A. Grieves complaining that I was tribalist. Moreover, there are no tribes in Jamaica known as anti-Bruce or pro-Portia, or any combination thereof. There are only two tribes: the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People's National Party (PNP). That is the only sense in which one can refer to tribalism.

worst offender

The new Prime Minister and his Cabinet members whom this reader so admires, have made about 10 pronouncements each in the last three weeks. One of the worst offenders in this regard is Dr. Chris Tufton, Minister of Agriculture, who can't resist a press release. Yet, the farmers still have no fertiliser.

A tape has now turned up of Finance Minister, Audley Shaw, promising the Nurses' Association of Jamaica that he would double nurses' pay when his party came to power. This statement was made last year. Now that he is Finance Minister, however, Shaw told this newspaper he couldn't recall saying so.

Every interview this Government gives is like a presentation in the Budget Debate. At the end of it, we're none the wiser, and the air is filled with contradiction.

The Bruce Golding-led administration is still promising the world to everyone. It is now proposing to abolish certain taxes and lower others. Yet, the Treasury, as Shaw recently reported, is much worse off than they had expected. This makes no sense to me.

The razor-thin electoral margin made no sense either, so I'm not surprised that much confusion surrounds it. The courts have been tossing who won the seat in Eastern Hanover back and forth between them, and between parishes, like a hot potato. This is not an impressive sight. Meanwhile, the Constituted (Electoral) Authority has quickly beaten a hasty retreat. They have ruled that none of the five election petitions before them has any merit.

It cannot be the will of the people to endure protracted unsettledness. But it seems unavoidable because such a slim majority exists for the ruling party. This outcome astonishes me, because I didn't believe the Jamaican people could come out so heavily in favour of 'speaky spokey'. This has always been a boring and deeply embarrassing middle-class affectation. The hallowed tradition here in Jamaica has been to regard it as a sure sign that the person was educated beyond his or her own competence. It was a noted affliction in the past among certain ambitious primary-school teachers. They were distinguished by their total lack of common sense, and usually became the family failures. This was to be avoided at all costs.

unsettled

Bear in mind that since the year 2000, the country has been more or less unsettled, and expecting a change. That was the year Edward Seaga was challenged for the leadership of the JLP by Mike Henry, who lost. Then in 2004, came the internal leadership battle that wasn't between Pearnel Charles and Bruce Golding. But it still went on for three months, and was debated for a year in the media.

In February 2006, came the four-way internal presidential elections of the PNP. That was an election for which campaigning had been going on for at least two or more years before. Then came the general election this year.

There has been, therefore, almost a decade of frenzied political preparation for what turns out to be a razor-thin national margin. The two major political parties have laboured mightily to bring forth a mouse. Consequently, the country finds itself mired in legal and constitutional issues about a general election held more than a month ago.

It seems hardly worth the effort. Edward Seaga or P. J. Patterson might as well be Prime Minister today for all the difference it has made. There were more murders committed after last month's election than before. Human rights organisations and lawyers are more intensely involved with national life than before. There is aid from the United States before we even asked for it. Yet murder, violence and arson continue unabated.

Our new Prime Minister, his Finance Minister and other Cabinet ministers make so many speeches and have given so many interviews to the press, that they can't remember what they said. When Mrs. Simpson Miller reminds them, their supporters accuse her of being bad-minded and rancorous. Yet, such reminders are the duty of an Opposition Leader.

hurricane's garbage still untouched

Hurricane Dean caused terrible physical destruction to Jamaica nearly two months ago, yet, nobody seems terribly perturbed that electricity still hasn't been returned to some areas. And despite a heavily advertised clean-up campaign last weekend, the country is still covered in the hurricane's garbage and detritus. I can't think of another JLP administration which required the help of citizens to clean up after a hurricane.

The quickening slide in the value of the Jamaican dollar since the election, as well as the drift in the country, can only be attributed to our new Prime Minister Bruce Golding. He doesn't know how to take a decision and when he does, it's nonsense.

For example, the Deputy Prime Minister cannot be the equal of the Opposition Leader, regardless of what the Prime Minister says. The head of the Opposition is the leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. A deputy prime minister can't, therefore, be anything like as equal to the Opposition Leader.

As to elevating the post of Speaker of the House to that of a Cabinet position, this is absolute foolishness. All the vanity in the world will never make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, not even to placate Delroy Chuck, who is Speaker now, nor the memory of Golding's late father, Tacius, whose highest position, despite a lifetime in politics, was only Speaker of the House.

Bruce Golding needs to remind himself that he has been elected to run the Westminster model. This is not a republic, no matter how banana-like it may be. The system of government we have is not haphazard, like an apple tree growing in the Garden of Eden.

My reader, G.A. Grieves, has gone the way of all tribalists because the JLP is his or her party, right or wrong. But no one should expect me to support a mulberry bush, nor U.S. citizens legislating for me in the Jamaican House of Representatives in flagrant breach of our Constitution.