Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

Kern Spencer wipes his tears after breaking down in Parliament last Wednesday.- Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

POLITICS, it is said, is not for the faint-hearted; nor is it for the weak-kneed.So when Kern Spencer nearly flooded Parliament's chamber with his tears on Tuesday, it came as a surprise to many.

Not only is he among the few Jamaican Members of Parliament (MP) to have wept inside Parliament, but he also publicly admitted to always having been an emotional man.

Persons who have worked at Gordon House for years say they have never seen anything like Spencer's tearful display.

"I have seen men quarrel and tell each other things like 'I will meet you outside', but nothing like this," one Gordon House veteran employee tells The Sunday Gleaner.

Karl Samuda, a Member of Parliament for 27 consecutive years, describes Parliament's chamber as an "arena where you fight." He says that in crying, Spencer fell on his own sword.

"In this arena, we are like gladiators ... We fight fiercely," says Samuda.

"You can get emotional, but it is not the place for the light-hearted or the weak-kneed," says Samuda.

Like many political veterans who have sat for long hours in Parliament, Francis Tulloch, a four-time PNP MP, says he can't recall seeing anyone cry in Parliament before.

"I have never witnessed it in my time and from my recollection, it is the first time someone has cried," Tulloch says.

living without tear ducts

But Spencer is not the only politician to have wept after coming under intense pressure on the political scene. A few have been seen shedding tears, while others have painted a picture of them living without tear ducts.

Samuda's voice was heard cracking on a radio show in 1997, and he appeared to have been sobbing after being grilled by journalists Hugh Crosskill and Cliff Hughes.

The interview took place after Samuda left the PNP and returned to the folds of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), having earlier described his JLP colleagues as a "bunch of whimps, yes-men and lackeys". He was penitent when he lit his candle and returned home, but refused to admit that his tears nearly put out the flame.

"I just got emotional, that's all," he tells The Sunday Gleaner.

But Donald Buchanan, the PNP general secretary, says that Samuda is lying.

Samuda

"Samuda cried. He cried on radio," Mr. Buchanan confirms.

self-confessed crier

Roger Clarke, a self-confessed crier, recalls that "Samuda bawled like a baby when they pressured him about the things he had said about the JLP."

Clarke, the man who Spencer succeeded in the North East St. Elizabeth constituency, is not averse to politicians crying.

"Politicians are people too. I cry anytime ... I cry a lot ... I am only human. I have cried before and will cry a million times over."

Clarke

Clarke shed tears at the National Arena a few years ago after being voted out as a vice-president of the People's National Party. His ousting was made possible by persons with whom Clarke had worked in the political sphere. To console Clarke, the party made him vice-president emeritus.

Grange

Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, was said to have shed tears after she lost the JLP deputy leader race to James Robertson in 2003.

However, after The Gleaner published the story that 'Babsy' had wept, she was peeved.

"I'm just fine and will you please correct the story? I did not cry," she said.

"I didn't have tears in my eye, I am a soldier. The story said that I had tears in my eyes. That is not true, my eyes are just pretty."

clare

Ben Clare, one of those politicians who, it is rumoured, cried during the time of the 'Furniture Scandal,' has denied ever shedding tears as a politician.

"I didn't cry at all," he tells The Sunday Gleaner. Clare, however, points to Mike Henry as a man who has cried in Parliament.

Henry

Henry denies ever crying in Parliament. "I was very emotional one day, but I did not cry," Henry says in his defence.

Henry says he empathises with Spencer, who cried when Energy Minister Clive Mullings made damning revelations in Parliament surrounding the controversial Cuban light bulb scandal.

Spencer wept. He says that the tears flowed because he wanted to defend himself and could not.

not easy to just sit there

According to Henry, who sits on the other side of the floor from Spencer, "It is not easy for you to sit there, wanting to say something in your defence and to be constrained by either a collective position or an individual position."

Political historian Troy Cain says that Sir Alexander Bustamante and the executive of the JLP caused Rose Leon to cry after she resigned from the executive.

Political neophyte Andrew Holness appeared to have been a tough, 'nah tek nuh talk' man when he refused to shake hands with Political Ombudsman, Bishop Herro Blair. The bishop was on a peace march in the West Central St. Andrew constituency. A day after his bold theatrics, Holness was softened. He cried at a press conference, which he had called to apologise to Bishop Blair.

The names of politicians who are said to have cried in the political arena include the PNP's John Junor and the JLP's Anthony Johnson.

Across the world, politicians have increasingly found that weeping is not at all bad for the reputation.

For, example Bob Hawke, former Australian prime minister, used the line "I'm only human" in 1989 when he cried and admitted on television that he had been unfaithful to his wife of 33 years.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com