It's amazing that our Parliament, which meets one day per week, finds it expedient to devote so much time to the issue of the 'Dudus Coke' extradition request. Indeed, the attention he has been getting from our beleaguered parliamentarians feeds the notion that this man is truly the 'PREZ' or 'the real big man'.

With the myriad of challenges facing the country the Opposition should make better use of parliamentary question time. A prepared Government-in-waiting while being strident and constructive in criticism, must also seize the moment to bring to the nation new ideas and policy initiatives that will inspire confidence that we may yet survive the state of free fall that now exists. That will only happen when minds become engaged in a common pursuit of solutions to our nation's ills, and its demands for growth, equity and justice.

Lessons were meant to be learnt. The Opposition that spends its time scouring the political landscape for points, rather than creatively and constructively shaping and leading the debate on the way forward, is a recipe for a poor government. The People's National Party (PNP) must not be unmindful of this, as it seeks to shed its fat and baggage and remake itself into the vehicle to drive Jamaica to prosperity and social justice in the 21st Century.

new philosophy

The party must be decisive and clinical in creating a new ideology, a new vision, a new philosophy. That is it's historic mandate and obligation, cradled, as it were, in the turbulence of the first global recession seventy-odd years ago. Our founders rose up, as duty demanded, and we should expect no less from today's leaders of the party. Indeed, if Jamaica ever needed an imaginative and inspired PNP, it is now.

I am of the view that our leaders should focus on reshaping and redirecting Jamaica towards change and prosperity. If they fail, Dudus may just be the first in a long line of like 'presidents', some more powerful than himself. In which case it will not matter whether the 'PREZ' stays or is 'deposed' to the United States.

In truth, Dudus is our reigning, home-grown monarch of the mess that our lack of effective leadership has spawned over the last thirty years.

I am, etc.,

DELFORD G. MORGAN

pepe.morgan@yahoo.com