Neita

Political campaign meetings have often been enriched by the humour, singing, music and the risque exchanges that used to attract thousands to the village square for an evening of fun and entertainment.

There is no shortage of stories starting with the antics of Bustamante, who once removed his shoes and socks on the platform to prove to a cheering crowd that his opponent, said to be Iris King, was untruthful when she made the dubious point that he was not electable because "Busta have a sore foot and him hiding it from you."

The Gleaner, in those earlier days, carried the Hansard reports of parliamentary debates or the details of Jamaica's more sensational court cases in full, but were also faithful in their reporting of the intimate background stories that added flavour to their campaign coverage.

No surprise then, that this account of a meeting in St Mary carried by The Gleaner on March 17, 1969, gives a blow-by-blow account of the "singing, dancing and general merriment that lasted throughout the four hours of solid entertainment".

Introduced by a song

In fulfilment of the requirements of a true political meeting in those days, every speaker was introduced by a song.

"The two most popular ones," said the story, "were the hymn I must have the Saviour with me, and the well known reggae tune Scare Him."

The former song, we are told tongue-in-cheek by the reporter, was usually a statement of the candidate's desire, while the latter was usually directed at the party's opponents.

Giving the faithful their money's worth, the candidate then lashed out at his challengers, reminding the crowd that "the PNP used to call us 'dutty-labourites', to which someone replied 'dem still call we so sah', at which the speaker gladly accepted the correction in his tense."

The meeting ends with the chairman calling for "three cheers for the 'young bwoy' from town, but is not really town him come from, you know Miss G down the road, well, no fi her son", at which, we are told, "the volume of the cheers increased".

St Mary may have been a happy hunting ground for these amusing episodes, as another event featuring the political heavyweights of the PNP at a meeting in Oracabessa on October 4, 1971, leaves the reader laughing at the series of events which literally left the people in the dark.

The story actually started some weeks before the meeting when the Minister of Public Utilities Wilton Hill was reported to have made the disclosure at a Jamaica Public Service Ltd conference in Ocho Rios, that he was not God.

God of electricity

In answer to this modest disclaimer the well-publicised report tells us that one worker intoned solemnly, "You are god. You are the god of electricity, and you are the god of light and power."

The STAR reporter fast-tracks to October 4 when Michael Manley, while addressing a crowd of about 3,000 at Oracabessa during a power failure, raises his clenched fist and the crowd, mindful of the power cut, shouts 'power to the people'.

"While they were still chanting, the electricity returned but the sudden surge caused an explosion with the high voltage wire set ablaze and sparks flying."

At this point people start to scatter in different directions, but Manley does not move, he stands firm along with P. J. Patterson, Dr Ken McNeill and Noel Silvera.

The reporter pauses to explain that there are two sets of people in that crowd: "one set expressed superstition over the incident, while the other set ran because they believed the wires would have dropped on them.

"In that latter category," (and here the reporter sneaks in a blow beneath the belt), "was a news photographer who jumped off of a high concrete wall and sprained his ankle while trying to get away.

"When the situation ended, it provided a lot of rumour. One man said, 'oonu ask fe power den oonu run from it', while the majority said it was a sign from God.

"Question is," ends the story in direct reference to Minister Hill's earlier declaration, "which god, the god of electricity, or the god of light and power? Who knows?"

Lance Neita is a freelance writer and can be contacted at lanceneita@hotmail.com