Vernon Daley

Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller last week took a very important step towards heading off an early general election. In her Budget presentation, Mrs Simpson Miller said "the Opposition stands ready to respond in a constructive dialogue with the Government to ensure that the best interest of the country is protected".

These are encouraging words for a country facing the possibility of going back to the polls, just a few months after a marathon election season that stretched over some 24 months.

The recent ruling by Chief Justice Zaila McCalla that government MP Daryl Vaz was ineligible to sit in Parliament because he had sworn allegiance to the United States has opened up a political can of worms which threatens the Government's two-seat majority in the House. Chief Justice McCalla ruled that a by-election be held in the West Portland constituency but the People's National Party's (PNP) Abe Dabdoub has appealed the decision, arguing that the seat should go to him automatically.

Fresh mandate

It must be clear, even to the politically naïve, that a victory for Dabdoub in the Court of Appeal is the surest way to get a general election because the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) would argue that its ability to govern had been compromised and, therefore, it had no choice but to go back to the people for a fresh mandate.

Senior officers in the PNP say, publicly, the party is ready for an election but when one talks to comrades privately, there is a clear sense that the PNP is a fractured and divided party that is going along, trying to keep up impressions. It is in no state to seriously contest any poll.

My feeling is that a general election, right now, would not only hurt Jamaica but it would significantly increase the JLP's majority in the House. That might be a bad thing for governance. Landslide victories tend to make political parties arrogant and generally unresponsive to the needs of the people.

The closeness of the last election can be seen as a good thing if the country takes the attitude that it forces the Government to work more diligently, knowing that it has an Opposition, strong in numbers, right behind it.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding makes his contribution to the Budget Debate this week and I'm hoping he shows some sign of willingness to work out a compromise with the Opposition Leader to spare the country the agony of the social and economic turmoil that comes with an election.

Same situation

The court has ruled on the Vaz case, but there is talk that a number of parliamentarians, on both sides of the aisle, find themselves in the same situation as the West Portland MP. It's clearly immoral for parliamentarians who are in breach of the Constitution to be passing legislation that will be binding on the rest of us.

It seems to me, the best way out of this is to get the parliamentarians who have sworn allegiance to foreign powers to regularise their status. As I said last week, there could be an agreement between the parties for all those people to resign and renounce their foreign allegiance.

No major disruption

We could then hold by-elections in those seats and the opposing party would agree not to contest, thereby maintaining the status quo in Parliament without any major disruption. The JLP would, also, agree not to call a snap election.

So far, I haven't heard a cogent argument against this suggestion. Some people think it wouldn't work because the parties wouldn't agree to it. This, of course, is part of our problem as a country - we can only see things from the point of view of the parties. When are we going to start looking at what is in the interest of the country?