THIS IS possibly my last column. Ten years ago, on invitation, I started to write this column. The first column appeared in the first week of September 1993. Apart from a three-week break during the General Election of 1997, and another three occasions when it appeared on the following Thursday, this column has appeared every Wednesday for over five hundred weeks. With the impending General Elections in three weeks time, I strongly believe from an abundance of evidence on the ground and faithfulness in the good sense of the Jamaican people that the JLP will be returned to government. I therefore take indefinite leave to continue my public service in another capacity.

When I entered representational politics in 1995, I offered to resign but The Gleaner encouraged me to continue, for which I give thanks, as I have really enjoyed writing these columns expressing myself, provoking and informing readers, receiving praise and bearing criticism, and generally, I hope, providing a different point of view. I have had almost total freedom. Only on rare occasions, has the Opinion Page Editor contacted me and asked for clarification. I have had total freedom on what subject to write and material to use, and have never been told by the Editor or anyone at the Gleaner to write on any particular topic. It is a wonderful sense of mental exploration, as weekly I search deep within myself for something interesting to write.

The guiding principle in these columns was very simple - I searched for a brighter and better future for Jamaica and our people. Indeed, my foray into politics is based solely on that principle. Six years ago, when I left the University, many of my colleagues felt I should simply take leave instead of resigning but, after twenty years of teaching law, I thought I had made my contribution and wanted to do something different that would allow me to continue to help Jamaica and Jamaicans. Some of my detractors were not so kind, they thought I was looking material benefits, summed up in the view: "Chuck nuh have enough, what more him want," which shows what people think of politics. I will leave it for others to assess my political representation, which has been a costly vocation. However, I will continue to give and share my time, effort and money to secure a brighter future for my constituents and Jamaicans everywhere.

With the 14th General Elections to be held in three weeks time, I feel confident, in spite of the polls, that thinking Jamaicans will not allow themselves to be fooled. The people of this country want a brighter future. Every well-thinking Jamaican readily recognises the enormous problems and challenges ahead. Our economy is in a mess and needs a complete overhaul. Crime and injustice are monsters overtaking the nooks and crannies of our communities. Corruption and indiscipline are rampant. The people cry out for jobs and opportunities to ease their hardship and suffering. Jamaica cannot be on the right path. Why then would Jamaicans want to continue with a government of well-meaning, but inept, socialists who have put Jamaica in this sorry state? The same minds that caused the problem are unlikely to have the capacity and creativity to extricate Jamaica from the chaos and crisis into which it is deeply immersed.

The polls show the PNP gaining ground faster than the JLP. The Stone Poll is not showing the JLP losing ground, and that is some consolation. Is the electorate being bought? I am not a psephologist and neither am I a believer in polls. Polls, when accurately done, may tell the feelings on the ground at the time the sample was taken, but feelings change daily and, as the late British Prime Minister Harold Wilson noted: 'a week in politics is a long time'. In a week or two, when the people have spent the tens of millions dished out to them for political support, I have no doubt the poll numbers will change. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent by the ruling party and connected contractors to provide political pork barrel over the past two months, but will Jamaicans wise up to the corruption of the electorate?

Surely, the enormous amount of money being spent at this time accounts for the massive increase shown in the polls for the PNP. Yet, will it work for the PNP this time? It certainly didn't work in the NE St. Ann by-election. In fact, at the start of the election campaign, and with the wide-scale spending, the PNP candidate was comfortably ahead in the polls and boasted that she would win by 3,000 votes. Road work, pipe-laying and other repairs were done on a massive scale, with work continuing late into the nights. Tens of millions of dollars were spent to win support for the ruling party. However, the wise people of NE St. Ann did not succumb to the political bait and returned a JLP candidate, Shahine Robinson.

Will the people of Jamaica discern how the electorate is being corrupted and wake up and smell the coffee? I take much comfort from the polls in NE St. Ann and the subsequent victory of Shahine, and believe the same pattern will feature in this General Election. Jamaica deserves better. Jamaicans do not deserve to have work for two or three months for the year then remain idle for the rest of the year. Yet, that is the reality for many Jamaicans, as they depend mainly on the periodic government work. Jamaicans deserve to have steady jobs that occupy them for the better part of the year. They deserve to have jobs that allow them to send their children to school and to see their children rise to higher levels of excellence and achievements. They deserve to have a government that protects their rights and freedoms and secures their status as first class citizens in their country. They deserve a government that can create a friendly business environment to attract investment and expand production. That is the vision and mission of a good government.

I hope to be a part of a new government working for the best interest of the Jamaican people, searching for a brighter future, faithful to equal rights and justice, quality education, increasing prosperity and a decent quality of life for all. I take leave of this column with sadness, not knowing when or whether I may return. The next three weeks will be pivotal for every Jamaican and in the end I know good sense will prevail, and the JLP will form the next government. The new leadership will bear a heavy burden to bring a brighter future for Jamaica and Jamaicans, and I hope to play my role in discharging that burden. The task ahead will not be an easy one but we will meet the challenge. To my faithful readers, I bid you an affectionate farewell.

Delroy Chuck is an attorney-at-law, Opposition Spokesman on Justice and JLP candidate for St. Andrew North East.