Bruce Golding and the JLP
By Lloyd Williams, Senior Associate Editor

Williams

BRUCE GOLDING on February 23, 1995 resigned as Chairman of the Jamaica Labour Party, severing a 25-year relationship.

His letter of resignation stated:

"I hereby tender my resignation as Chairman of the Party. The impasse which has developed within the Party reflects deep and genuine concerns which exist at various levels throughout the Party. I firmly believe that these problems could be resolved and we could emerge as a stronger, more effective Party under Mr. Seaga's leadership provided there is willingness to acknowledge that these problems exist and address them in a candid and objective way. I have concluded that this willingness does not exist. These problems will not be resolved merely by reaffirming individual loyalty to individuals. To the extent that this is seen as the primary role of the Chairman, my position has become untenable."

He went on to launch the National Democratic Movement on October 29, 1995 and the rest is history.

On September 26, 2002, more than seven years after quitting the JLP, Golding formally returned to the party, starting a new chapter in Jamaica's political history.

Every so often over the last two or three years there were unconfirmed reports that Mr. Golding and the JLP had been having reconciliation talks. It turned out that the reports were true with the most recent set of talks being conducted at the highest level - Mr. Seaga, the JLP leader, speaking one on one with Mr. Golding. And it was the JLP which made the approaches each time.

The talks led to the seven-point JLP-Golding Memorandum of Understanding being agreed last week, paving the way for Mr. Golding's return to the JLP.

The main and most contentious concessions, it seems, are Point 1 which addresses the issue of Separation of Powers, a major plank of the NDM's call for political reforms, and Point 2, the goal of which is the eventual elimination of political tribalism and garrison politics.

SEPARATION OF POWERS

It is being debated whether Mr. Golding gained anything at all from the MOU. It seems, looking at Points 1 and 2, that the only way the JLP will be able to deal with Point 1 - and that is if it wins the October 16 general election - is by putting the issue of Separation of Powers to the people through a referendum. Because, even if every member of the JLP were to agree that this is the model of government to follow, the only way for it to be implemented would be through Parliament as a part of a package of constitutional reforms.

And what more could Mr. Golding reasonably ask for? What more could he get but a promise, a commitment by the JLP to list these among its constitutional reform options?

On the issue of tackling the scourge of political tribalism and garrison politics, no government - not the PNP, not the JLP, not an NDM government - can legislate their elimination overnight. So the agreement of the JLP to, "in consultation with political parties and civil society organisations... develop practical initiatives to ensure, as far as possible, the elimination of political tribalism," seems the only way to go.

Now, whichever party wins the elections, all of them - the JLP, the PNP, the NJA-NDM and the UPP - should set about finding practical ways to achieve this goal in the interests of all of Jamaica and of all Jamaicans.

A major criticism of the JLP during the current election campaign is that its second-tier leadership is weak. But is this really true?

The team of 60 candidates fielded by the PNP in 1989 when it began the quest for the first term of its current three-term stint, was made up of: 13 businessmen, seven teachers, two insurance executives, one accountant, one economist, one land economist, one minister of religion, one commissioned land surveyor, one dental technician, one manager, one secretary-social worker, 13 attorneys-at-law, seven farmers, five medical doctors, an engineer and four trade unionists.

When the PNP won and its 45 victors went to Parliament, apart from people like Mr. Michael Manley and Mr. Patterson, the rest were by and large novices in the formulation of government policies and the running of government Ministries. Of the group now going up for election only 14 were candidates in 1989. Eight are now Ministers of Government. And bear in mind that the PNP will be fielding 24 new candidates on October 16.

Not only the PNP, but the JLP, the UPP and the NJA-NDM have among their candidates people who have been successful in their own private avocations and there is no reason those for the JLP cannot succeed and grow to be good, effective leaders in the same way that many who were elected PNP MPs in 1989 did.

For sometime there has been the view abroad that a lot of people would vote for the JLP had Edward Seaga not been in charge of the party. The JLP regards this view as part of a sustained attack on Mr. Seaga by people who don't like him and who would rather deal with more manageable opponents. The puzzling, paradoxical fact though is that public opinion polls stretching back to the time of the late Carl Stone, have shown consistently that people respect Edward Seaga's ability to provide leadership for Jamaica, as he has always come out on top in terms of performance criteria such as - "best person to run the country," "best person to run the economy," "best performer."

GOLDING SCARES THEM

Bruce Golding is undoubtedly one of Jamaica's brightest and best politicians and a person of probity. Long before he quit the JLP in 1995 he was seen as a leader in his own right, experienced, able, knowledgeable, articulate and far from being diffident.

His return to the JLP at this time will naturally boost the party morale and will at least broaden the range of the JLP's leadership choices for the future.

Of course the PNP is not happy with Bruce Golding returning to the JLP. Golding scares them. He is no pushover and is too formidable an opponent for them. And in the cases where, according to the pollsters, the election results are going to be close, they probably fear that the 36,707 people who voted for the NDM in the December 18, 1997 general election, and the Goldingites who did not vote for the JLP, are likely to vote for the JLP this time around.

The JLP campaign, after being on the road for 18 months, had been getting sort of stale. The return of Bruce Golding has really added new excitement to the campaign, re-energised the Labourites, embuing them with renewed enthusiasm and hope for victory.

So Bruce Golding's credibility is target ground zero. So the question goes, "How can we trust you?"

Golding: "I can't validate my own sincerity and commitment. People just have to make their own determination. There is going to be a certain amount of confusion now. My position is very clear. My commitment to the principles that I have enunciated has not diminished one iota, but my fixity of purpose cannot be on the vehicle of change. It has to be on the objective of change. I can't put fixity of purpose in the NDM. I have to put fixity of purpose in all of the principles that we have promoted. And if the NDM is not the vehicle I can't allow those ideas to perish because of deep commitment to the NDM. Those ideas have to be advanced."

And so, Bruce Golding having decided to return to the Jamaica Labour Party of his own volition and on terms hewn by him from the granite of compromise, is getting more flak than the law allows.

Quite apart from everything else, Bruce Golding has been the week's newsmaker because, to paraphrase Arnold, "almost alone in Jamaica, he brings thought to bear upon politics, he saturates politics with thought."

And as Mr. Golding dusts off his desk at JLP headquarters and dons his campaign gear, he must be thinking of Churchill's observation: "Politics are almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times."