Let's clean up our act for this election

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The fervour that is now being displayed on the political campaign trail is, unfortunately, degenerating into the kind of war of words that is not healthy for the country.

Don't get us wrong, we appreciate that banter will always form part of the hustings, adding colour and some amount of comic relief. However, it shouldn't be derogatory, neither should it inflame passions and sow the seeds that lead to violence.

Jamaica has experienced too much of that in the past, and many people have worked too hard to change that feature of our politics, for us to return there.

Unfortunately, some of the statements that we are hearing from the platforms of both parties do not encourage us to believe that they intend to contest the impending general election on serious issues, as opposed to gimmickry.

As we have argued in this space before, the Jamaican people deserve better, especially now when the country needs to make a serious decision in terms of electing a new government to navigate our way out of the economic maelstrom which has been affecting us for far too long.

Both parties have an obligation to tell the electorate what they intend to do in the areas of health, education, the economy, security, job creation and infrastructural development if they are privileged enough to be elected to office. And we don't expect wild promises which bear no relation to our reality.

We would also advise them to think carefully about what they intend to say before they actually say it, for we are convinced that it was an absence of that formula that caused Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller to make such an irresponsible statement in relation to investors last Thursday night in Port Antonio.

Mr Peter Bunting, the People's National Party's general secretary fell in the same trap of running off at the mouth before thinking it through, when he said, without evidential data, that the country would run out of money by January.

The upshot is that it has forced the party to try to wiggle its way out of the damage done to its image and, as is the habit of politicians, make the disingenuous claim that the media have given an "inaccurate" report of what she said, in the case of the opposition leader, and that he was merely musing on a campaign platform, in the case of Mr Bunting.

Our appeal to the parties also extends to maintaining discipline among their supporters, especially as they travel in motorcades. In fact, many of these blinkered supporters are plainly breaking the law, as they not only have parts of their bodies protruding from motor vehicles but show disregard for traffic signals and pose a serious danger to other road users.

What is utterly amazing is that the police have so far failed to put a stop to this reckless behaviour which, no doubt, has the approval of the leadership of the parties.

In much the same way that Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared his opposition to the use of violence in electioneering on Sunday night, we expect that the leadership of both parties will not only state their disapproval of lawlessness in all its forms, but demonstrate their commitment to the observance of law and order.

Election campaigns, we hold, can be vigorous without descending into anarchy. The Jamaican people, we repeat, deserve better.

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Let's clean up our act for this election