On assuming office as Prime Minister of Jamaica after the early exit of beleaguered Prime Minister Bruce Golding Andrew Holness said he would ask the Leader of the Opposition Portia Simpson Miller to walk the Garrisons as a sign of peace and togetherness.
Holness felt this was important given our country’s violent political past.
True to his word on October 27th Andrew Holness sent a letter to Portia Simpson Miller as a sign of goodwill and coöperation.
To the best of our knowledge Andrew Holness received no formal response from the then leader of the political opposition.
HOLNESS’ INVITATION TO WALK THE GARRISONS.
This publication was enthused at the change in tone and attitude of the newly installed prime Minister . As a former cop and a Jamaican who have witnessed firsthand the ravages of political violence on our people and culture, I felt though not a panacea Holness’ attitude to Governance was an important first step in the reconciliation process for the Jamaican people as one people, despite our differing political affiliations.
I was not surprised however that Portia Simpson Miller did not formally respond to the entreaties of the then Prime Minister to present a united front in the interest of our country.
At the time I said the People’s National Party and Portia Simpson Miller could not take up the Prime Minister’s offer to show togetherness as Garrisons were Portia and Portia the Garrisons.
I opined then that the woman the masses refer to as Sista P was merely an opportunistic virago and a political hustler.
I had seen her in action over the years and thus I believe my characterization of her was and still remain an exercise in charity.
OF GARRISONS CONCESSIONS AND DEBATES.
The People’s National Party constructed an elaborate scheme to control state power beginning in the early 70’s , the idea was to use popular programs and laws which would have mass grass root appeal, supposedly in the best interest of the poorer class.
This created a cult-like following of the party which remain to this day despite the fact that Jamaica’s departure from the policies of the 60’s created a country and people who are exponentially worse off than before the social experiment of the 70’s and 90’s.
It was the foundation on which Michael Manley’s Democratic Socialism was built.
♦ Project Land Lease.
♦ No bastard children.
♦ Micro Dams.
♦ The Cuban Schools.
♦ Free education.
♦ JAMAL.
Were just a few of the programs which garnered mass support for Michael Manley and the People’s National Party.
Though not necessarily bad ideas these ideas were poorly executed and exploited further which inevitably created a contemporary culture of dependency on Government as benefactor and crime as a substituting entity to fill the space where politics fell short.
Free housing , Free electricity Free money, was icing on the cake and out the door went the concept of hard work education and the entrepreneurial spirit .
On the basis of the aforementioned, had Portia agreed to the dismantling of garrisons she would be agreeing to dismantlig her power base.
That was not about to happen and young Andrew Holness would not be allowed to change the entrenched order of eat a food through political patronage
It was not surprising then the response she gave to Holness’ invitation was informally and colloquially yet easily predictable.
The “PNP nu have nu garrison mi nu see no walls inna mi constituency”
GARRISONS DON’T ALL HAVE WALLS
Anyone familiar with Miller cannot be surprised or even disappointed with the mindless parochialism of her response yet it evoked a certain degree of sadness at least to this writer ‚that one so highly placed could be so inherently stupid in not recognizing the important symbolism such a gesture would have created for the younger genration.
All was not lost however, for the most part many Jamaicans of both major political parties had decided that killing each other in the name of politics was not something they wanted to continue doing.
It was encouraging to see that Jamaicans of both political stripes had decided that though they still liked killing each other they would not continue to do so in the name of politics.
It should come as no surprise then that because the leader of the People’s National Party did not demonstrate the maturity , intelligence or common sense to eschew violence and it’s nurturing grounds, that the next Generation of PNP leaders would see violence as a viable path toward achieving political ends.
The irony in all of this is that the people are smarter than their leaders.
The people have already made the decision to eschew Political violence.
Unfortunately Portia Simpson Miller still have not received that memo, and certainly not the idiotic little moron Dwayne Vaz the member of Parliament from Central Westmoreland the seat once occupied by the later Roger Clarke,.
At the time Vaz was elevated to Clarke’s seat the Jamaica Observer did an elaborate story on the life of the then 33 year-old from his birth in 1981 to winning the by- election, it Article was a cloying love-fest . As the conclusion to the lengthy tribute to Vaz’s life story the writer Desmond Allen Observer Executive editor crowed .
On December 11, 2014, Dwayne Vaz took his seat in the Jamaican parliament, proudly wearing his credentials as a young, good-looking, hard-working, people-loving person — a virtual template on how to make a Jamaican politician — and vowing to follow in the large footsteps of his late political godfather, Roger Clarke.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Central-Westmoreland-s-Dwayne-Vaz – A‑politician-s-template_18631433
Yah about that ?
Speaking on a platform at a PNP rally in St James recently in front of a large PNP crowd the supposed young, good-looking, hard-working, people-loving person — a virtual template on how to make a Jamaican politician ‑peeled off the Sheep costume and revealed for all and sundry the Wolf hiding inside.
Responding to a fire at the PNP constituency office Dwayne Vaz showed the dirty filthy underbelly of PNP politics and the fuel which drives it, violence and intimidation.
Quote “a baby strength dem have” He then went on to start singing the controversial lyrics of the Kartel’s violence song, “Wha’ Dem Feel Like”, as the sound system played the song written and performed by dancehall deejay, Vybz Kartel, who was convicted of murder in April, 2014 and includes lines like: “Puzzle up mi gun inna jeffery hype/Mek we step like a centipede and tek the lead inna war/A weh dem feel like, dem skin too tough fi bleed”.
Weh Dem Feel Like
Hey, Ryno, a baby strength dem have, gal strength alone dem have
Grants Pen, line up di car dem and di bike and mek we run in pon dem tonight
[Chorus:]
A weh dem feel like? Dem skin too tough fi bleed?
Puzzle up mi gun inna …
Mek we step like a centipede and tek the lead inna war
A weh dem feel like? Dem skin too tough fi bleed?
Puzzle up mi gun inna …
Mek we step like a centipede and tek the lead inna war
[Verse 1:]
Mi nuh inna nuh long talking (talking).
Mi dawg a do di … barking (barking).
Magi-barrel a spin like a car rim, down a Madden.
Dem haffi carry (…) badness a nuh show weh you star in.
Fi get no bandoolu shot and fake scarrin.
A real cop, a real killa, real bawlin’.
When you mother (mother) see you spread out like tarpaulin.
[Chorus:]
Nowadays badness nuh fit dem.
Dem only beat up bere woman and children.
Nobody nah go vex if we kill dem.
Di coppa shot dem from mi gun mi put it in dem.
From you bother … , you condemn.
string dem as we bomb dem.
The way mi love killin mi put it inna mi song dem.
And when di Gaza circle you, you caan get weh from dem.
[Chorus:]
Clearly a call to arms , and to return to the dark days of 8oo + dead in the name of politics as we have seen in the past.
Communities as impregnable balkanized bastions of political exclusivity.
Since then the naïve exuberant little pup have walked back the dangerous statements but the damage may have already been done .
Not surprisingly, not a single word from the leader of the party to the little upstart “no this is not what we are about, this is not where we want to go”.
Of course her performance as Parish Councillor, Minister and now as Prime Minister can only reasonably be validated through the garrison culture and the dumbing-down of the already illiterate uninformed masses.
Is it any wonder then that as always when it really counts the stooge in Jamaica House is duplicitously silent?