Mark Wignall | Meddling with our muddled minds

One quite simple and almost simplistic way of measuring a society’s slip into regression is to count the ease with which terrible shames of the past, like setting fire to blocs of poor people’s housing, are showing up on the ‘today’ roster.

For want of a psychological signpost or an explanation that can easily make sense to (or confuse) most of our people, let us painfully steal our brains to a troubling time of the past. A day of horror on May 19, 1976 in an Orange Lane tenement on Orange Street; seven months in a violent campaign and towards a second term for the People’s National Party (PNP) in December of that year.

The marauders came by night, with fire, guns, bullets and death. No special favours were granted to women and babes on the breast. The worst of us was on display.

“The threats that were made on the occasion of the Fletcher’s Land fire of the 10th May, and followed up with occasional assays of violence in the area were not idly made, but part of a well-worked-out and ordered plan, to induce inattention and unpreparedness, a plan to strike and cause confusion and terror when most people would be retired, and unattired and gone to bed.” Extract from Small enquiry into the Orange Lane Fire. February 1977.

In the Gregory Park conflagration one life was sadly lost, but, it seems that the armed marauders did not have ‘lives to be taken’ as part of the bigger plan. Perversely the human animals knew that if you take away a poor person’s house and belongings, you take away his life, today, tomorrow, the next day. It’s the ultimate terror. It’s the antithesis of Buju Banton’s lyrics in Murderer. “Yu kill I today yu cant kill I tomorrow.”

The job description of a politician will mean two different things to two different people. To the eternal optimist the politician must be the one generating the huge wave bringing about the lift under all of our boats. And happiness and the other empty yadda yadda, raggedy bags.

To the realist, the job of a politician is simple. Manipulate the political emotions of a people and sway them into voting for his side.

In the wake of the tragedy at Gregory Park I sensed, from social media activity, that people wanted to see the prime minister fully engaged with the people affected. To a large extent the PM tried and tried. But PM Holness knows that with the short-tempered social media landscape, even a little overplay on empathy will bring out his detractors, unlike in the sweet political times of late 2020.

It has been reported that the police have nabbed quite a number of the suspects said to be involved in the fire. Questions. Who gave the orders? Who supplied the guns?

Another factor that is quite common in Jamaican criminality especially where one part may barely hinge on politics is the cockroach-like behaviour of the perpetrators. The place is overrun by nasty cockroaches in the damp of night. Switch on the lights and they scurry away in two minutes. Which is to say, we know how this will end. We saw it from the 1970s.

HOW THIS GOVERNMENT NOT CONFLICTED?

The reader emails me. “SOE’s, curfews, JCF surge operations, intelligence-driven security forces operations, the increase in complement of the JCF and JDF, new technologies to fight crime, new legislation to curb crime with stiff jail sentences and the lunacy goes on unabated.

“Pouring gasoline and then lighting fire to incinerate human beings, along with gunmen shooting at those running scared, running for their life. Is this a civil society or a madhouse? Are Jamaicans really perpetrating such havoc on each other?

“All reason has left many people’s minds. What stands out is that these stone cold, evil murderers fear nothing, certainly not the state or its police force, the JCF.”

As I saw PM Holness hugging one of the victims of the arson at Gregory Park I wanted to know which part of the prime minister was showing up at that bittersweet meeting. I wanted to forget that, collectively, the PM must partly own the responsibility of some of his MPs under a dark cloud according to the most recent Integrity Commission (IC) annual report. Plus there are 28 public officials who are also under investigation for illicit enrichment.

BOTH PARTIES AND ILLICIT ENRICHMENT

Think of it. In a country like Singapore where government officials are paid close to US$1 million per year, many would already be in the big house in prison uniforms. Maybe the scandal would topple the government.

We know that there is a gag clause with no responsibility of the members of parliament (MPs) or the leaders of the political parties to divulge the names of those involved. Well it would be a simple thing for those MPs with no runny nose to openly declare that their noses are clean. In other words use the converse. I’ve seen one from a PNP MP.

The crazy thing is, it should be an easy anti-corruption sell for the PM and the Opposition leader to make a public call on those who have no bad calls from the IC to declare their clean slates.

Well maybe it’s not that simple. Imagine this imaginary conversation in a quiet corner in a dark noisy, uptown joint. Two MPs. One is under heavy investigation (UI). The other is not (NI).

UI: “So is wha dis mi hear yu gwine declare sey yu clean. Dat gwine put pressure pon mi and some odder guys man. Wi need more time to do some heavy lifting. To clear up di fog. Whey mi can do fi yu?”

NI: “What yu offering?”

UI: “A nice $5 million.”

NI: “Mek it a nicer $10 million and wi have a deal.”

UI: “Deal, meet mi back here 6 pm tomorrow.” (They shake hands, down their drinks and leave.)

Mark Wignall is a political and public affairs analyst. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com.