Get ready for the dubplate election

This is the election of the dubplates, but it is hardly the election where substance will win the day, and this is very sad.

Who do we hold responsible? Well, generally I blame the officers of both parties, but principally I place a higher level of culpability at the feet (literally) of the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and prime minister.

He has been busy talking about his Clarks, instead of focusing the minds of the voters on what can and will be done in the new Jamaica to address the income inequalities, run-away crime problem and the not-fit-for-purpose education system. There is this obsession with the fleeting and thus, what better way to celebrate the emptiness of where we are by inviting our dancehall practitioners and singers to do a dubplate?

I am concerned about these things, as we are faced with a contracting global and national economy and all I can hear are appeals to the Clarks or that man “out and bad”. This is not what I want to see from a national campaign at a time when we are facing economic peril and hardships never before seen by Jamaicans since 1962.

Looking forward to the process, and beyond the emptiness, I must say that I expect the PM to perform well during the national leaders debate. While Dr Phillips is without question one of the most prepared politicians that we have had for the role of PM, he is not a slick communicator and the political debate is not his best forum. However, I am not expecting him to stand there silently, as it is known by all who have been following his career that he is very much on top of the details.

But that is the problem, he can lose the viewer in the thicket of the details, and it is this that he will have to avoid. The PM has grown in confidence over the last four years, but he is vulnerable on the issue of corruption. However, with the poll lead that his party does have, he feels impregnable. However, only a fool would take it for granted that the JLP has an unassailable lead.

ELECTION DATE

The PM clearly was hesitant about calling the election and literally went on a mini-tour to shore up critical seats in Clarendon and Western Jamaica. The confidence being expressed by Dr Horace Chang (JLP general secretary) is good for PR purposes, but we must note that this confidence is just that - confidence.

The ground organisation, polling division by polling division, and the ease with which persons are taken to the voting points, will determine the outcome. There are critical seats in the West that must be watched and, equally, the seat of Clarendon South East, must be retained by the JLP, if it intends to form the next government.

There are signs that the JLP candidate is in trouble, as Ruddy Spencer was ushered out, and Ms Patricia Sutherland has been a fixture there for some time now. I will be watching this contest as it, along with the seat held by the attorney general, will be the bellwether seats for me.

The country is facing challenging times and this is no normal election. It is perhaps the most important election since 1962, as the country is about to face its toughest economic and social tests yet, and so who we elect will say a great deal about how we want to face the future.

Matondo K. Mukulu is a barrister and former public defender (Jamaica).