Keep your eyes on the ball

Martin Henry, Contributor

I am not a joiner. Although there is no shortage of invitations, coming mostly from my presence in media. I have to say no to virtually all of them. Had I said yes to even half of them, I would now be a member of dozens of things - or a dead man.

But in the blossoming of civil society groups for cleaner politics and better governance, I have carefully chosen to cast in my lot with a little group of media professionals who want to help the process forward. And what is the process? What is the goal? In the June 13 column, 'Gov't and civil society', I said, "I have been recommending to the champing-at-the-bits-for-change civil society groups which have approached me for support, that we focus with laser-beam intensity on a handful of lowest common denominator actions for the improvement of governance."

As a non-resigner myself, I agree with Professor Trevor Munroe with whom I work in the National Integrity Action Forum [NIAF], one of the few things I have joined. Munroe, in his comprehensive response to A.J. Nicholson's devious chastisement over his not calling for Golding's resignation while calling for the resignation of legally implicated members of Parliament, exhorted us to keep our eyes on the ball.

Actual seriousness

"Perhaps," Munroe wrote, "Golding's resignation would be a 'powerful sign' about being 'serious and a 'signal indicator' of intention. These are no doubt important. [But] more important for Jamaica right now, however, than a 'sign' of seriousness and an 'indicator' of future intention is actual seriousness here and now, expressed in decisive and immediate steps to disrupt and defeat organised crime, its enslavement of garrison communities, and, very importantly, its relations with the upper world of politicians on both sides, of private sector 'sponsors', real estate deve-lopers, civil society 'professionals, of corrupt public servants, etc. In this regard, Jamaica cannot afford to lose another moment nor allow single-minded focus to be deflected from immediate action."

Alongside Munroe's seven-point urgently immediate actions, I place some broader core issues outlined in the column of June 13, matters which we dare not lose sight of in the drive for the reform of governance in Jamaica at this extraordinarily opportune moment. Under the intense heat of public outrage, the prime minister himself laid out his own eight-point commitment to action for change as he sought forgiveness. He must be unrelentingly held to them.

Our media action group has put out a position paper that says, inter alia: "Recent events around the 'Dudus' and 'Manatt, Phelps & Phillips' affairs have elicited significant responses from Jamaican civil society. These events have also exposed what we have known all along - serious deficiencies in the administration of our political systems and a lack of accountability on the part of our elected representatives to national constituents.

"A clear response by civil society was the withdrawal of private sector and labour/union representatives from the partnership for transformation meetings which were originally convened by Government. There were also numerous calls for accountability from various sectoral groups ... Citizens voiced their discontent and called for change using traditional media as well as social media. These calls have continued after the signing of the extradition for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, the calling of the state of emergency and the security forces' intervention in Tivoli Gardens to arrest Coke.

"It is hoped that the forces of civil society can continue mobilising and present a united coalition to press for political and social change.

"We have all recognised for some time now that changing things in our country requires more than changing the Government - but we felt powerless. What is clear is that changes in political regimes and governments have not delivered the change required that would improve the political, social and economic life of the country and its citizens.

"The development of the present crisis is fairly evident - a political system refused to surrender an alleged criminal to the judicial process. This refusal backfired when local and international pressure was brought to bear on the political system and politicians felt their power was threatened; poor management of the crisis led to armed defence of the criminal system and its subsequent attack on the State; at which time the police and military were called in to put down this armed attack on the State.

"The root of the crisis is, however, deeper. Both political parties have engaged in garrison politics and garrison enforcement, which have now grown beyond their control. This is what is at the heart of our present crisis and contributes in large part to the social and economic problems in Jamaica."

UWI Professor of Political Thought, Rupert Lewis, turned a brilliant spotlight upon the political parties in his paper, 'The West Kingston Crisis and Party Politics', presented at the UWI/Duke University Freedom Conference at Mona last week. The corruption, and, indeed, the criminality of the political parties alternatively forming the government in a closed duopoly are critical elements of the crisis of governance.

Lewis demonstrates that both parties have degenerated from their founding ideals and now "have no other focus but to gain control of government". And as the recent and continuing events in west Kingston, which was Lewis' point of departure, have made abundantly clear (as Lewis cites Horace Levy), "the political party in the community [is] part of the problem of violence".

Anthony Harriott is even more pointedly damning. Lewis quotes him saying, "if Jamaican politics is in some ways responsible for the extraordinarily high rate of violent criminality that the country is now experiencing, then successive political administrations since the 1970s are even more responsible for the emergence and rise of organised crime. The political methodology of the political parties is profoundly and directly implicated in the rise of organised crime".

"Harriott argues co-partnership between crime and politics. If political parties are responsible, the logical conclusion is that they are part of the crime problem." And in the search for solutions, civil society must deal with the political parties as such.

"Change is possible," our Media Action Group paper declares, "and it is possible when Jamaicans are able to reach broad agreement on, recognise and actively demonstrate their understanding of their roles and responsibilities in national development and in holding elected officials accountable - accountable to the people and accountable to the country as the servants of the people."

The paper calls for a coalition of civil society groups for the reform of governance. "The coalition's role", it says, "must be to ensure that we hold political representatives accountable, educate people about their active role and responsibility in governance as constituents, with a practical framework for them to carry out that role and responsibility. It must be a coalition of action and not talk.

"This coalition, it is clear, must agree to disagree on some things, as it will be a broad-based group with various interests, but it must be held together by agreement to focus on some basic issues underpinning national development. It must recognise the need to put aside turfism and agree on key areas essential to national development - the need to remain independent of political parties, to hold elected representatives and the political directorate accountable and to hold the national interest as the highest priority. It is not a platform for narrow sectoral interests or for the promotion of particular individuals or groups.

"In the area of politics, the coalition must work towards and hold politicians to commitments to dismantle garrisons and break links with criminal groups and individuals. Political representatives must be held to a commitment to uphold the Constitution, including protecting of human rights, enforcing the laws, working to ensure public safety and public order and ensuring the deli-very of justice through a functional judicial system. These are the non-negotiable responsibilities of Government on which everything else rests.

"In other areas there must be a focus on educating people about governance and their rights and responsibilities in this area; improving access to quality education and training with a focus on lifelong learning; improved access to quality health care and basic social amenities. The development of poor urban and rural communities must also be a key focus area as a driving force for national, social and economic development and the reduction of crime and violence. The focus here must be on improving governance at all levels with government acknow-ledging and working towards its responsibilities towards citizens and citizens educated on and working to realise their roles and responsibilities in the state, including holding government accountable.

"The aim of the coalition is to find mechanisms to communicate to government in an organised way what the people want and make government accountable to the people."

Reforming governance

The Media Action Group wants to put its talent where its talk is as its specific contribution to the process of reforming governance in Jamaica. The group will be producing and circulating a weekly digest of media engagement of governance issues in news and commentary (print media, in the first instance).

The digest should prove useful to other action groups in the 'coalition' and will be particularly useful in helping media itself to reflect on its governance engagement and not let go. The role of media is absolutely vital in sustaining the momentum and keeping up the pressure. We have to keep our eyes on the ball.

Martin Henry is a communications consultant. Feedback may be sent to medhen@gmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.