Imani Duncan-Price | Cut the umbilical cord of politics

“If you want a truly representative and effective Parliament that acts on behalf of the people of Jamaica and not in the interest of their political party, we have to cut the umbilical cord of politics,” said Dr D.K. Duncan in 1993.

The umbilical cord in politics is the direct and strong line that connects the majority parliamentarians to the prime minister. In biology, the umbilical cord provides all the nutrients from mother to baby in utero. The baby in the womb is actively dependent on the mother to live via the cord. As in biology, no baby in the womb intentionally hurts their mother, as they would end up killing themselves. So it is in politics.

Duncan argued for constitutional transformation, not just reform. As an effective and renowned general secretary of the People’s National Party and a former minister of government, his words had extra credibility, having been in the ‘belly of the beast’.

The prime minister is ‘the mother’ who through the umbilical cord provides the nutrients, or in the case of politics, party favours and positions to the ‘baby’ or the majority members of parliament (MPs) and senators. This analogy of the ‘umbilical cord of politics’ explained so much of the dynamics of politics in both parties.

The prime minister in Jamaica, as the head of the executive, also determines the biggest prize of all for MPs – the prime minister appoints ministers in the cabinet. It is easier for MPs to deliver to their constituencies if they are ministers of government, as ministers have greater access to resources and more governmental leverage. Backbenchers have it much harder. In turn, the MPs answer more directly to the prime minister than to the people, as many ‘curry favour’. The resulting governance structure does not effectively serve the interests of the people over party.

As long as that is the pathway to the ‘big job’ as a minister, we will never get MPs or senators going against their party or holding their party leader and prime minister, or even other cabinet ministers, to account. This umbilical cord is a fundamental driver of the party line and tribalism which has retarded Jamaica’s growth significantly. You may get a little noise now and again from a parliamentarian, but not a sustained call for accountability and performance.

REPRESENT PEOPLE OR PARTY?

This is not a Jamaica Labour Party or People’s National Party issue. It applies to both. This is a structural problem in the set-up of Jamaica’s governance structure, given our culture. The system is supposed to create an activated MP who represents strongly on behalf of their constituents and holds the government accountable as the provider of public services like education and health. In reality, citizens see most government MPs sitting silently while a minister fails to deliver. The ones making noise are typically the Opposition MPs and then, when they become ruling party MPs, they, too, become silent.

This is why more and more citizens feel it’s a situation of ‘swap black dawg fi monkey’ each election.

When I was a senator, I believed that my role was to look at the national picture, overall population and, from my private sector and women’s rights expertise, seek to influence laws to benefit the majority of Jamaicans. Notwithstanding that desire, which I know other parliamentarians shared too, there is a pervasive feeling of ‘you can’t make your party look bad because then you give the other side room to attack’.

The umbilical cord reinforces that you serve the party (with an assumption that in doing so you serve the people). Unfortunately, being a good party person doesn’t always mean that you operate in the best interests of the people. With too many promises broken over many years, continued corruption at different levels and no real accountability, apathy and cynicism in the citizenry grows. This is dangerous for our democracy.

CONSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATION

As Jamaica journeys on the path of constitutional reform, let’s ask the hard questions about what type of democratic structure would serve us best and break down political tribalism. What type of structure would re-ignite hope, belief and trust in the politics? What type of structure would actively seek out and facilitate dialogue and input from the wider citizens on a regular basis, not just every five years? Let’s go for constitutional transformation.

Cutting the umbilical cord would mean that the executive leadership of Jamaica does not come from the Parliament and has no direct link. We can create a relevant Jamaicanised version of the US presidential system. In this new system, no MP could become a minister. Instead, they would be expected to actively engage their constituents through regular town halls to garner their inputs for better laws and programme recommendations.

Importantly, all MPs would better hold the prime minister and ministers accountable for performance or the lack thereof. The confirmation of ministers would be via parliamentary committees vetting the expertise and integrity of the persons recommended by the prime minister to run departments in the biggest enterprise in the entire country. Ministers would be expected to deliver good-quality public service from the government of Jamaica to the people of Jamaica (no matter how much you earn or where you live or what shade of colour you are).

WE CAN DO BETTER

The current system of parliamentary democracy is not working for the Jamaican people. This is not to say that the presidential system is perfect, but maybe there are lessons from other countries to re-architect our own system. While the prime minister may still be the head of the ruling party, loyalties may still stymy accountability or gridlock can occur because of continued tribalism. However, building out an effective participatory democracy framework is a critical antidote to that.

Parliamentary committees could facilitate more active engagement from citizens and deepen participatory democracy for effective accountability. Imagine, Jamaicans trained to do ‘citizen audits’ on road work programmes in their communities having the opportunity to report on the quality and spend of money on these projects in the Parliament. Based on their input and feedback, contractors could be downgraded, pay for external damage done, or be forced to fix the roads. Imagine the confidence that would be inspired if we had roads that were fixed for more than five years, versus the perpetual cycle of repair and patching every six months.

We could also have ‘social audits’, like they have in India. Essentially, that is a public hearing through which citizens can organise and mobilise to evaluate the government’s performance in a particular policy area. Imagine if MPs in Jamaica had to spend their time meeting with citizen juries, like in Malawi, to ensure that the Constituency Development Fund was being utilised effectively. Those citizen juries could also weigh in on the effectiveness of government agencies in implementing agreed projects. We could build in service-level standards where the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament would have to respond to the matters raised by the citizen jury in a specified time period and take action. This would help ensure the issues don’t die at the report. No follow-through continues to be a sore point for so many citizens.

Further, whether the goal is brainstorming solutions, choosing a path forward and implementing it, or collaborating to assess what works, there is a range of new technological tools to facilitate participatory democracy.

Let’s transform Jamaica’s Constitution, make it the people’s Constitution. Cut the umbilical cord of politics and build a true participatory and accountable democracy.

Imani Duncan-Price is a women’s rights activist, world economic forum young global leader, affordable housing developer and former senator. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and imaniduncan@gmail.com.