Commentary

Gordon Robinson, Contributor

Jamaicans can thank the People's National Party (PNP) for much of the national turmoil arising from the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips (MPP) scandal and the enormity of the struggle required to separate a discredited Driva from 'power'.

The PNP persistently lowered Jamaica's ethics bar until it is now below the finest limbo dancers' range. The PNP's government was scandal-ridden, including the furniture scandal, Shell waiver scandal, NHDC scandal, NETSERV scandal, Trafigura scandal and Cuban light bulb scandal. When it wasn't playing fast and loose with ethics, the party was busy turning incompetence into an artistic tour-de-force, of which Dagwood Bumstead would be proud.

Then there was its disengagement from good governance. The best recent example of the PNP's combo of totalitarianism, incompe-tence and immorality was its performance (oops, sorry, lack of performance) during and contribution to the 1990s financial crisis (loosely termed 'FINSAC'). But FINSAC itself entered the picture belatedly and only after the PNP government failed to regulate properly the financial institutions (FIs), failed to revoke licences of FIs where appropriate, sat on the problem twiddling their thumbs for years, pushed a hostile, ill-conceived takeover-bid 'solution' through Cabinet and Parliament with zero representative consultation, then found itself with FIs it couldn't manage.

No competence

Eventually, FINSAC bungled its way into a forced fire sale of the 'debts' to Joslin. Thereafter, 'FINSAC debtors' were thrown to the wolves and penalised for government's failings. Good governance would have addressed the problem earlier and consulted the people's representatives in advance when solutions were proposed instead of when PNP solutions needed passing into law. Competence would have brought FIs into the loop rather than treating them as enemies of the State.

No Government-instigated prosecution has secured a conviction and Government/FINSAC/Joslin were forced to use incomplete accounts information to claim large sums from 'debtors' based on crude lists. Morality and ethics would have demanded that government accept its share of the blame and adjust debtors' punishment accordingly.

Then, after being voted out, the PNP stubbornly refused to accept the electorate's will or 'full responsibility' for its failings. The old guard still apply vice-like grips to senior Opposition positions and hope for Cabinet reappointments to again feed the poisonous combo meal to defenceless Jamaicans. This is what allows JLP sycophants, responding to unanswerable MPP allegations, to shout hypocrisy! It's the same PNP, they say, caught taking questionable Trafigura payment, who's now preaching about trust.

As Bob prophesied:

"Hypocrites and parasites

Will come up and take a bite.

And if your night should turn to day,

A lot of people would run away.

And who the cap fit, let them wear it!

Who the (cap fit), let them (wear it)!"

This specious red herring of an argument suggests that two wrongs make a right. Specious it is, but it is also truthful, allows JLP apologists to deflect some of the heat and keeps Driva behind the wheel.

Other silly quotes from talkshow callers include, "This Government's no worse than the one we had before". So? Does this mean this Government is above criticism? And my favourite: "This PM has lifted the bar and so is being judged by a higher standard". Not by me.

Meaningless, pretty speeches

First, he's made pretty speeches but none of his deeds has lifted any ethical bar. Second, wherever you place the bar, even where limbo dancers recoil, his actions in the MPP scandal won't clear that setting. Yet, Mutty says he's bored with the issue. But, have you noticed he's never bored by Green Bay? How many died at Green Bay, Mutty? Only 73 died at Tivoli due to egregious mishandling of the extradition/MPP saga. Oh, wait. I know, I know. Me, teacher! Me, teacher! No angels died at Tivoli. Right, Mutty?

It might've been Norman Manley who coined: "Politics is the choice of statesmen and the last refuge of scoundrels" - a local adaptation of Oscar Wilde's famous quote. Who decides which, of the current dispensation, are statesmen and which are scoundrels?

Despite its significant contribution to our present state of moral decay, only the PNP has taken any concrete step to lift the ethical bar. Their Integrity Commission, albeit far from perfect, is the new benchmark. Now the PNP must replace its old guard, provide a real alternative and stop legitimising Driva's desperate obstinacy.

Learn from Michael Jackson:

"I'm starting with the man in the mirror

I'm asking him to change his ways.

And no message could've been any clearer.

If you wanna make the world a better place,

take a look at yourself, and make a change"

Peace and Love.

Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.