The Rebuilding of The Peoples National Party

KEEPING HOPE ALIVE!
The Rebuilding of The Peoples National Party
Introduction 3
Michael Jackson and The Peoples National Party 5
On The Question Of Squatting 8
To Comrade Cedric On The Question Of Squatting 10
The Question of Public Funded Higher Education 12
Comrades and Friends (Re:- Comrade Williams Comments); 16
To Brother Prince (re:-Comrade Williams Comments) 18
In Response To My Friend Prendi-“Comparison and Individuality” 19
With Whom Do We Compare? 21
Where Does A Youth Hustle A Money To Buy A Pair Of Shoes? 27
On The Question of Honesty, Recognizing the Hurts of the Past 30
The Importance of Experience 32
Planning For Boys 35
Organizational Unity viz-a-viz Individual Responsibility 37
Am I Where I Should Have Been? 37
Organizational Unity viz-a-viz Individual Responsibility 39
On The Question Of Leadership 42
The Role of Menial Jobs 45
The Death of the Proletariat The rise of the Petite Bourgeoisie 47
In Response To My Friend Vic Barnes 50
Resource Group Seven & Butch Stewart 52
The Immediate Tasks of the PNP’s Divisional Executives and Groups 55
On The Question of Principles 58
The Question of Principle, A Response To Comrade Peart 60
Introduction
A young friend of mine asked that I put my comments together in a form that might
be useful at the youth club level. It is his view, that both members of the
Jamaica Labour Party and the Peoples National Party could benefit from discussing
my views.
To what extent my views would be of use at the Youth Club level I do not know,
however, I do believe that all Jamaicans need to have an active interest in their
country, if it is to become a better place to live.
Basil Fletcher
Ezekiel 37
The Valley of Dry Bones
1. The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the
LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
2. and caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many
in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
3. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O
Lord GOD, thou knowest.
4. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye
dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
5. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to
enter into you, and ye shall live:
6. and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover
you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I
am the LORD.
7. ¶ So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a
noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
8. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the
skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them
9. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say
to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and
breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
10. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they
lived, and stood up upon their feet, Rev. 11.11 an exceeding great army.
11. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of
Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut
off for our parts.
12. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my
people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and
bring you into the land of Israel.
13. And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my
people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14. and shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in
your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed
it, saith the LORD.
Michael Jackson and The Peoples National Party
One can not be but shocked and dismayed at the untimely passing of Michael
Jackson, a person larger than life an immortal and herald of post industrial
society. Michael Jackson, like his junior Boy George challenge society to examine
its norms and social values, challenged society to create a space for those who
are off center, for those who do not want to wear the uniforms society tries to
force on the individual. They challenged the concepts of the fixity of race and
gender, society’s concept of human sexuality, and man’s relationship with animals
even if that animal is a hamster or guinea pig.
While, one possibly has great difficulty in accepting the alleged sexual
preferences of Michael Jackson, one is but forced to ask what did the person
Michael Jackson mean to the wider society and what was Michael Jackson’s attitude
towards the society within which he liven and the Jamaican society where he did
have influence. In my own view, Michael Jackson was the living embodiment of the
Statue of Liberty, reflecting and searching for identity, man’s feeling and
attempting to find some meaning of this most confusing mass called humanity,
exercising the right to self definition and self expression. Michael Jackson
represented the best that nationalism as a vehicle for social definition has to
offer. No other man was victimized more than Michael Jackson, no man was haunted
more than Michael Jackson by those saw him as a type of money tree, no man was
ostracized by society more than Michael Jackson. Yet never once from him could be
heard a word of bitterness towards the society within which he was born, the
society that created the conditions for his own personal development.
Michael Jackson, was a mirror to the soul of the Black man, he who came into a
world ruled by those who did not look like him, a world that was at best
indifferent to him as a person, a world within which the standards of measurement,
the concept of being, the idea of language and oral expression, the image of God,
defined by others. He represented the Black man’s yearning to be part of that
class, that race of definers, he represented more than any other the inferiority
complex that haunts the Black man, that same complex that tells us in Jamaica that
we must be satisfied with things as they are, because we are Black people not
Europeans, that same complex that has led us to accept the rapid and accelerating
decay of Kingston as being acceptable because it is our capital a Black man
capital. Michael Jackson stood in life and now in death as a mirror reflecting the
inferiority complex and self hate of the Black Jamaican soul. This is why we try
to bleach and cream our troubles away.
Michael Jackson, like the membership and supporters of the Peoples National Party
yearn for a better world, a better society, a place in which we can find peace,
growth, happiness and development. Michael Jackson realized, like many within the
ranks of the Peoples National Party are now coming to understand, that there is a
need to speak with the man in the mirror, that there is a need for him to change
his ways. This is indeed a big pill for many to swallow, for we were told to
believe in ourselves, to have confidence in ourselves, that we need to achieve
great things in order to be recognized, but here a near immortal, a person whose
heights attained and achievements are beyond anything we can dream of doing, is
asking us to be humble, to critically self examine ourselves, to change our ways.
Like Michael Jackson search was one of self definition and self expression, a
search for a place in the world of words and songs, as search for acceptance from
those who wield real power and from the world of individuals surrounding him.
Within the Peoples National Party, there are voices that are trying to be heard,
seeking for a stool in the corner not far from the round table of views and
expressions, voices of individuals scared by the experience of dictate and
victimization, voices of young comrades, the Kirks, who believe that they have
what to contribute but do not want to feel that they might be pressured to toe
this line or that line. Voices from Jones Town, from Allman Town, from Hannah
Town, voices that feel that they do not have a space around the table, voices that
feel that they are not big enough, not bright enough, voices from Grange Lane,
from Reid’s Pen, voices search for space. Comrade Leader, Comrade Portia Simpson
Miller:- I am talking to the man in the mirror, I am asking him to change his
ways.
Basil Fletcher
On The Question Of Squatting
The question of squatting is not uniquely a Jamaican problem or a problem having

to do with the level of economic development of a country. One finds squatting and
squatter movements throughout the developed world including in Britain and the
United States.
Housing, affordable or otherwise, is a commodity sold on the market, and as such

obeys the laws of demand and supply. In other words, while low cost housing units
should be an ideal, the truth is that low cost housing, given the current state of
technology at use on the local market and cultural preferences, would lead to a
reduction in the supply of housing units. As the prices of housing units goes down
the quantity demand increases, while the quantity supplied is reduced.
Part of the problem in Jamaica, in addressing the question of squatting, is a lack

of honesty by nearly all parties concerned. A reduction in squatting and an
increase in the number of housing units available would in the short term push up
the cost of labour and reduce Jamaica’s competitiveness regionally and
internationally. Given that real estate rent and or mortgages are major cost item
pulling from a person’s salary, an increase in the number of persons in the labour
force paying real estate rent or mortgages, would lead to a reduction in the
quantity of money available for the purchasing of non-housing goods, food and
services, which in turn if not corrected by an increase in real wages would result
in a reduction of living standards, a North Korea type of situation-the
availability of affordable housing coupled by mass under nourishment . Squatting
within the Jamaican context is a type of social subsidy given to the productive
sectors of the economy.
The addressing of squatting also demands the addressing of particular cultural

practices that lead to waste and the unnecessary reduction of green areas. The
type of housing solutions found in Portmore , Angels, Mona, Harbour View and other
such developments, are possibly better suited to a Brazil, Colombia, Mexico or
Venezuela, where there is a relative abundance of land. Jamaica is characterized
by intense competition for land for various agricultural uses, for various
industrial uses, for various real estate uses and etc, while on the other hand
there is a very short supply of high quality land with low cost development
capabilities, more than half of Jamaica is hilly, thus require the pumping of
water uphill, the blasting in order to obtain land for development, engineering
challenges in the development of sewage and storm water transport systems,
questions of waste and weathering on the integrity of structures among other
challenges.
Singapore through its housing agency addressed the cultural preferences of its
citizens by allow for flexibility in apartment building design, flexibility in the
allocation of floor space and other allowance thus enabling the individual to
customize the design and construction of his or her apartment in keeping with his
or her spending power. Here one is speaking of the “individualization “of the
apartment complex, a process that permits the reservation of land to be used for
other purposes such as green spaces, agriculture or by industry. Apart from the
savings made in terms of land purchases for development, the ability to use
capital intensive construction methods, the ability to carry out three shift
construction, the questions of efficiency is also comprehensively addressed, in
terms of resource usage, plant level efficiencies, the meeting of consumer
expectations through the design process, among others.
The solution of the squatting problem in Jamaica is very much a problem of

determining where Jamaica wants to be and less of a question of construction
costs. The cost of developing an Angels Estate as it currently exist could have
housed even more persons in houses that they had an input in designing.
Basil Fletcher
To Comrade Cedric On The Question Of Squatting
Dear Comrade Cedric, I do agree that without the active consent and encouragement
of both political parties and possibly all sitting Members of Parliament, the
problem of squatting would not have been where it is today.
Squatting in Jamaica as different from in the countries of Latin America e.g.

Venezuela or Brazil, is not so much a question of inequitable distribution of
income, but rather a question of a low per capita GDP combined a general shortage
of employment possibilities on one hand and the socially and economically
inefficient model of housing development pursued over the years.
Low per capita GDP has meant that the society as a whole and the agencies
responsible for housing development do not have the required resources to develop
the number of housing units demanded over any given period of time, nor are they
able to design and implement a “social housing” policy similar to those that exist
in most democratic countries. Low per capita GDP also means that many Jamaicans
are unable to garner the required capital out lay for the purchasing of a housing
unit. Today, the purchasing of houses is restricted to individuals from the middle
and upper income groups and by families (not individuals) from the lower income
groups.
The relative and general shortage of suitable employment opportunities, not only
serves to act as a damper on the growth of real disposable income, but also means
that a significant percentage of the labour force is unemployed and a substantial
percentage of the able bodied population has withdrawn completely from the labour
force, hence further reducing the possibilities of capital accumulation within the
society itself.
Comrade Cedric, to deal with your substantial point, i.e. the relationship between
squatting and the political elite, one also is forced to examine the attitude of
that elite towards economic growth and development. Economic growth and individual
progress within the Jamaican society reduces the the power and influence of the
political elite. Economic growth and individual progress means a reduction in the
number of persons who are directly or indirectly dependent on the politicians for
their well fare, it means a reduction in the number of persons who are comfortable
squatting and it means the reduction in the number of persons who are willing to
sell their votes for as little as US$150.00 (US one hundred and fifty dollars).
If one should assume that the political elite is made up of rational individuals
who make rational choices, then to assume in the same breathe that the political
elite has an interest in economic growth and development would be stupid. The
interest of the political elite is to maintain stability with little or no
economic growth. To pursue a policy promoting economic growth and development
would run in direct conflict with the strategic interests of the political elite.
Here in lies part of the problem facing the Peoples National Party. The struggle
for leadership positions and the struggle to define the character of the party, is
not so much led or motivated by a desire to bring greater prosperity to the
average Jamaican, but rather a struggle to decide who is best able to ensure that
the Peoples National Party performs equally as well or better than the Jamaica
Labour Party, within the existing socio-political environment. It is not a
struggle to increase democracy within the party or to strengthen its ties with its
stakeholder groups, but rather a struggle to reduce the role, even if limited,
played by the mass base of the party while increasing individual access to
influence and resources, even at the expense of the national interest.
Basil Fletcher
The Question of Public Funded Higher Education
The questions raised by Comrade Williams and further contributed to by Prince, are
not for me particularly easy questions. One the lecturers with whom I was closest
at the Prague School of Economics was a graduate of the London School of
Economics, trained at the expense of the Czechoslovakian Socialist Republic, a
person who was planted in a single position without option for promotion because
of his suspected allegiance to those Czech and Slovaks who opposed the Russian
invasion of 1968. Another of my very close friends who held very senior positions
in the pre-1968 Czech administration, a man who spoke no less than five Western
European languages, had his degrees withdrawn by the Gustav administration and had
to do menial jobs once again owing to the positions he took in face of the 1968
Russian Invasion.
The question that I asked myself at the time was: - Who gave the state the right
to withdraw a person’s degree? What gave the state the right to determine what
positions a person may occupy in society?
There are two aspects to education:- (1) education is aimed at creating that set
of behaviour and attitudes that allow the individual to better contribute to
existing society and by doing so enrich his own personal life , (2) education is a
system of molding and training of an individual or group of individuals in keeping
with the ideals of the society within which the person exist.
Therefore if by any chance the person does not seem capable of making the type of
contribution required of him or her and does not reflect the ideals of the
society, then that society as represented by the state has the right to withdraw
any privileges granted, here a degree like title of any of the social estates can
be withdraw at the pleasure of the crown, for a landlord, land can be taken back
since no land can be owned without the explicit approval of the crown , for a
trader no trade in a civilized society can be conducted without the explicit
consent of the crown, and so it is with all other estates.
In societies of the Western hemisphere, including Jamaica, where the crown’s reach
was always through a network of intermediaries rather than direct, society is
forced to deal with the issue of access to higher education being a good which is
bought and sold equally as any other good, on one hand and on the other, the
existence of public funded access to higher education. Here the questions are:-
1. Should the societal expectations of all graduates be the same, or should

society expect more in terms of contribution and personal sacrifices from those
whose access to higher education was funded by the state?
2. Does the fact that the state funded a person’s access to higher education
gives that person (read graduate) some special and privileged position in the
competition of ideas and puts that given graduate in a position above criticism
and review?
3. Should the state reserve positions for those whose access to higher
education the state funded and thus create a class of salary earners who operate
outside of the influence of the market for labour?
4. When and where the state funds access to study overseas in universities of
the Developed World, given that technological development occurs in a given
culture which facilitates research and development, to what extent is the state
expecting its returning students to be transmitters of a given set of acquired
technological output? In other words, what level economic rent is the state
expected to and is prepared to extract from the returning student?
5. In a democracy where there is always an ongoing contest for the uncommitted
vote, should the party in power dedicate the same quantity and quality of
resources to a block of loyal committed voters as it does other blocks of more
uncommitted voters?
Graduates from Eastern and Central European Universities, are in the main persons
whose higher education was paid for directly or indirectly by the state. The state
representing the wider society fund higher education as a means of filling gaps in
competencies that exist within the labour force, as a means of encouraging
economic and social development and as a means of encouraging and stimulating
social mobility.
In assessing the state’s relationship with that block of graduates from Central
and Eastern Europe one starts by measuring to what extent has the state achieved
or failed to achieve its objectives. To the extent that these graduates have been
able to fill the gaps in the labour force, contribute to economic growth and
development and to the extent that these graduates have been able to climb the
social ladder, to that extent has the state accomplished its goals.
To the extent that graduates of Central and Eastern Europe represent themselves as
belonging to a block of loyal and committed supporters of the Peoples National
Party, to that extent has that political party (the PNP) been able to shift its
resources to attract those graduates who privately funded their higher education,
graduates from universities in North America and Western Europe in the main. This
shift of resources to win over the uncommitted was done with the implicit or
explicit agreement of the block of graduates of Central and Eastern Europe.
The state’s relationship with a given set of graduates does not preclude the
existence of disgruntled individual students , who might believe that on the basis
of their performance or high level of loyalty to the party in power they should
receive a larger piece of the pie for themselves. This type of individual conflict
is secondary in nature and in no way critically affect the relationship between
the state and that block of graduates.
It should be noted that while in other more closed societies the state takes an
overt approach in addressing the placement or non-placement of recipients of state
funded higher education; in democracies such as Jamaica, the state through its
various agencies from time to time seek to influence the placement or non-
placement of all recipients of high education regardless of the source of
funding.. Part of the struggle of civil society has always being aimed at reducing
the state’s ability to direct the life of the citizens of the given country.
Comrade Williams call is for the state through the political parties to increase
its ability to influence the choice set that is available to the individual, a
rather anti-democratic proposal.
Comrade Williams earlier spoke about his former commitment to Marxism, I would
like to say that equally as a medical doctor may take one of several approaches in
diagnosing and treating a chest pain, equally so does the tool kit of social
scientists contain various approaches used in analyzing society or sections of
society , the Marxists approach, the Feminist approach, the dependency approach
and other conflict models are but a few of the tools available. Marxism as a tool
was of great value to Russia, China and other Asian countries, its application to
countries West of Russia was devastating and outside of the cultural choices of
those people. Japan found that by using Marxist analysis in conjunction with the
Keynesian model, it was able to accelerate the development of its society, South
Korea and Singapore also found that “blended” approach to be of great value.
Jamaica, by encouraging active discourse will find its own blend of approaches
best suited for its given needs.
Prince spoke of both the PNP and the JLP being right of center, in my view that is
a very linear way of describing the positions of the parties, perhaps if one takes
a more holistic ground up approach, what one would possibly find are two political
parties fighting for space and relevance in an environment defined by clashing and
colliding interest groups. Should they allow themselves to be pulled by the
various competing forces into a position where they will get hit from all
directions or should they drift off to more quite positions on the fringes of
society?
Basil Fletcher
Comrades and Friends (Re:- Comrade Williams Comments);
I do understand and appreciate what Comrade M. Williams is saying, however there

is another side of the coin that must be looked at also:-
1. Many graduates came home thinking that they should be running things and
wanting only high profile positions. In fact there is one comrade who insisted on
been driven whewre ever he went, because he was above taking public transportation
and he was above driving himself, someone must drive the car for him. and
2. when Japan sought to rebuild its economy, it sent out hundreds of persons to
study how things were done there and what was being done. They became agents of
change. Our comrades, have seen both capitalist and socialist Europe, they have
been to cities and places that most Jamaicans only hear about on the news. In
them, Jamaica invested a lot, however can it be honestly said that most of these
returning Comrades have become agents of change? Or have they fitted in the system
as is seamlessly and snugly, thinking about in the main how much they can milk out
of the system? Are they not among the first to say that this is Jamaica and that
is Europe? If one should say that the usage of trams from Down Town to Half way
Tree (or Constant Spring) would be cheaper and better environmentally, would not
many of these same comrades tell you why it cannot work, rather than asking how it
can work?
Comrade Williams, change in many ways begin with the man in the mirror and starts
with honesty. We as Central and Eastern European graduates as a whole have
contributed to this society far less than we are capable of, in our quest for
positions of prominence we have sought to justify nearly everything and changed
little or nothing (I included).
Finally this society does not have a Golding or Portia problem, it is suffering
from a cultural problem, a problem of failure to utilize opportunities, a problem
of die hard resistance to change, a problem of under valueing what we have, and
that problem which killed Sammy because he was industrious enough and creative
enough to see that corn could be planned "down a gully". Unless the problem of
culture is addressed, we are all wasting our time, Doctor Cassava suffering the
same fate as Michael Manley, and the cycle continues.
Basil Fletcher
To Brother Prince (re:-Comrade Williams Comments)
Brother Prince raised the question of the high level of discrimination and
sabotage that many a Central and Eastern European graduates faced on their return
to Jamaica. In fact I do also remember a Comrade who on his return to Jamaica
during the 1980s, had a police car parked outside of his house at all times and a
police entourage where ever he went. The experiences faced by graduates of Central
and Eastern Europe have never been good. Indeed the level of discrimination faced
by these graduates severely restricted the quantity of work which could be done
and limited the amount of contribution which they could have made. In fact the
body in Jamaica which registers local engineers once asked a graduate from a
university in Russia that designs satellites and put rockets into orbit, if his
university was accredited. Accredit by whom,? By engineers who face grave and
desperate challenges in designing a screw driver and are yet to figure out how to
make a tin cutter!
Two approaches came into being as a result of the discrimination faced:-

1. A approach which says, let us take things easy, do not rock the boat, the
aim is to eat a food.
2. The second approach as was used by a Comrade sister who worked at UWI, was
to work at the highest possible European Standards and claim ones work. In short
do not work for the approval of the local authorities but rather work for
international recognition. Today she hold a very good position in the United
States, her work was seen and recognized.
In my own view, today more than ever before, the task facing graduates from
Central and Eastern European Universities is that of working to the best of
European standards.,
Basil Fletcher
In Response To My Friend Prendi-“Comparison and Individuality”
Prendi, some how and some where the view was developed that the concepts of
“comparison” and “individuality” , were concepts in conflict, in other words, the
more the individual compares the more of his unique sense of individualness is
lost.
Firstly, there is a need to understand that “comparison” is both a process of

measuring one entity or being against another like or unlike entity and that it is
also a motive or determinant of innovation or assimilation. For example, when we
examine Polish exports of electricity via sub marine cables, or the Indonesian
electricity distribution system or that of the Philippines one may then ask
oneself if it is possible for Jamaica also to export electricity. It is in
answering this question, one maybe led to the view that with the adoption of
existing technology Jamaica could do the same (assimilation) or given the distance
Jamaica is from its potential purchasers of electricity , there might be a need to
have sub- stations marine or barge based at given points in the distribution grid
(innovation).
Comparison as a process also multiply the options the individual and or society
has at its disposal, thus laying the basis for the further development of ones
individuality. For example if Jamaica could produce electricity at a price per
kilo watt cheap enough then Jamaica could also become a net producer of steel
using the Bayer process and hence reducing the stock of toxic red mud that is
endangering our underground water supply in some places. In doing so, Jamaica’s
sense of uniqueness and individuality would be enhanced. Equally for an
individual, comparison can lead to a better understanding of a persons place in
society, to an identification of what is of importance and what is not, given the
options available and personal desires, hence leading to a better allocation and
utilization of time and resources.
Here in Jamaica, we are told from birth, that we should not look at what other
people are doing and that staring is impolite. This view has led many of us to
believe, that Jamaica is the “best” place under the sun and that we are doing
quite well. At other times we are told to look at how the people in Ethiopia,
Somalia, Burma and else where are suffering and we are a “Blessed” country.
Here what the gate keepers of society are doing is directing the process of social
and individual comparison, do not look at how the people in Barbados, the Cayman
Islands, Puerto Rico or the Bahamas are living, such comparisons will lead to
discontent and dissatisfaction both at the individual and at the national level.
Here one is being told that comparison is the same as that “forbidden apple”,
which caused sin. What is not being said, is that dissatisfaction and
discontentment can become drivers in the process leading to individual and social
development.
The gate keepers in order, to maintain things as there are, seeks to promote
countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Guyana, Haiti , Somalia, Burma and others as
standards or data from which measures are to be taken and comparisons are to be
made. In short, we should be content with the way things are , because we are
“Tremendously Blessed”.. What we are not being told is that we have being for
decades squandering our Blessing and at times swapping it for less than a cup of
porridge.
Prendi, while you are politically neutral , I am not, and the question in my mind
is:- Will the Peoples National Party in its rebuilding process seek to occupy the
role of gate keeper , or based on comparisons and a detached assessment of its
achievement and short comings during the recent past , reoccupy the position of
being a party of vision and hope, a party in which the individual feels free and
is encouraged to express him or herself, a party seeking innovative solutions to
the problems facing the wider society?
Basil Fletcher
With Whom Do We Compare?
At times we ask with which countries we compare Jamaica. While it would be

comforting to many to compare Jamaica with the Grenadas, with Cuba, the Cayman
Islands and the countries of Central America, the fact of the matter is that given
Jamaica’s international presence of Jamaica, in terms of sports, in terms music,
in terms of cuisine and other areas, Jamaica is compared with the smaller
developed and near developed countries of the world.
Here-in lies the failure of the last Peoples National Party government, while it
might have performed well when compared with a Zambia, a Kenya, a Nigeria, a
Cambodia, a Philippines or even with a Senegal, the world does not see Jamaica as
belonging to that group of countries nor does the average Jamaica. The fact that
the Peoples National Party does not seem by its statements (or rather the lack of
them) to have overcome the implanted “Third World Mentality” of the PJ era, would
seem to indicate that there is a lack of appreciation of by how much did the
Peoples National Party failed and the seriousness of the task at hand. No Jamaican
wants to wait twenty years to catch up to where Barbados is today, where will be
Barbados in terms of economic and social development then? Twenty years ahead?
Below is a fact sheet about some countries including Jamaica. The countries listed
are those with which, in my view, Jamaica is measured against and compared with.
REPUBLIC OF LATvia
• Full name: Republic of Latvia

• Population: 2.3 million (UN, 2008)
• Capital: Riga
• Area: 64,589 sq km (24,938 sq miles)
• Major languages: Latvian, Russian
• Major religion: Christianity
• Life expectancy: 67 years (men), 78 years
(women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 lats = 100 santims
• Main exports: Timber and wood products, fish and
fish products
• GNI per capita: US $9,930 (World Bank, 2007)
• Internet domain: .lv
• International dialling code: + 371
REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
• Full name: Republic of Lithuania

• Capital: Vilnius
• Major languages Lithuanian, Russian
(women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 Lithuanian litas = 100 centas
• Main exports: Textiles, clothing, fertilisers,
industrial machinery
• Internet domain: .lt
• International dialling code: +370
REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA
• Full name: Republic of Estonia

• Capital: Tallinn
• Major languages: Estonian, Russian
(women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 kroon = 100 sents
• Main exports: Machinery, textiles, wood products

• Internet domain: .ee
REPUBLIC OF ICELAND
•
• Full name: Republic of Iceland
• Population: 304,000 (UN, 2008)
• Capital: Reykjavik
• Major language: Icelandic
(women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 krona = 100 aurar
• Main exports: Fish and fish products, metals
• Internet domain: .is
• International dialling code:
Republic of Malta
•
• Full name: Republic of Malta
• Population: 408,000 (UN, 2008)
• Capital: Valletta
• Area: 316 sq km (122 sq miles)
• Major languages: Maltese, English
(women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: Euro from 1 January 2008
• Main exports: Machinery and transport equipment
• GNI per capita: US $15,310(World Bank, 2007)
• Internet domain: .mt
The Republic of Cyprus

•
• Full name: Republic of Cyprus
• Population: 863,000 (combined) (UN, 2008)
• Capital: Nicosia (Lefkosia to Greek Cypriots,
Lefkosa to Turkish Cypriots
• Area (combined): 9,251 sq km (3,572 sq miles)
• Major languages: Greek, Turkish
• Major religions: Christianity, Islam
(women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: Euro from 1 January 2008; Turkish
lira used in north
• Main exports: Clothing, potatoes, cigarettes,
pharmaceuticals
• Internet domain: .cy
Barbados
• Full name: Barbados
• Population: 295,000 (UN, 2008)
• Capital: Bridgetown
• Area: 430 sq km (166 sq miles)
• Major language: English (Bajan, an English-
African dialect, is widely used)
(women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 Barbadian dollar = 100 cents
• Main exports: Sugar and molasses, rum, other
foods and beverages, chemicals, electrical components, clothing
• GNI per capita: US$9,260 (World Bank, 2005)
• Internet domain: .bb
The Commonwealth Of The Bahamas
• Full name: Commonwealth of the Bahamas

• Population: 335,000 (UN, 2008)
• Capital and largest city: Nassau
• Major language: English
(women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 Bahamian dollar = 100 cents
• Main exports: Pharmaceuticals, cement, rum,
crawfish, refined petroleum products
• GNI per capita: US$14,920 (World Bank, 2005)
• Internet domain: .bs
Jamaica
• Full name: Jamaica

• Capital: Kingston
• Major language: English
(women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 Jamaican dollar = 100 cents
• Main exports: Bauxite, alumina, garments, sugar,
bananas, rum
• Internet domain: .jm
(Source:-The BBC)
Basil Fletcher
Where Does A Youth Hustle A Money To Buy A Pair Of Shoes?
While it indeed the duty of the Parish Councils and more importantly the various
types of Community Based Organizations to ensure that the zoning laws are
respected and that order is maintained in the communities, zoning laws and even
social order should be derived from an understanding of the needs of the various
social groupings that make up society. If society seeks to create a physical
environment that is ideal for the thirty five and over year groups, while the
dominant existing social group is made up of individuals of ages twenty-five and
under, then that given society is working very hard for problems. The truth be
told, the Jamaican society and its developers by failing to adequately utilize the
services of Urban Planners, have been doing overtime work in planning problems and
conflicts.
Mayor McKenzie, a person for whom I have the greatest respect, and his juniors in
the other Parish Councils, all over the age of thirty five, have developed a bad
addiction in seeking to get rid of street side garages, street side wood work
shops and other forms of community business that operates in conflict with the
zoning laws. However, in a society where there is a gross shortage of fathers and
father figures, the operators of these street side or community business are the
de facto fathers of many fatherless and at times motherless youth. Community and
street-side business in many instances are the only institutions of positive
socialization for many. It is at the street-side garages, that many a youth go and
learn a skill, learn how to deal with the opposite sex, and at times get an
insight in extra-community society, since it is at these garages Mr. Bigman or
Lady Well To Do, come to get their cars beat out, tyre and or oil changed etc. It
is at the community based wood-work shop, that Lady Well To Do come to get the
chairs and tables for her restaurant made, the display mirrors in her boutique
ordered etc; and hence providing the locked in youth with a window to the wider
world and its values.
Society places a great amount of pressure on young men. A young man perhaps
receives less lunch money than his female class mate, yet he is expected to fund
the purchase of her drink, to fund the purchase of her folder pages, to take her
to Burger King in the evenings etc. Additionally these young school youth find
themselves in unequal competition with predator taxi men, business men and off
course also with a few well respected managers from both the public and private
sector. How can a ghetto youth with a three hundred dollar lunch money compete
with a business man for whom a five thousand dollar lunch is nothing? Parents
generally ensure that the needs of their daughters are met, I personally do not
want my daughter to look “pop down” or like one of the ruins in Spanish Town,
therefore to the best of my ability I will try to ensure that she has what she
wants. Parents attitude to sons and in particular, fathers’ attitude to sons are
different, if a “gal the bowy wan fi go out wid, mek im go fin the money”.
In many respects, community business operate outside of the law, in terms of age
of employment, in terms of working conditions etc, but from a youth’s perspective,
they are places where a person can hustle a ting. If the parents of sons are not
providing for them the things that they need to be a part of their age group (yet
both fathers and mothers are very deeply concerned if their fifteen year old sons,
cannot call the name of a girl who he likes. If he cannot, something must be very
seriously wrong with him, and no father want a fish as a son), if fathers are not
there to guide their sons through the waters of peer pressures, If Mayor McKenzie
and his juniors are given the job of enforcing laws which runs against their own
experience, then the youth will get the money in the way that he has to get the
money, he will be socialized by what ever other agents of socialization that
exist. The failure to plan or cater for the youth is the same as planning work for
the Police.
A major challenge facing the Parish Councils at this time, is corrective planning,
that is identifying the short comings and gaps that came about as a result of the
absence of social and urban planning, and recognizing that individuals of age
twenty five and under exists and that they have real pressing needs that must be
taken into consideration.
There is a strong view, that the desire for social peace, development and harmony
does not have Jamaican roots and must be a throw back from Europe, the question
here is whether or not Jamaicans have a right to social peace, development and
harmony? Are the grand children and great grand children of slaves and slave
masters not deserving of social peace, development and harmony? Are they more
sinful or wicked than anyone else and thus carry some special curse from God? It
what we think we deserve, it is what we think that our parents deserve, it is what
we think that our children deserve, that will guide how we plan and for whom do we
plan.
Basil Fletcher
On The Question of Honesty, Recognizing the Hurts of the Past
The link that joins Comrade Portia and the goddess Athena is that of cleaning
stables. While I am yet to see the Hercules of the Peoples National Party, the
task of cleaning the stable remains hers to carry out.
The rebuilding of the Peoples National Party, should not be a task carried out
with the beating of the Jamaica Labour Party, as its central objective, but
rather, the re building of a movement and an organization capable of leading the
Jamaica people on a part of social and economic growth, a party capable of
facilitating the average Jamaica to realize his or her dreams for a better future.
If this task is to be carried out, then one has to ensure that :- (a) the
materials to be used in this process are of the best quality and capable of with
standing the tests of time and (b) that apologies are given where they are
deserved and remedial actions taken.
Honesty starts, in part in recognizing that “bad manism” and the association with
self seeking rankings have cost the Peoples National Party a lot and has placed
the party in great debt among segments of the Jamaica people. None more worthy of
an apology are the people of Jones Town and Fletchers Land. In Jones Town, history
will recall, that the lust for power and recognition by one so called Don, and in
a bid to chase out three families of no more than twelve Labourites resulted in
the bulldozing of the at least half of Pouyatt Street and the destruction of
Woodrow Street. The community has never recovered from the actions of that “don”
who is still around the place today. Hundreds of people lost their homes and were
made refuges within a matter of a few hours. In short the failure to accept the
right of twelve persons to be Labourites led to hundreds of PNP supporters
becoming homeless. That is the cost of “Bad Manism”. Here one is speaking not of
the evil 1980s but rather the 1990s.
As a boy in the 1970s, I stood on the compound of what is today, the Kingston High
School, and saw with my own eyes, trucks with men from Creg Town and Arnett
Gardens, descending on a section of Fletchers Land, beating out the residents from
their homes and creating what was then by all measures total destruction, and by
that creating space to build homes for some “socialists”. The reality is that over
three quarters of these newly placed “socialists” switched even before the
elections of the 1980s. The result of “Bad Manism” was one of failure from a
socio- political perspective.
Comrade Portia Simpson Miller, as the twice duly elected leader of the Peoples
National Party, in rebuilding the confidence and respect for the party among those
segments of the population hurt by the approaches earlier taken, needs to
recognize the hurt caused, to accept responsibility for making amendments on the
part of the party, and on that basis move forward. This process would also in a
very qualitative way increase her ability to speak to all Jamaicans regardless of
their ages, gender, education or political background.
For those “comrades” who would like to build associations between myself and the
Jamaica Labour Party, I wish to point out two things:- (1) I have the Right won
by my grand parents to be of whichever political party that I want to be
associated with, this Right was not given to me by kind hearted people or any such
persons, and (2) no one can point a finger saying with any degree of honesty that
basil Fletcher had ever received a contract worth even one Jamaican cent from any
political party for contract work of any type. My voice was and is not for sale. I
support the Peoples National Party and its leader comrade Portia Simpson Miller
because I want to and because I have the right to.
Basil Fletcher
The Importance of Experience
An area of great weakness of the Bruce Golding administration is that of reducing

the high level of crime and the perception that crime is out of control. Yet , if
both the actual level of crime and the perception that crime is out of control
could be reduced , the potential for community level business activities and
community level employment, if even on a subsistent scale could be increased, thus
alleviating the negative impact of the current economic recession while
strengthening the ability of the communities to address at the point of occurrence
the symptoms of extreme individual poverty.
The Peoples National Party, while it is not blessed with great numbers of
criminologists, has a rich tradition at the community level of carrying out
voluntary community work, in engaging with community based organizations in the
implementation of various types of community initiatives. Based on this
experience, the party is able to say why small business thrive in Greenwich Town,
along Maxfield avenue, along Windward road, but not along Collie Smith Drive, and
other such places. The party is in a position to say why petti-crime flourishes in
places like Hannah Town but not so in Dehanam Town. Why is it possible for a man
to get away with day light rape in Mexico but not so in Top Farm?
In short, the leadership of the Peoples National Party, to the extent that it
values its experiences in the various communities is in a position not only to put
heat on the tail of the Bruce Golding administration, but is also in a position to
point a way forward. Indeed it is a strange paradox that whilst the strength of
the current leadership of the Peoples National Party, is its close ties with the
grass roots, yet at the same time it suffers from a reluctance to draw on these
rich experiences and close ties in the advancing of its own cause.
The areas of greatest concern to the Jamaican people of all ages, is not which
Member of Parliament has mono, dual or triple citizenship, but rather income and
personal security, in short if one is looking at it from the position of the
Maslowian hierarchy of needs, the vast majority of Jamaicans are still at the two
lowest level of needs, physiological needs and security needs, if this is where
the people are then that is where the party and its leadership should be, and it
is in these two areas that the leadership core is most experienced. This is where
the leadership of the Peoples National Party can make its greatest contribution as
an opposition party and government in waiting at this time.
The nearly half of the electorate that voted for the leadership of Comrade Portia
Simpson Miller, did so not because they believe that she would make the greatest
leader this country has ever seen, but rather because they see a woman Bustamante
in her if she focuses on what is of real importance to them, this is why even the
strongest of Labourite will stop and find time to speak to her. It is time for the
leadership core of the party to help to develop Comrade Portia Simpson –Miller in
the area that she is most needed and has the greatest potential.
Part of being a good leader is the willingness to do what is needed. At this

moment the country needs a leader who can speak from the position of an expert in
the area of crime reduction. It is in this area that the opposition can lead the
parliament and the government.
A few words to the young:-
1. Criminal dons do not like strong community based organizations,

2. Criminal dons do not like communities where women and girls are free to
walk.
3. Criminal dons do not like strong functioning youth groups.
4. Criminal dons do not like influential outspoken people.
5. Criminal dons do not like strong active Churches,
6. Criminal dons do not like bars and shops where the police stop to buy beer,
soda or cigarettes.
7. Criminal dons do not like open roads with free flowing traffic.
8. Criminal dons do not like places where they know the police will come for
them once they are seen.
All the above reduces the area in which the criminal don is free to operate.
Without turf there are no dons. The greatest threat to peace and stability is
where and when the police are the defenders of the don. When this happen entire
communities suffers.
Basil Fletcher
Planning For Boys
A significant area of weakness in Jamaica’s Urban Planning practices is the

failure to plan for boys between the ages of six and fourteen years of age. The
results of this failure in many communities including the Portmore Municipality
are the invasion of private property and petti- vandalism and conflicts between
parents and neighbours.
Urban Planning as practiced in Jamaica assumes that normal healthy boys require
the same amount of space as do normal healthy girls. This assumption has meant
that suitable play areas are not included in development plans and the planting of
fruit trees are seen as some type of “John Apple Seed” luxury that can best be
done without. The simple truth is that for all mammals including man, the male of
the specii demands room for exploration and adventure. A random check of the road
kill animals will confirm that it is mainly the male that ends up as victims,
equal the majority of trauma cases at the local children hospital tend to be boys.
Anyone who lives in the Portmore Municipality can explain the problems that can
result from having a bearing fruit tree of any kind in ones yard, the problems of
fences being dirtied, the problems of flying stones, the problems of invited
guests etc. In some places it is a problem of flying cricket or foot balls, the
destruction of hedging plants, the problems of broken windows and in the end the
argument with and between parents. It is not a question of boys being a source of
problems but rather the failure to plan for boys. That causes problems. The
attitude of individuals towards private property and general rules develop among
boys at the pre-teen stage of development and if boys are adequately planned for,
one can bring about a degree of reduction in future domestic crime and violence.
The planting of public fruit trees not only can contribute to a reduction of
tension in communities, but also serve to reduce the overall level of larceny of
property, the youth who is able to pick and sell mangoes, apples, or a few dozen
ackees or a one or two breadfruit, is less tempted to enter into alienate
individuals from their property. In other words, crime reduction has static design
features that should be include in Urban Design, equally as one designs for both
pedestrian and vehicular traffic flows, or waste and or storm water management
systems one designs for both young boys and for crime reduction.
Without wanting to be deliberately political, the programmes of both parties are

silent on these issues and as such creates an opening for the Peoples National
Party to gain a competitive edge in this area as well as qualitatively improving
its understanding of Urban Planning and Community Development. Within the
Greenwich Town community, one can see evidence that corrective steps were
contemplated to create space for young boys by the allotting of play areas;
however those steps were not followed through leaving behind fenced open land bare
of trees and or play equipment. This bad situation is further compounded by the
blocking of roads in “Bottom Farm” which reduces or restricts the mobility of boys
and teenagers while cultivating baby “dons” and “puppy dogs”. This situation also
holds true for that section of Whitfield Town that is close to the Spanish Town
Road, Wild Street in Allman Town among others. In fact one would think , that part
of the responsibilities of the party groups in these areas would be that of seeing
to the removal of barricades , thus encouraging freedom of movement and that of
seeking to develop play and fruited green areas.
Basil Fletcher
Organizational Unity viz-a-viz Individual Responsibility

Am I Where I Should Have Been?
The question:-Am I Where I Should Have Been? ; is a question that faces nearly
all comrades and individuals over the age of forty, both men and women. This
question depending on how it is approached can lead to countless problems,
depression, and frustration or to a sense of gratitude to God, of internal peace
and satisfaction. Given all my efforts, the sacrifices that I have made, the work
that I have put in, the chances I have taken, am I Where I Should Have Been? Why
have my friends and comrades so prospered and I so cursed? Did they work harder
than I? I studied harder and put in more hours on the work, made more sacrifices
and yet I am swimming behind.
In my mind, there are at times tendencies either to assume that we all started the
race at the same point or to assume that the conditions within which one operates
are the same for everybody. Even worse, is the tendency to blind ones eyes to the
sacrifices made by others, the long unrecognized hours put in by those with whom
we compare ourselves. Should I feel bad, if I end the race behind an equally fit
if not fitter person who started the race with his or her blocks way in front of
mine. I think I would have a right to feel upset if I did not or was not allowed
start the race, important in my mind is the fact that I ran to the best of my
abilities and that I finished the race. If I should look at a tree grown on the
windy side of a mountain on a near nude cliff and another grown in the fertile,
sheltered valley below, how do I measure their success? Both have grown, one
twisted by the wind and stunted by mal nourishment, the other tall with a wide
trunk, radiating branches like the spokes in a bicycle wheel with deep green
leaves. Is one tree more successful than the other? In my mind the answer is no,
both are successful in their own way given the different environments in which
they grew.
To my mind, the question should not be where I have reached, but rather what have
I done where I am and with the little that I have? If I should go making
comparisons between apples and pears, bananas and breadfruits or mangoes and sour
sops, then it is highly possible that I might end up been too frustrated and too
depressed to utilize the possibilities that exist around me. If I should go
discounting the sacrifices and efforts made by others I am then on my way to
grudgefulness , bad mindedness and hence will justify theft, robbery and other
crimes against the individual, because in my mind the person is not deserving of
what he or she has attained.
In this period of recession and personal hardship, sympathy is not what is

required from leadership, but rather the ability to assist individuals and
comrades firstly to objectively value their achievements and secondly to assist
them to see the opportunities their personal situations create. Leadership at
times fails to recognize the fact that in many circumstances sympathy, depression
and give-upism are triplets born of the same egg in the same womb. In simple terms
at times the greatest evil that can be done to an individual who is dissatisfied
with or depressed his or her circumstances is the giving of sympathy. What these
individuals need is the will to fight and possibly encouragement to fight.
Viktor Frankl in Man's Search for Meaning:

“Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended
side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the
by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. “
Politician William Bennett:

"Happiness is like a cat, If you try to coax it or call it, it will avoid you; it
will never come. But if you pay not attention to it and go about your business,
you'll find it rubbing against your legs and jumping into your lap."
Aristotle:
"How, then, is it that no one is continuously pleased? Is it that we grow weary?
Certainly all human things are incapable of continuous activity. Therefore
pleasure also is not continuous; for it accompanies activity."[ Basil
Fletcher
Organizational Unity viz-a-viz Individual Responsibility
Some of my good comrades might have found objection to my view that a Christian’s
first loyalty is to God and the Church and after and only after to the Peoples
National Party. This approach, does pose significant challenges to the party as an
organization requiring unity of command and to the leadership of the party that
demands loyalty from membership. In the recent Dark Ages of the party, the concept
of “Collective Responsibility” and organized peer pressure were used to suppress
the legitimate views of the individual and to excuse lapses in the exercise of
individual responsibility.
For the purposes of simplicity, one could ask: - Is there any possible
circumstances that the principles of organizational unity and collective
responsibility supersede the individual duty to follow his conscience, to choose
good over evil? Can party unity be of greater importance than the individual duty
to do of what is right and the shunning of what is wrong? This question is not
new, and it is a question that many a members of the National Socialist Party
(NAZI) had to answer at a very famous trail at the end of the Second World War,
and it is a question that is still being answered by a few Serbs and Croats in The
Hague. The answer in all those cases of the past and those to come is simple,
individual responsibility; the conscience of the individual supersedes any and all
form of “Collective Responsibility” and the principle of Organizational Unity,
therefore individual leaders of the party cannot hide behind this veil. Even in
the armed forces, where orders are to be carried out not questioned it is a
soldier’s duty regardless of rank to do what is good and avoid that which is evil,
an order to do that which is clearly evil is not an order, in fact in such
circumstances the soldier has the duty and the right to restrain or to disarm and
arrest that given commanding officer.
The second question to come to my mind is: - Why do individuals become members of
the Peoples National Party? Is it because the Peoples National Party is seen as an
instrument or a vehicle to good what is good for the Jamaican people, is it a call
to a higher service or is it that individuals join the party in order to pursue
objectives that might be but are not necessarily good? If a person became a member
of the Peoples National Party in order to pursue that which is good, to perform a
higher duty, the this individual member has no problem in understanding and
agreeing that a Christian’s first loyalty is to God and the Church and after and
only after to the Peoples National Party. However, if the individual’s objective
is contrary or aimed at satisfying so type of ego need, then such an individual
would be faced with major problems in accepting the primacy of God and the Church.
There are those who try to suppress the views of individual and individuality
itself under the cloak of “consensus”. The simple truth is that if a person holds
a gun to my head or threatens me implicitly or explicitly with penalties if I do
not agree with this or that position or view, then I will indeed “concede”. The
problem is that my “concession” can not be taken as voluntary and hence is not a
concession.
The challenge facing Comrade Portia is two fold, firstly that of recognizing that
peer pressure and “group act” are normal and natural, as is the tendency to follow
the positions of those who appear dominant or stronger; secondly Comrade Portia
has to recognize that she has personal likes and dislikes, preferred persons and
persons not so preferred. Having recognized these two factors, she has to
consciously create that listening and engagement space for those whose views are
not so popular and for the views of those individuals that she does not
particularly like; this is unnatural and perhaps strange.
The best leaders are not as a rule the brightest nor the most brilliant, but
rather the best listeners. The leader who is able to listen to conflicting views,
popular and unpopular views and filter them to make a usable mass of information,
is more likely to achieve more and to be more effective than a leader who is too
bright to listen, too educated to learn, too proud to ask advice. Here it is
important that Comrade Portia be not carried away by her own sense of importance
or popularity.
It is said that one of a woman’s worse enemy is her long memory, and in my
opinion, the average Jamaican woman has three or four life times of memories.
Anyone who has had to fight their way forward, man or woman, would have
encountered good and bad experiences, and would have accumulated good and bad
memories. The challenge facing the individual is that of learning from the bad
experiences and memories those lessons that facilitate the development of skills
and mobility and discard or store away those experiences and memories that act as
anchors, deterrents and barriers to moving forward in a positive manner and in a
positive direction. Comrade Portia has the duty firstly to herself and secondly to
the Peoples National Party to harvest the many lessons she has to learn from her
long experience and memories and use them in such a way that encourages those
around her to do their best, to express their views and to serve a higher cause.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, long and sleepless are the nights of toil.
Basil Fletcher
On The Question Of Leadership
While understanding Mr. Wayne Simmonds’ disappointment at the performance of the

Peoples National Party in the recent by-elections, a disappointment which I
individually do not share because in my view the party had nothing to do in what
is a rivalry between family members and most importantly because that election and
any other to follow is aimed at victimizing and marginalizing a segment of the
Jamaican population ; it is my view that Mr. Simmonds opinions as expressed are
misguided and misplace.
Firstly, the capability of any given leader is not some given constant, but rather
a variable whose value in part is determined by individual experiences, by
individual and social perceptions, by the quality of the support structure in
place, by the individual and the collective response to external and even internal
stimuli, by the quality of the cadre forming the leadership core, the level of
openness of the leadership core to information flows, by the individual and
collective understanding of the tasks at hand and by the value set which guides
the leadership process. In other words it is either a question of laziness or
cowardice to speak about the quality of leadership offered by either Prime
Minister Bruce Golding or The Leader of the Opposition, Comrade Portia Simpson
Miller, without dealing with, without addressing the quality of the machinery and
the individuals who are responsible for providing leadership and logistic support
to the given leader. Mr. Simmonds stopped short of calling both Mr. Golding and
Mrs. Simpson –Miller dictators or some type of autocrats, a view which I similarly
to most Jamaicans do not share.
As an individual who is neither a member nor supporter of the Jamaica Labour

Party, I will restrict my comments to those issues relating to the leadership of
the Peoples National Party. The leadership requirements of being the Leader of the
Opposition are neither identical nor similar to that of being the Prime Minister
of a country. The Peoples National Party for good or for bad formed the government
of the country for eighteen years, a relatively long period in the life of an
individual. The skill set and approaches developed over that period cannot be push
aside overnight and a new skill set and attitudes implanted. This is not the way
people nor organizations work. The arts of being the government in waiting and the
Leader of the Opposition must be learnt.
The question then in my mind is not only if Comrade Portia Simpson-Miller is

willing and able to learn, but of equal importance, is whether or not the
leadership structure and the leadership core of the party are able to create an
environment that encourages and facilitates learning. To what extent individual
rivalry for headlines and positions around the leadership table undermines the
quality of support provided and corrodes the will to facilitate and encourage
learning. At the same time one has to question the individual mastery of the
knowledge and the skills required to be a part of that leadership core, a
carpenter is not a civil engineer and possibly has nothing doing in a meeting of
engineers designing a highway.
Individuals and organizations learn from interacting with the environment within
which they exist and function. The degree and type of interaction with the
environment are determined by experience and perceptions and by the character of
that environment itself, whether it is static or dynamic, whether it is malleable
or not, where it has the ability to learn or not. The more complex the character
of the environment, the greater the demand for learning by the individual and the
organization. If the leadership structure and core operates like a closed set, the
more difficult will it be for learning to take place, while the more open the
leadership structure and core operates, the easier learning takes place.
I too like Mr. Simmonds agree that the Peoples National Party has over the years
evolved into being an election machinery. The extent to which this phenomenon can
be reversed is in the main determined by the leader of the party Comrade Portia
Simpson-Miller and her support structure and support core. Firstly, they need to
come to an understanding of what the Peoples National Party means to them.
Basil Fletcher
The Role of Menial Jobs
There are many in society who is firmly against the government creating “Crash
Programme” types of jobs, while it is possible to take on these individuals both
from a stand point of classical and Keynesian economic models, I would like to my
argument to the question of mental health and individual capabilities.
True, all societies would like its citizens without exception to be high
producers, highly educated and capable of contributing much to that society. God
however did not see it fit to create all men with the same great potentials, but
instead created some men whose basic job is that of reminding us that we are all
simple human not gods as we sometime want to believe, God created some men to
remind us of how Blessed we are regardless of the many challenges we face in our
daily lives.
The truth be told, and in my own personal journey on this earth, I have met many a
brilliant and creative minds that are unable to work at any thing constructive
from an economic sense for more than three months, after which they are forced to
tune out. Then there are those who are capable of working consistently doing small
jobs, regardless of their level of education or their previous academic
accomplishments. These are individuals who are not able to compete on the job
market, yet they too have a sense of being and pride, individuals who feel locked
out of society, because of no fault of their own.
The Church over the years has done a great job in taking care of the basic needs
of these individuals, however the Church is not in a position to bring these
individuals into society, for the simple reason that the Church does not have what
it takes to do that. For many of these individuals, what is need is work, a way to
prove to themselves and to others that they are of some value, a channel that
allows them to feel good about themselves. Yes they do value the daily support and
assistance they receive from the ordinary people and from the Church in
particular, but more than anything, there are those who do not want to be treated
as some kind of pet.
While the Church has received a lot from the private sector in the carrying out of
its duty, it would be very good if both the state and the private sector were able
to create those menial types of jobs that these persons are able to perform, be it
the sweeping of car parks, the taking care of lawns, etc.
Individuals with mental challenges in the main do not receive the same support as
those individuals who are physically challenged and perhaps do not need the same
type of support, perhaps what is needed is a greater understanding of the fact
that some individuals are less linear and more cyclical in their abilities and
more sine like in their performance. Their ability to contribute is not less and
at times are even greater than average, however they work with periodic peaks and
declines. What a linear person takes six months to accomplish they are able to
accomplish the same in a far shorter period of time, followed by a period of rapid
decline; this in no way makes them mentally incompetent or mad nor are they in
need of anyone’s sympathy, they are just made to function different.
Basil Fletcher
The Death of the Proletariat The rise of the Petite Bourgeoisie
The ability of a country or a society to develop is in many ways a function of its

ability to transform itself by putting away that which had served its purpose and
embracing that which is new, here one is speaking about the question of cultural
renewal. Should one measure the performance of the Jamaican society to renew
itself, one might end up a bit disappointed.
The news today speak about the government being brought to court about its
attempts to divest a given sugar estate. And one is left to wonder which century
is the society operating in. The simple truth, regardless of what is said by the
sugar cane lobbyists; sugar cane in Jamaica and in the British West Indies was
killed by Frederick William lll of Prussia when he opened the world first sugar
factory using the sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) in Silesia in 1801. From that moment
in history, the sugar beet, a cousin of the humble beetroot, has been decimating
the economies of the Caribbean.
With the banana industry in Jamaica and the West Indies in general, death came
knocking on its door with the start of construction of the Panama Canal in the
1880s, a process that saw hundreds of skilled Jamaicans and other Caribbean
nationals moving to Panama and other countries of Central America, taking along
with them the skills, the culture needed for the cultivation of Caribbean crops in
those countries, including pepper, yam, coffee and sugar cane. It was on the backs
of these Jamaican and other West Indian migrants that the banana industry of
Central America was established.
Today one finds also a movement away from Jamaican bauxite, to cheaper sources of
bauxite ores in other parts of the world in keeping with the development of
technology, the spatial shifting of the major manufacturing centers and the
opening of new markets.
In many ways, the 21st. century demands a shift in thinking, if the Jamaican
society is to renew itself, the idea of Jamaica competing with India, China,
Indonesia, Pakistan Mexico, Venezuela and others in traditional manufacturing or
even in the traditional forms of agriculture is but a wild dream. For our trade
unionists, sugar cane truckers, sugar cane farmers and others, it is not a good
time, for here one speaks of the death of the Proletariat and The rise of the
Petite Bourgeoisie.
In my view, the success of modern Jamaica, is not so much a question of reducing

in-put costs as it is a question of identifying locations in the global production
chain where it can compete. On one hand it might mean, Jamaica seeking to occupy
positions in the design stage in production, and here we are not doing terribly
badly in clothing design, or on the other hand it could mean Jamaica consolidating
its position in the logistic and distribution chain. For agriculture, given the
international prominence of the Jamaican cuisine, it might mean the processing of
imported agricultural inputs and the exportation of consumption ready meals, be it
patties, stew peas, chicken foot soup, pepper pot soup. or jerk pork. For our
young biologists, it might mean the identification and creation of phage banks,
capable of exporting on short notice suitable phages to deal with the rise of the
drug resistant bacteria.
Such a transformation of the Jamaican economy calls for the coming into being the
type of government agencies that are capable of hunting down design contracts for
auction on the local market, government agencies capable of organizing food and
art fairs overseas, government agencies capable of identifying and engaging
software promoters and distributors, it calls for the establishment of agencies
designed to encourage the development of exporters and re-exporters etc, etc.
At home, such a transformation would place significant challenge in terms of

producing the type of graduates capable of functioning in a production service
driven economy. Classical economic theory, holds that one should seek to develop
one or two very strong industries capable of pulling the rest of the economy, what
one is saying here is than not one or two, but numerous strong industries exist
but they are not on Jamaican soil, therefore one is faced with the challenge of
training the manpower capable of designing products capable of satisfying the
requirements of those ex-territorial based industries..
Secondly one is speaking about “home based “production/creation or the

gentrification of segments of the inner city. The challenge here is that of
creating the type of environment in which a person can feel safe to produce. It
means here, recognizing the fact, that a significant segment of our youth
population sees it self as being either “thugs” or “pimps” and have no interests
in working. It means recognizing that in some communities that there are “lists”
of young men who are working but refuse to “Let off”. Here one has to recognize
that there is a conflict of cultures in the society, on one hand there is the
culture imported or otherwise of those who seek to reap without planting and on
the other hand a culture of those who want to reap what they planted . This is not
a police problem, but rather a societal problem, religious leaders can point to
mothers who come to Church weeping, traveling and praying for the release of sons
and grand sons who are in jail for crimes that they did commit. As one mother
told me once “Only God Alone Have The Right To Judge”.
Basil Fletcher
In Response To My Friend Vic Barnes
Barnes we are both very good friends, who generally come to very similar
conclusions even though we start out from very different positions. You starting
from a position more sympathetic to the Jamaica Labour Party and I starting from a
position very closely aligned to the Peoples National Party, have during our many
discussions over the years, have concluded that the situation facing the ordinary
man, be that man Labourite or PNP, is not good and has being getting worse over
time, the situation facing the youth and in particular the educated youth who has
measurable and confirmed skills and competences is depressing, with a waiting
period of between six months and two years after graduation from College or
University before being able to get a suitable job.
While we have come to the same set of conclusions as to the state of the ordinary
person in the Jamaican society, our approaches to its solution have been very
different. While we do agree that this sorry state of affairs have come into
existence owing to the failure of the socio-political system to take into active
consideration the views of the ordinary man, your approach has been one of
leaving things has they are and hoping that the Jamaica Labour Party will be able
to do better. My approach has being one of actively reminding the Peoples National
Party of its Mission and Objectives and encouraging this great party to identify
those factors (human and otherwise)which have led it over the years not only to
perform below its own expectations but to depart from its Mission of achieving
economic independence; on this basis carry out the necessary types of correction
that would enable it to resume its leadership of the National Movement for social
and economic growth and independence.
As a person who has never voted for the Jamaica Labour Party and who will never
vote for that party, it would be more than unprincipled of me to tell the
membership and or supporters of the Jamaica Labour Party what to do, I would be
out of my place.The quality of the stewardship provided by the government of the
Jamaica Labour Party will in the main depend on the quality and consistency of the
contribution made by ordinary Labourites.
My task is to contribute in an active manner to preparing to take up its mantle of

leadership of the National Movement for social and economic growth and
development, by assisting in the creation of channels for the most serious
consideration of the concerns and opinions of the ordinary comrades on the ground,
and most importantly assisting the Peoples National Party to develop the ability
to speak across classes, social groupings and political parties, by ensuring that
the most fundamental interests of the average Jamaican find adequate
representation at round tables of party leadership.
I am fully aware, that the growth of the ability of the Peoples National Party to
better represent the interest of the average Jamaican must be of very serious
concern to the most lazy of the Labourites, for it means that have to spend time
listening to the views of the man in Olympic Gardens, in Papine, in Vinyard Town ,
on Wild Street and else where. How unfortunate! For many of these most Lazy, it
means going to Church, where they are able to meet Middle Jamaica and hear of its
issues and concerns. Brother Barnes, I am most subversive, but I just cannot help
it. Please do not fall among the ranks of the lazy
Leadership of this country at nearly all level of society, is now for the first
time, firmly in the hands of that generation born between 1960 and 1976, our
children and grand children will judge or wisely was that leadership exercised and
if it was exercised only for a chosen few or for the average Jamaican.
Basil Fletcher
Resource Group Seven & Butch Stewart
It is my view that the steps taken by the Resource Group Seven in “developing”
what is termed the “Progressive Agenda” is worthy of recognition and
encouragement. Most of all I was moved by the recognition of some of the
participants in the event, that it is very difficult at this time to say “Who is a
PNP” and how is a “PNP different from a Labourite”.
However my deepest concern is about the method being used in the developing the
“Progressive Agenda”, will the process stop short of what is needed? In my view,
with the best technical team in the world, given the complexity of the Jamaican
social environment, given the changes in the economic structure that the country
is now under going, given the experiences of the people with failed hopes and
unrealized promises, there needs to a major focus on the completeness of whatever
document that will be produced.
If I came to Mr. Stewart and asked for a job and he gave me a cheque for Jamaican
two million dollars instead, would he be helping me? As a person with a world of
suppressed needs and a universe of desires, it would possibly be the wickedest
thing that Mr. Stewart could possibly have done to me. On one hand, sure as faith
that money will be finished within three months, and my conscience would not allow
me to walk anywhere near to that “kind” gentleman. On the other hand, were I given
the job, which I requested in spite of Mr. Stewarts’s view that it is very hard
work with only a small wage and that it might be a bit demeaning and or degrading
to me; as an individual it would be better for me, as I am better able to manage
these small flow of money and I would be earning it.
Equally a technical committee of what ever type or composition, regardless of the
level of expertise or experience of its members, is in no position to make any
definitive statement or put forward any definitive proposal without the deepest
possible level of consultation with the wider membership of the party and its
stakeholders.
Where-in the Peoples National Party is seeking to re-establish itself as the

party representing the “best” of the Jamaican people, consultations with even die
heart Labourites should take place, thus creating the basis for achieving a wider
and deeper synthesis of views There are some sixty constituencies, each with a
number of divisions, for representative ness, it is my view that consultations
with comrades and citizens in at least twenty of the sixty constituencies would be
good. Here consultation means, going through the agenda items one by one , in a
way which explains in full the views being put forward and after the explanation
seek to identify areas of disagreement, areas of agreement and areas of concern as
well as soliciting other proposals- consultation by workshops.
If the Progressive agenda is to be a foundation document of the party, a document

contributing to the development of the party’s economic and social programme, a
document guiding the positions taken by the party’s representatives in Parliament
, a document guiding the National Movement through these turbulent seas, then it
is best to spend the time and produce a document of acceptable quality.
An important question which the drafters of the Progressive Agenda have to

address, is that of the position of the “Butch Stewarts “ of the Jamaican society
within party theory , documents and policies. If we agree that all of the Butch
Stewarts are firstly Jamaicans even if not the flag waving type, and secondly, if
it is agreed that the Butch Stewarts of the Jamaican society while pursuing their
own business and or personal interests which may not be at all times in the best
interests of the Peoples National Party or the average Jamaican, they remain in
the main committed Jamaicans who would like to see a better Jamaica; then it is
the duty of the leadership of the People National Party and the drafters of the
Progressive Agenda to ensure that the areas of commonality and mutual interests
that exist between the Peoples National Party and the Butch Stewarts of the
Jamaican society be clearly indentified and acted upon. The onus is not on the
Butch Stewarts of the Jamaican society to reach out to the Peoples National Party.
For particular members of the Peoples National Party this is a tough task, but one
cannot speak about a Progressive Agenda and at the same time being in malice with
an important even though numerically small segment of the Jamaican society. This
cannot be a matter of tactics but rather one of principle.
Basil Fletcher
The Immediate Tasks of the PNP’s Divisional Executives and Groups
Traditionally between General Elections and outside of preparing for the party’s
conferences, the party groups and even the divisional executives enter into a
period of dormancy; however the situation facing the country and the Peoples
National Party is very far from being normal. On hand the country is faced by the
sheering forces of recession with the working class bearing the brunt of the
forces, with the possibility of the country re-entering a barrowing relationship
with the International Monetary Fund the middle classes starting with those in the
direct employment of the state is now facing the real threat of being peered down
to size.
Tactically in my view, the government’s fielding of a bishop to do the work of a

castle is most unfortunate; it possibly would reflect a greater understanding of
the gravity of the situation if both a bishop and castle were fielded. While the
IMF is not coming to Jamaica as an enemy, it is surely not coming as a friend, but
rather as a mega-squid carrying surgical knives in all hands. Full respect should
be shown. Political relationships at times determine the nature of technical
outcomes.
Within the Jamaican socio-political environment, regardless of the results ten Bye
Elections, there is a complex process of separation of forces occurring with the
support structure of the Jamaica Labour Party. One finds:-
1. Older Labourites who have experience with the International Monetary

Fund, backing off and trying to assume positions of neutrality,
2. Younger middle-class Labourites are beginning to question nearly
everything with growing degrees of negativity,
3. Support from the working class is plunging rapidly, with the government
being help increasingly responsible for nearly everything, from price increases,
cut back in money from abroad and redundancies.
In summary one finds an emerging process of separation between the Parliamentary

JLP and the membership and support base of the JLP, with the youth heading out of
the starting block with their fathers and grand fathers close behind. To the
extent that the JLP’s constituency party will not rally to put pressure on this or
that MP or Minister the ability of that party to play government and opposition at
the same time is greatly undermined.
This process is taking place at a time when all segments of the middle class is
straddled with significant levels of personal debts and a lot to loose. The risk
level for wide spread white collar crime and corruption is at a very high level.
The task of the Peoples National Party, in such a situation, in my view, is to

find ways and means to guide the country through this period by:-
1. Resisting tendencies towards redundancies as a first and preferred choice
over the alternative of increasing the productivity of capital and labour coupled
with increasing the marketing effort. In fact the Peoples National Party and the
National Workers’ Union should be holding under the microscope:- the marketing
departments and marketing managers and the operations managers. In short all
should be done at least to maintain existing markets while at the same time
increasing the productivity of capital.
2. In my view, putting pressure on government departments to increase their
ability to self fund a percentage of their budget. The argument that government
departments and or bodies are not supposed to revenue generating in their
operations should be taken and trampled on. Heads of Divisions and Heads of
Sections need to say which of their operations will become self-funding and what
will be done to raise revenue;
3. The constituency organization of the Peoples National Party, in my view,
should lead the drive to encourage the formation of family based business,
identifying small business possibilities, assist in the drafting of business
plans, encouraging “Work Days”, “Round Robins”, “Partners” and other self help
activities. In fact I am seriously asking myself why it is that nowhere in the
city Kingston, I can find a cup of pigeon soup to buy, not even on Maxfield
Avenue.
4. The constituency party, in my view, needs to put out all efforts in
ensuring that peace and quite dominates the life in the community. People cannot
help themselves in a situation where their doors might be kicked in before 8.00
p.m. Who ever decides to encourage, facilitate, organize or participate in
community violence must be crushed with any or all available force, starting with
working openly with the police, or independently if the police fail in the
performance of their duty. Where there is a party group, there should be Law and
Order. In some sections of South St. Catherine, it is now time for delegations
consisting of leaders of the Church, the Police Community Relations officers, the
Councillor and others to visit the relatives, the mothers and the girl friends of
those who are bent on spreading fear demand of them that their sons or grandsons,
brothers or baby fathers leave the constituency, maybe a JDF removal truck should
be carried along also.
5. It is also my view that the constituency party needs to be actively
engaged in the discussion of the Progressive Agenda, and be given the opportunity
of making changes, putting forward proposals and generally adding flesh to the
Agenda.
It is my view that the party is in a position to lead the cushioning of the
impact of both the recession and the shocks that will come with the International
Monetary Fund.
Basil Fletcher
On The Question of Principles
A question which should be most urgently addressed in the Progressive Agenda is

the question of Corruption. This seems to be a question that both political
parties prefer to deal with at the level of finger pointing rather than addressing
in any serious manner. The fact that the Peoples National Party is preparing
itself to play the leading role in guiding Jamaica and all Jamaicans to a better
tomorrow, regardless of the position it occupies in the House of Parliament, means
that it is the party that should within its own ranks start these discussions.
The truth is that governmental corruption is but a symptom of a more fundamental

problem and comes about as a product of a given political environment within the
party and outside of the party. Corruption exists at the highest levels of society
and across political parties not because of a lack of principles but rather
because of the dominance of a given set of negative principles and hierarchy of
values. In other words, prisons are not filled with individuals without principles
or values, to the contrary, prisons are filled with individuals driven by negative
principles and values. Principles and values guide action and are the causes of
any given set of actions.
If a person holds to the principle that he or she will do anything for the
wellbeing and security of his or her family and for him or herself, then that
individual has no problem in carrying out, facilitating or organizing acts of
corruption. . If party workers are interested in politics only when they can get
money, then they will be willing to promote those who share similar principles and
values. Over the past, a dangerous sub culture bloomed and blossomed within the
ranks of the Peoples National Party, a sub culture which placed the interest of
the Jamaican people and the Peoples National Party secondary to personal gain and
personal enrichment. A sub culture so powerful, that few in the leadership of the
party dared to confront it or acknowledge its existence. A good Member of
Parliament, a decent man, had to give up a promising political career because
someone in Kingston felt that they had a greater need for money, than the poor had
need for houses; they had the right to take what was not theirs for taking. Great
damage was done to the Peoples National Party because of the actions of a few.
These individuals for whom the plight of the poor means nothing, these individuals
who put people to work and paid them with boxes and beatings, are not in the
limelight today, they are not part of any party rebuilding process, they have no
time for involvement in any Progressive Agenda thing, but sure as faith they have
their orange shirts washed, starched and pressed awaiting the return of the
Peoples National Party to power. A Peoples National Party which intends to play a
positive role in the lives of the Jamaican people has to deliberately plant within
its ranks a set of principles and values that are developed from a real love and
respect for the Jamaican people. The Peoples National Party has to deliberately
create an environment that is hostile and toxic to those whose interest in the
Peoples National Party is driven by greed and a lust for self gain.
There is a view, that Comrades should not openly address the question of
corruption, because it is only arming and strengthening the Labourites. Firstly,
if the Jamaica Labour Party were to say that it is free from and immune to
corruption, it would have by that single act proven itself corrupt, secondly the
Jamaica Labour Party does not set bench marks for the Peoples National Party.
Thirdly, while some of my good friends and comrades might be a bit upset, I want
to publicly congratulate Prime Minister Golding for getting rid of a lizard before
it became a dragon, had the Peoples National Party in a timely and decisive manner
rather than relying on legalistic dances, gotten rid of its lizards of corruption
before they became dragons of corruption, there would be possibly no talk of a
Progressive Agenda. Pastor West of the Holiness Apostolic Church on Wallen Avenue,
Greater Portmore in a Sermon once said, that, “God works in a mischievous way”.
This I also do believe.
Corruption bloomed also because of the view, that the Peoples National Party was
unbeatable; Members of Parliament, Ministers and Ministers of State became Princes
and Princesses, rulers eternal and all powerful over the Jamaican people. Yes,
many felt that they could act with impunity as there was and would be no one to
bring them to the Book. . Pastor West of the Holiness Apostolic Church in a Sermon
once said, that, “God works in a mischievous way”. This I also do believe..
Comrade Portia Simpson-Miller, God surely did not want some things to be a part of
your legacy. The fact that you did not win the last General Elections gives you
the possibility creating your own legacy rather than carrying on that which was to
be inherited. This is Good! It is for you now to deal head on with the question of
corruption and the environment which breeds it. This is a question that must start
from and be led by the leader of the Party.
Basil Fletcher
The Question of Principle, A Response To Comrade Peart
There are some who would like society and the Jamaican people to understand
corruption as some type of misguided action and nothing more. The simple truth
about corruption is that:-
a. It is a betrayal of trust placed by the ordinary citizens in the leadership

and skills of persons in authority, persons with a particular set of
responsibilities and obligation to the public in general and in those who were
chosen by the people to represent their best interests. Here corruption is no
different in intent and in impact than the man who takes money from his house to
spend on an outside woman and return home to his wife and children without food.
This is not a misguided action; it is a morally deficient action, an action for
which apologies mean nothing; for the simple reason that the act was consciously
aimed at depriving the family for individual satisfaction.
b. A person without authority or responsibility cannot carry out acts of
corruption, it is in this one finds the difference between common theft and
corruption. Anybody can thief but only those in whom society has empowered with
responsibility and authority can perform acts of corruption. In short, regardless
of the moral flaws a person might have, were he or she not given positions of
responsibility and authority by society and or by agents acting on behalf of the
society, that individual would not be able to carry out a single act of
corruption.
c. Corruption at all times is the misuse or private disposal of social
property, office or resources for private gain. Here corruption is the weakening
of society by the empowered individual or group of individuals, either denying
society use of its resources or by the abuse of authority for private gain.
d. Corruption if not combated in a transparent manner results in distrust by
the public of the state and the agents of the state.
Comrade M. Peart has made a very interesting interjection; he brought his

suspicion of corruption both to Comrade PJ and Comrade Simpson-Miller, none of
whom took any serious interest in dealing with the matter. This leads me to ask
four questions:-
a. Did either Comrade Paterson or Comrade Portia Simpson Miller elect Comrade
Peart to Parliament?
b. Was Comrade Peart commitment to the leadership of the party, more important
to him than his commitment to the ordinary men and women who elected him?
c. Did at any time as a Minister of Government or as a Member of Parliament,
Comrade Peart swore allegiance to the Prime Minister (read party leader) rather
than to Queen and Country? and
d. Did at any time during the reign of the Peoples National Party, did Comrade
Peart raise his suspicions on the floors of Parliament?
One then has to ask if, at this stage, can Comrade Peart with a clear conscience
distance himself from the corruption that occurred while the Peoples National
Party formed the government. In my own view, the average Jamaican man or woman
has no interest in any concept called “collective responsibility” or any such
thing. Comrade Peart as an individual put forward himself as a candidate to
represent the best interest of his constituency in Parliament, Comrade Peart was
entrusted by the constituency to represent its interests in Parliament, by failing
to raise his suspicion of corruption in parliament, Comrade Peart in my view is
guilty of dereliction of duty and contributed to the creation of an environment
which allowed corruption to nurture and thrive.
As a member of the Peoples National Party, could comrade Peart, claim to be acting
in the spirit of the founding principles and policies of the Peoples National
Party by failing to speak out publicly against corruption in a Peoples National
Party Government in which he held the office of Minister of Government? Is there
anything anywhere in the principles, in the constitution and or programme of the
Peoples National Party that could be construed to be facilitating, encouraging or
abetting the practice of corruption? If “no” then one is forced to ask, who was
comrade Peart representing in Parliament, if not the people who elected him and
not the party of which he remains a member? The answer then, must be “himself”.
I have no interest in beating up on comrade Peart, however, comrade Peart’s

situation reminds us sharply, that individual responsibility is of a superior
quality to that of collective responsibility and Members of Parliament are to be
held accountable for their actions or failure to act. Each Member of Parliament
voluntarily offered him or herself to be elected , each Member of Parliament sits
in Parliament as a representative of the people who elected him or her and each
Member of Parliament has a duty to represent the best interests of the
constituency that elected him or her. Around this there is and can be no escape.
If the Peoples National Party is to deal effectively with the question of

corruption and create an atmosphere that is hostile and toxic to corruption, the
discourse must start by a honest recognition of individual failures and not finger
pointing. The wider party , membership and supporters have no time for child play
nor energy to waste circling rather than addressing that which is of importance.
Equally it is important to note, that on the issue of corruption, there are no
side nor teams, camps or any such groupings, the leadership of the party as
individuals failed in their carrying out of their duty to represent the best
interests of the Jamaican people on the matter of preventing corruption and
punishing those who committed acts of corruption.
Basil Fletcher

The Rebuilding of The Peoples National Party

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KEEPING HOPE ALIVE!

The Rebuilding of The Peoples National Party

The Valley of Dry Bones

Michael Jackson and The Peoples National Party

On The Question Of Squatting

The question of squatting is not uniquely a Jamaican problem or a problem having

Housing, affordable or otherwise, is a commodity sold on the market, and as such

Part of the problem in Jamaica, in addressing the question of squatting, is a lack

The addressing of squatting also demands the addressing of particular cultural

The solution of the squatting problem in Jamaica is very much a problem of

To Comrade Cedric On The Question Of Squatting

Squatting in Jamaica as different from in the countries of Latin America e.g.

The Question of Public Funded Higher Education

1. Should the societal expectations of all graduates be the same, or should

Comrades and Friends (Re:- Comrade Williams Comments);

I do understand and appreciate what Comrade M. Williams is saying, however there

To Brother Prince (re:-Comrade Williams Comments)

Two approaches came into being as a result of the discrimination faced:-

In Response To My Friend Prendi-“Comparison and Individuality”

Firstly, there is a need to understand that “comparison” is both a process of

With Whom Do We Compare?

At times we ask with which countries we compare Jamaica. While it would be

• Full name: Republic of Latvia

• Full name: Republic of Lithuania

• Full name: Republic of Estonia

• GNI per capita: US $13,200 (World Bank, 2007)

The Republic of Cyprus

The Commonwealth Of The Bahamas

• Full name: Commonwealth of the Bahamas

• Full name: Jamaica

On The Question of Honesty, Recognizing the Hurts of the Past

The Importance of Experience

An area of great weakness of the Bruce Golding administration is that of reducing

Part of being a good leader is the willingness to do what is needed. At this

A few words to the young:-

1. Criminal dons do not like strong community based organizations,

Planning For Boys

A significant area of weakness in Jamaica’s Urban Planning practices is the

Without wanting to be deliberately political, the programmes of both parties are

Organizational Unity viz-a-viz Individual Responsibility

In this period of recession and personal hardship, sympathy is not what is

Viktor Frankl in Man's Search for Meaning:

Politician William Bennett:

While understanding Mr. Wayne Simmonds’ disappointment at the performance of the

As an individual who is neither a member nor supporter of the Jamaica Labour

The question then in my mind is not only if Comrade Portia Simpson-Miller is

The Role of Menial Jobs

The Death of the Proletariat The rise of the Petite Bourgeoisie

The ability of a country or a society to develop is in many ways a function of its

In my view, the success of modern Jamaica, is not so much a question of reducing

At home, such a transformation would place significant challenge in terms of

Secondly one is speaking about “home based “production/creation or the

In Response To My Friend Vic Barnes

My task is to contribute in an active manner to preparing to take up its mantle of

Resource Group Seven & Butch Stewart

Where-in the Peoples National Party is seeking to re-establish itself as the

If the Progressive agenda is to be a foundation document of the party, a document

An important question which the drafters of the Progressive Agenda have to

Tactically in my view, the government’s fielding of a bishop to do the work of a

1. Older Labourites who have experience with the International Monetary

In summary one finds an emerging process of separation between the Parliamentary

The task of the Peoples National Party, in such a situation, in my view, is to

A question which should be most urgently addressed in the Progressive Agenda is