Introduction

• Author: Trevor Munroe/Arnold Bertram
• Profession: Rhodes Scholar and Fulbright Fellow, political scientist, labour activist and politician, is Professor of Government and Politics at the University of the West Indies, Mona/Distinguished commentator on Jamaican Social History and Political Development is a former Legislator in both houses of the Jamaican Parliament and a former Minister of ...
• Pages: 25-34

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Filling the Information Gap

Well into the first decade of the twenty-first century and 60 years

after their historic achievement of universal adult suffrage, many

Jamaican people, in common with peoples in almost every country in

the world, are questioning the purpose of politics and moreover, doubting

the value of voting. In Jamaica, as in so many places elsewhere, the

proportion of citizens who describe themselves as politically

‘uncommitted’ or ‘independent’ is growing. Parties and political

organizations are losing support. Political activists are largely regarded

as corrupt and self-seeking. Politicians are seen as people who make

promises at election time only to forget about the people until the next

election. Governments are seen as non-performing or, at best,

underachieving.

Simultaneously, the less the number of hard-core activists, the more

partisan their attachment. Many in each of the political tribes feel

only their side has the answer; it should govern, to the exclusion of

the other. The PNP loyalists believe the PNP stands for progress,

the JLP for backwardness; the JLP vice versa. The record, as we

shall see, clearly demonstrates that each has contributed to

development and each has retarded development in the years since

adult suffrage. In the meantime, more and more of the people,

particularly the youth, say, ‘A plague on both your houses.’

There are, of course, many reasons, in Jamaica as elsewhere, for the

deepening partisanship of a decreasing minority and the growing

alienation of an increasing majority. Amongst these reasons is the reduced

ability of governments to ‘deliver the goods’, particularly to the most

vulnerable and disadvantaged, as the state retreats and the private sector

introduction

Filling the Information Gap