The Line in the sand for the JLP part 9

With all the cartoons out on the Manatt report now and the national uproar about the lack of teeth in the report, let us try and make some sense of it all in simple terms.

The PNP seems desperate to do all in their power including a threat by Cowboy KD. Knight to launch a one man protest if the report was not to his liking, he is yet to do such. Then the smaller agitations by the People's National Party in their own rural constituencies under the guise of misappropriated road repairs funds not spent properly seems very coincidental and with an election looming for 2012 they are at it. The Jamaica Labour Party though seems to have a few feathers in it's hat going for it.

The farmers' market success nationwide with the local industry doing well

The Jamaica Debt Exchange Program working still

The drop in crime rate by some 45%+

The tourism product improvements and the Trelawny Pier bringing in record numbers of cruise ship passengers.

But the ticklish wage bill issue is now on the front burner still despite some of the groups under the union coalition accepting the latest offer the Police Federation is the only one holding out, a Federation that on the face of it seems to have direct PNP influence in its hierarchy.

Will the JLP be able to get the pink votes required as well knowing how the PNP has a larger LGBT following?.

On June 27th on Televsion Jamaica News TVJ a report was carried where the Prime Minister was said to have broken his silence on the Manatta Report.

He among other things said at an outdoor meeting:

"I had said to the nation in a nationwide broadcast, from the 17th of May where I expressed regret that I had allowed the party to become involved that I authorised any emissary to intercede in the matter and I tendered an apology to the nation." ......... "The action that preceded the extradition request constituted not only a breach of the law but a violation of the constitution of Jamaica" ...... "There were several people who appeared before the enquiry were told that they were only allowed to speak when he asked them a question (referring to K. D. Knight) he was rude enough to put the same argument to me until I had to remind him that there was no sheriff in this."

Other thorns in the JLP's side are the contractor general's reports on JDIP's road repairs and the expensive Christiana highway construction in Finance Minister's Audley Shaw's constituency. The $400 Million contract for China Harbour one of which CG, Owen Christie has been sharing his concerns said recently that it never went to tender he said "it represents the first time a major road works has been awarded without competition to a single entity"

Let's not forget the red herring of the bird shooting funds from Y. P Seaton & Associates.

So the struggle to stay above the problems continues but it is still unclear where the line is in the sand given the public's perception of the party via a recent poll suggesting that the party has been damaged by the Manatt issue/report A majority of Jamaicans gained a less favourable impression of Prime Minister Bruce Golding following his appearance at the Dudus/Manat Commission of Enquiry, according to a RJR Group/Boxill poll. Of the 1,015 persons polled islandwide, 53.7 per cent said they now view Golding in a less favourable light.

A similar trend was observed for information minister Daryl Vaz, security minster Dwight Nelson and justice minister Dorothy Lightbourne. Lightbourne and Nelson fared the worst with 53.7 and 69.4 per cent of respondents having gained an unfavourable impression of them since appearing as witnesses.

Peter Phillips suffered the least of the politicians with 34.4 per cent now having a less favourable impression of him. Solicitor-General Douglas Leys performed the best among all witnesses with a 30.3 per cent response.
Of the testimonies, 43.7 per cent believed the prime minister's to be the least believable, followed by Lightbourne with 29.4 per cent.

On the PNP side however another poll suggested that the PNP would not have gained -

A Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson national opinion poll has found that nearly a quarter of Jamaica's voting population said the Manatt-Dudus affair would not affect the way they would mark their ballots in the next national elections.

The poll was conducted among 1,008 people across Jamaica's 14 parishes on May 28 and 29 and June 4 and 5, 2011. It has a margin of error of plus or minus four per cent.

A sizable 34 per cent of the persons sampled said they were less likely to vote as the Manatt-Dudus affair has impacted the way they feel about politics in general in Jamaica.

The governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which commingled with the government apparatus in a bid to influence the outcome of the extradition request for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, one of its key supporters, has attracted an additional 14 per cent of the voting population who say they are more likely to vote for the party.

But 22 per cent of those polled say they are now more likely to vote for the Opposition PNP.

At the same time, five per cent of those persons sampled said they are less likely to vote for the JLP. On the other hand, one per cent of the respondents said they were less likely to vote for the Opposition PNP in the elections constitutionally due by September next year.

Let's watch folks

Peace and tolerance

H

(cartoons from Lasmay and Clovis from both major newspapers)