The line in the sand for the PNP part 10 : Buggery referendum & more CCJ

I am still befuddled from my last entry in this series, also see previous parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 & 8 & 9

that's the question ......

So I decided to wait a bit until the smoke settled somewhat on the latest salvo by the PNP and one of its failing ministers; I wanted to adequately look at it with less emotional reaction. This one may figure in the election as so close to it and Mrs Simpson Miller may have to carry over to next year before she can call it; sensible pundits would not call it now or by November as expected as the PNP are good at recovery and spin doctoring but the public is up in arms and calls for Ferguson’s resignation come from everywhere.

Gleaner's Lasmay is on point lol ....... crosses indeed.

not to be outdone is Clovis from the Observer

in relation to the BIll Johnson polls

That 18 dead babies fiasco concerning the Minister of Health Dr Fenton Ferguson has had a scapegoat made in that of the University of the West Indies Hospital UWHI’s failure to report the matter of viruses or suspicious infections and their effects; we are now being told it is still a paper-based report in the era of the latest technologies and such. But why did such a virus which is a hospital based or created one for the most part be allowed to go so out of control to arrive at such disastrous effects? If the experts know of these infections why or where are the necessary systems to control it so it does not get out of hand?

When the goodly Dr Dawes revealed the damning information on the shortages and lack of cleaning implements some months before at some hospitals; why was the needed obviously emergency actions taken to arrest them seeing that the outcomes are life threatening?

Between the correspondences involving chief persons at UHWI and responses by the chief medical officer after some two to three weeks elapsed as to the alert stated in the letter(s) yet the minister was not (made) aware! And then Mama P wants me to vote for crap like that; while she and others shields him.

Where are the figures for the last four years or so to show the trail or tracking of the trends, given we are told the babies were premature ones and are susceptible to such infections via incubators or intravenous lines etc. Why did it take so long to generate the report even in the Ministry even after they are sent late to them from the respective hospitals? Nobody seems accountable and the minister seems to be using every opportunity to oil his skin so the water can bounce off and he keeps referring to ignorance and his technical team is responsible for informing him. My further sentiments are contextualised also by that so called audit or report that is not released in full to the public with a press conference thrown in our face and a callous regard and we are to stomach or accept it and move on.

The Prime Minister, party leader has not said an official word on babies matter and it is as if it were animals died which further complicates her leadership style and indeed skills for me. Not even at her Petersfield appearance did she mention the matter. This health minister has failed at every turn during his stint and should go; he procrastinated during Chik-V even when alarms were raised and persons were reporting to hospitals sick with obvious symptoms and he was slow to act. The foot and mouth disease breakout in schools seem the other elephant in the room and it was the Education Minister who was quick on the draw to act making Ferguson look like a big doo doo. Isn’t this the same Mama P who pontificated on the platform at the conference held recently on the safety of children! Usually known as comforter in chief; her strength is that she connects with people and good at empathizing but something has gone wrong, although I still do think she is not Prime Minister-ship material to begin with.

What is troubling where the persons involved are concerned is that it seems normal to have outbreaks in care facilities and the babies are considered not healthy babies so who cares?

Meanwhile the Prime Minister’s and PNP President at a western Jamaica meeting on the campaign trail had me laughing like crazy as she accused the parliamentary opposition of making promises that they did not keep them; she never elaborated the promises in detail and the crowd of course cheered stupidly as per usual but I guess several boxes of chicken and Red Stripe Beer (NOT HEINEKEN as the bottle is green lol) were distributed as usual at these meetings to bribe and cajole die-hards and so called hungry bellies who just want a dollar without working for it, mendicancy anyone!. Mrs Simpson Miller needs to remember her suggestion in my eyes and seen as a promise by others of the so called buggery review she made in the leadership debate in the 2011 election campaign.

Not to mention the jobs, jobs, jobs she shouted from the platform in the 2011 campaign (thank God for archiving) and the highly touted logistics hub that is yet to materialize and her failing minister Anthony Hylton who is often described as the most educated of all of the bunch; now we are hearing the China Engineering Company (CHEC) who was to spearhead the project mostly at the controversial Goat Island is to move its headquarters from Jamaica to Panama which is kinda quiet to some; it was not until yesterday I saw an article by former Prime Minister Edward Seaga where he mentioned it. The JEEP item that was to provide temporary employment and as used to inflate job numbers although persons only work for two to one month cycles but are counted as one job on each engagement seems lost in translation, all one has to do is look at the once brisk so called beautification on main thoroughfares and the missing people with whackers is clear; the sheer numbers of them in the early stages has waned which had many asking if we really needed four or five people to manicure a space no larger than a few hundred squares?

Then this latest CCJ debate matter has just turned me off again with the obnoxious “keep the buggery law & no to gay marriage [2006]” A. J. Nicholson now Foreign Affairs Minister insulting opposition senator Marlene Malahoo Forte, his continued disrespect for female members in the house is disgusting and it seems the party leader is unable or refuses to discipline him. Not to be outdone was Justice Minister Mark Golding but why would Mrs Forte do all that, after she was once a resident magistrate judge the protestations by the government side is nothing more than a smoke screen obviously. Another example of Mrs Simpson Miller’s lack of hands on leadership. Then comes the four female senators who for political reasons in an attempt to create an air of the we against them mantra have stood up in support of the very man who offended not only them but the nation with that awful rape comment last year during a debate in the senate. (AJ Nicholson reprimanded in Senate for ‘flexi-rape’ comment) with the same senator as his target it seems the PNP female senators have convenient amnesia and are more interested in keeping the party line in tact more than principles. A letter of suspension has been issued to Mrs Forte.

The issue of another letter that was said to have been sent to the JLP when in power from the Privy Council on the court travelling to Jamaica has surfaced and it seems A. J. Nicholson’s latest barb is an attempt to obfuscate the debate; Mrs Malahoo Forte has since said a bathroom break was what held her back in returning the senate chamber during that section of the debate where she was to present the letter. She has since presented the supposed letter in the public square at a campaign meeting but says if she is banned from the senate then how is she to present same. I am old enough to recall the repeated clashes with the former JLP senator and Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne who time and time again we had clashes and interruptions by him and heckling during her presentations or debates. She was the one who revealed in effect that the letter existed yet Mark Golding claimed his inability to find it and where or where did Malahoo Forte found the letter and why did the government couldn’t find it? The answer has come that Mrs Forte wrote the Privy Council for a copy and she got it there. She further noted that the Government senators were embarrassed because she was able to access a copy of the letter and they couldn't.

"Let me tell you something, I gave a commitment that I would give them. They vex with me because I could call high places to get the document. It burn them, it burn them, it burn them. If they were diligent in their work when the Leader of the Opposition mentioned the same letter in his speech in the Lower House, if they really wanted to find out what better choices they can make on behalf of the people of Jamaica until we fully sort out our affairs, they would have gone in search of the letter," the suspended senator argued.

"And the fact that they said they couldn't find it in the ministry (of justice) they could have done the same thing like me to get a copy of the letter and that is how you work diligently."

She questioned the logics in suspending her until the document was produced.

"They suspend me until I present the letter. What opportunity will I have to present it so it goes on the record of Parliament that I have in fact produced it? I must send it outside of the Parliament? I don't think that is wise because I might hear that I did not send it at all. But the letter is here," Malahoo Forte remarked.

The JLP has since issued a warning that they won’t support the bills on the CCJ if the Senate’s President does not apologize, and through the member Delroy Chuck he said at a platform they would take the matter to the constitutional high court and the Privy Council to show the mockery of the constitution that is being made. He says the bills do not sit well in the constitution as echoed by former Senator Lightbourne says our courts were set in stone in the constitution while the CCJ is set via a treaty which can easily change to our detriment. It makes some sense but how to get around that. So A. J. Nicholson’s misogynistic behaviour is unacceptable now and something must be done about him if they return to power it cannot be business as usual with him and equally Mr Warmington of the opposition and his outlandish behaviour during his tenure.

It is not about whether the Privy Council is a set of old white men far away or not it is about the constitutional attachments; and why not our own final court while sprucing up own resident magistrate courts used for the most part by the average citizen.

Now we have confirmation again from the Opposition via its leader on the matter of the suggested and demanded by religious right movements’ referendum on buggery as he while addressing a meeting also in Petersfield Westmoreland as well said: “ ... You will also know that when it comes time to determine whether or not we should make any changes to the buggery act or to any other act that determines how Jamaicans see the family; you know that we are not going to take it upon ourselves in parliament to make that decision; we are going to come to you the people of the country to make that decision.” also see:  Opposition leader (JLP) reiterates his call for a referendum on Buggery .... 2014

Obviously Holness is playing to the antigay groups and on the homo-negative environment nationally. I guess the JLP is using this to make the overtake in the polls as the statistical dead heat ensues. The PNP has been silent on that matter since this round of the race or I might have missed something but the JLP is out of the starting blocks in as far as that one is concerned and it is my burning issue apart from the economics.

And where oh where is the PNP at prayer group ....... oops sorry I mean the Jamaica Council of Churches on this buggery law reform matter?

All kinds of stunts of shows are being put before us to distract us; this business of working, working, working doesn’t wash anymore and is so worn out then it is no wonder according to the Bill Johnson poll as evidenced in the Gleaner 25th October shows clear apathy which worries me as the 18 – 24 year olds are the fibre of the society for growth; they cannot complain if they stay away from the process and then stuff happens then sound off and it is not about voting and then hoping for manna to fall from heaven afterwards. We must participate and guard our vote or monitor the items we are interested in to see to it that they are delivered.

also see: Count Us Out! - Just Over Half Of Jamaica's Youth Would Not Vote If Election Were Held Now

#NoToPolitics - PNP, JLP Youth Leaders Accept That Peers See Nothing To Vote For

#NoToPolitics - Young People Speak

Edward Seaga: In What Direction Are We Going?

The figures are disturbing to me  for the youth poll for example (no graphic available): Ages

18 – 24: 47% would not vote; 25% for JLP; 19% for PNP; 8% undecided

25-34: 40% would not vote; 15% undecided; 27% for JLP; 18% for PNP

35-44: 30% would not vote; 22% undecided; 25% for PNP; 22% for JLP

45-54: 20% would not vote; 31% for PNP; 29% for JLP; 18% undecided

55-64: 17% would not vote; 41% for PNP; 32% for JLP; 9% undecided

65+: 19% would not vote; 47%for PNP; 16% for JLP; 18% undecided

Things to think on seriously. The politics is to moribund and is a major turnoff. But the younger folks have alot to loose with the current decisions we make.

Ernie Smith (left) & Dennis Meadows

JLP's Ernest Smith walks away from Trelawny seat

... suggests Meadows, Bartley as possible replacements good riddance to bad rubbish; that Ernie Smith fool from back in the day and his anti gay smear campaign, the house will be better for his departure. But as for Dennis Meadows, I am not so sure; while he did well in the senate his stance on the buggery law seems opposing.

see some old posts I had done on Ernie: Promoting homosexuality? No, its about freedom of choice, privacy & tolerance 2009 and "Keep it to Yuself mentality" on homosexuality part 2 .... on "str8 Jamaica and MP, Attorney, Ernest Smith sings different buggery tune 2009 and Would Lawyer MP Ernest Smith Represent Gays?

Gonna be watching the landscape and see wah deh gwaan a John shop.

UPDATE October 27, 2015 from the Observer:

SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland -- Opposition Leader Andrew Holness says a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government will allow the Jamaican people to vote in a referendum to determine if there should be any amendment to the Buggery Act.

"You will also know that when it comes to time to determine whether or not we should make any changes to the Buggery Act, or to any other act that determines how Jamaicans see the family, you know that we are not going to take it up onto ourselves in Parliament to make that decision. We are going to come to you, the people of the country, to make that decision," Holness told a the JLP Area Council Four meeting held at the Mannings School here on Sunday

Holness, meanwhile, lashed Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller who he quoted as saying that her immediate focus is to address the poverty of the Jamaican people, when she was asked for a schedule on amendments to the Buggery Act.

"... So they asked the prime minister, 'Prime minister, what is the timetable for the removal of the Buggery Law? And she says: 'Well, we have to go and we have to consult with the people you know, we have to go and consult with the people, but right now it is not a priority because we have to deal with the poverty of the people.' And I reflected on what she said," Holness said, adding that he had to ponder how the Government's push for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) was going to end poverty in Jamaica."

Said Holness: "I have asked the prime minister before and I have told the Parliament before [that] when you can tell me how the CCJ is going to end poverty in this country, I will join you in that crusade.

"In the same way that that matter is not a priority, I don't see how the CCJ is going to make one person in Jamaica richer than they were before. It might, maybe for a few lawyers, but I don't know," said the JLP leader.

"This is an independent country and when that time come you know that a Labour Party Government is going to put that question (of the CCJ) for you to decide where we go with it," said Holness.

ENDS

More pontificating to the religious right.

also see: JFLAG Tries to Clarify its Agenda 2014

"Outdated" Bail Laws to be changed but Buggery Laws remain ... how convenient Mr.Golding? 2010

Peace and tolerance

H