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KD warns of anarchy - Says democracy could be undermined if PNP Gov’t fails
By GARFIELD MYERS Editor-at-Large South/Central Bureau [email protected]
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
MALVERN, St Elizabeth — Popular People's National Party (PNP) elder and former Cabinet Minister KD Knight has said that Jamaica's long cherished democracy could be undermined and "anarchy" could result if the newly elected PNP Government fails to perform.
Speaking Sunday night at the introduction to party workers and supporters of former West Indies cricketer Daren Powell as their standard bearer for the Malvern Division in the upcoming local government election, Knight said that it was "imperative" for the PNP to provide good governance in the interest of maintaining a stable democracy.
Knight... "if we don't perform now, who the Jamaican people going back to? They cannot go back to the Jamaica Labour Party... they can't, because they just rejected them"
"I want to say something that you might find a little strange," Knight told comrades packed into an assembly area of St Mary's Primary School located at the remote north eastern fringe of the Malvern Division in South East St Elizabeth.
"My thinking is that if this People's National Party fails, Jamaica is going to go into a state of anarchy. We (PNP) were there (in Government) for 18 years and we did well, but still the people changed us and they gave the Jamaica Labour Party four years... and then they said they were not performing, they have to go back to the People's National Party.
"So if we don't perform now, who the Jamaican people going back to? They cannot go back to the Jamaica Labour Party... they can't, because they just rejected them. So there is an imperative for the People's National Party to perform so that our democracy can remain stable, so that people can have confidence in the political process again, so that people can feel that good things can happen to them through the political process," said Knight.
The Portia Simpson Miller-led PNP swept to power in the parliamentary general election of December 29, 2011 on a 42-21 seat majority, condemning the JLP to being the first one-term Government since Universal Adult Suffrage and the birth of Jamaica's modern political system in 1944.
A staggering statistic from the December 29 poll is that just over half of eligible electors bothered to vote — said to be among the lowest ever turnnout in Jamaica's modern political history. While Knight made no direct reference to that on Sunday night, political analysts have suggested that the low turnout was yet more evidence of an increasing disaffection with the political system, and more specifically with Jamaica's two major political parties which have alternated in Government since 1944.
Knight linked democratic stability to economic performance and in particular job creation which was a major plank of the PNP's election campaign.
He argued that "when the political process is matched with the performance in the private sector, then we are going to be able to have a stable democracy and we are going to be able to have an economy where people can get jobs".
Picking up on a pledge made by Powell to actively pursue jobs for the unemployed at the local level, Knight said that "job creation must begin at the first level through small and medium enterprises".
Knight, whose family home in Stanmore, Malvern is just a few hundred metres from the home where Powell grew up and still spends much of his time, joined in heartily endorsing Powell's candidacy for the Malvern Division and pledged as the PNP's election co-ordinator for St Elizabeth to do all in his power to ensure the former international cricketer is elected.
Powell will be up against incumbent Councillor Donald Simpson of the JLP come the local government election, which is due before the end of March.
"I've known him (Powell) from 'im in short pants," said Knight who also recalled that "we use to go to bird bush together". Using cricket analogy, Knight said that Powell was a "team player".
Knight reminded PNP supporters that their enthusiastic support for Powell would "mean nothing" if they failed to vote and to bring out others to vote. He echoed the view of other speakers that victory in Malvern was essential for the PNP to secure control of the St Elizabeth Parish Council, which is now held by the JLP on the basis of an 8-7 majority gained in 2007.
Knight also reached out to disgruntled former caretaker Barbara Gayle, who was formally replaced by Powell last week as the PNP's candidate. He thanked her for her services to the division and insisted that her replacement should not be read as the end of her political career.
"I join you in telling her it is not the end of the road... she has not been rejected, she has been changed," Knight told comrades.
The change having been made, the PNP should "move on" as a unified force to ensure "victory in the Malvern Division", said Knight.
Member of Parliament and chairman of the SE St Elizabeth constituency Richard Parchment justified the selection of Powell, insisting "that there are no hard feelings" but that the "voice of the people is the voice of God... your voice called out for Daren Powell and he has answered the call".
Gayle has accused the constituency organisation of subverting the democratic process in replacing her, but chairman of the PNP's Region Five, Senator Wensworth Skeffery, assured the Observer that "due process" was followed and consultations done at all levels of the constituency organisation before the change was made.
In his "maiden" political speech, Powell, who was recently elected president of the St Elizabeth Cricket Association, pledged to use sport as a unifying force in the Malvern Division. Roads, job creation and education would be priorities for him should he be elected, Powell said.
"I have answered your call and I promise to work hard. I am one of those who will not walk away," Powell told comrades
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1mO8k0xyh
By GARFIELD MYERS Editor-at-Large South/Central Bureau [email protected]
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
MALVERN, St Elizabeth — Popular People's National Party (PNP) elder and former Cabinet Minister KD Knight has said that Jamaica's long cherished democracy could be undermined and "anarchy" could result if the newly elected PNP Government fails to perform.
Speaking Sunday night at the introduction to party workers and supporters of former West Indies cricketer Daren Powell as their standard bearer for the Malvern Division in the upcoming local government election, Knight said that it was "imperative" for the PNP to provide good governance in the interest of maintaining a stable democracy.
Knight... "if we don't perform now, who the Jamaican people going back to? They cannot go back to the Jamaica Labour Party... they can't, because they just rejected them"
"I want to say something that you might find a little strange," Knight told comrades packed into an assembly area of St Mary's Primary School located at the remote north eastern fringe of the Malvern Division in South East St Elizabeth.
"My thinking is that if this People's National Party fails, Jamaica is going to go into a state of anarchy. We (PNP) were there (in Government) for 18 years and we did well, but still the people changed us and they gave the Jamaica Labour Party four years... and then they said they were not performing, they have to go back to the People's National Party.
"So if we don't perform now, who the Jamaican people going back to? They cannot go back to the Jamaica Labour Party... they can't, because they just rejected them. So there is an imperative for the People's National Party to perform so that our democracy can remain stable, so that people can have confidence in the political process again, so that people can feel that good things can happen to them through the political process," said Knight.
The Portia Simpson Miller-led PNP swept to power in the parliamentary general election of December 29, 2011 on a 42-21 seat majority, condemning the JLP to being the first one-term Government since Universal Adult Suffrage and the birth of Jamaica's modern political system in 1944.
A staggering statistic from the December 29 poll is that just over half of eligible electors bothered to vote — said to be among the lowest ever turnnout in Jamaica's modern political history. While Knight made no direct reference to that on Sunday night, political analysts have suggested that the low turnout was yet more evidence of an increasing disaffection with the political system, and more specifically with Jamaica's two major political parties which have alternated in Government since 1944.
Knight linked democratic stability to economic performance and in particular job creation which was a major plank of the PNP's election campaign.
He argued that "when the political process is matched with the performance in the private sector, then we are going to be able to have a stable democracy and we are going to be able to have an economy where people can get jobs".
Picking up on a pledge made by Powell to actively pursue jobs for the unemployed at the local level, Knight said that "job creation must begin at the first level through small and medium enterprises".
Knight, whose family home in Stanmore, Malvern is just a few hundred metres from the home where Powell grew up and still spends much of his time, joined in heartily endorsing Powell's candidacy for the Malvern Division and pledged as the PNP's election co-ordinator for St Elizabeth to do all in his power to ensure the former international cricketer is elected.
Powell will be up against incumbent Councillor Donald Simpson of the JLP come the local government election, which is due before the end of March.
"I've known him (Powell) from 'im in short pants," said Knight who also recalled that "we use to go to bird bush together". Using cricket analogy, Knight said that Powell was a "team player".
Knight reminded PNP supporters that their enthusiastic support for Powell would "mean nothing" if they failed to vote and to bring out others to vote. He echoed the view of other speakers that victory in Malvern was essential for the PNP to secure control of the St Elizabeth Parish Council, which is now held by the JLP on the basis of an 8-7 majority gained in 2007.
Knight also reached out to disgruntled former caretaker Barbara Gayle, who was formally replaced by Powell last week as the PNP's candidate. He thanked her for her services to the division and insisted that her replacement should not be read as the end of her political career.
"I join you in telling her it is not the end of the road... she has not been rejected, she has been changed," Knight told comrades.
The change having been made, the PNP should "move on" as a unified force to ensure "victory in the Malvern Division", said Knight.
Member of Parliament and chairman of the SE St Elizabeth constituency Richard Parchment justified the selection of Powell, insisting "that there are no hard feelings" but that the "voice of the people is the voice of God... your voice called out for Daren Powell and he has answered the call".
Gayle has accused the constituency organisation of subverting the democratic process in replacing her, but chairman of the PNP's Region Five, Senator Wensworth Skeffery, assured the Observer that "due process" was followed and consultations done at all levels of the constituency organisation before the change was made.
In his "maiden" political speech, Powell, who was recently elected president of the St Elizabeth Cricket Association, pledged to use sport as a unifying force in the Malvern Division. Roads, job creation and education would be priorities for him should he be elected, Powell said.
"I have answered your call and I promise to work hard. I am one of those who will not walk away," Powell told comrades
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1mO8k0xyh
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