There’s an unsettling Character Trait, to Andrew Holness, that many noticed earlier, but is now coming to the fore, that should cause us all great concern, as a Country, moving nearer to General Elections, as some mull over who should lead the Country, for the next 4 to 5 years.
There’s One very obvious character Trait that the Jamaican Prime Minister shares with US President Donald Trump, and we should all be not only concerned but seek to actively nip it in the bud before it becomes part of the body politic and or Culture. And that Trait is unmitigated, vulgar, narcissism which has the Prime Minister’s Trumpian belief that his actions as Prime Minister and/or as Leader of the JLP are not only above the Law, they become the law, when he speaks them into being.
In this respect, Andrew Holness has shown a reckless disregard for the Rule of law; and the institutions of Governance; that is contemptible and frightening when analysed and taken to its logical political conclusion. And Not unlike the United States, where Trump’s fellow Republicans have allowed themselves to be neutered into silent acquiescence and thus removing the Constitutional Checks and balances intended by the Framers of the US Constitution; Holness’s Party Members who make up the Government, have themselves abrogated the time honoured responsibilities entrusted on them by virtue of their election to the office of Member Of Parliament, and or appointment to the Senate.
There once was a time when Honour, Integrity, Decency and Respectability were considered not only good breeding, and a required code of conduct; it was honoured, respected and deemed decent. Today, those traits are seemingly no longer fashionable, and have been replaced by crass indecency, vulgar corruption, and Guttersnipe greed that makes one ashamed to associate with Members of the Government, as they seem to represent the seven deadly sins, and even added a few others, for good measure. To fully own their capriciousness, avarice and bloviating ignorance.
Men and women, once looked upon, with respect and admiration, are now regarded with scorn and disdain, as they have not only sacrificed their self-respect, integrity and honour, to maintain their nebulous hold unto transient power, they have ceded the moral and social high ground and authority, to stand squarely in contempt of the Constitution and the courts, as they embraced the Holnessian craven lust for political power, at all cost.
It has been said of Holness that he was reportedly heard sharing with a confidant, unlike Edward Seaga, his supposed Mentor, he will not be leaving the political arena, broke. Some close to him fear, his greed and power lust are so consuming, they fear he will endeavour by all means necessary, legally and or otherwise, to cling onto power, and complete the political Haitianization of Jamaica and its fledgling Democracy.
They argue, that the political infiltration of the upper echelons of the ranks of the JCF and JDF are now complete, and if they fail to act as programmed, then there is the Israeli Mossad agents, who are supposedly already in place and working with the Security forces to spy on Jamaicans, and like Trump’s “Proud Boys” – Are on Standby, waiting to be called into service.
The Prime Minister’s egregious effrontery in deliberately violating the Jamaican Constitution is already documented. His flouting of time-honoured conventions, protocols and precepts, no less so. But if anyone doubted the Prime Minister and his MPs’ malicious intent, when it comes to purposefully circumventing the Laws of the Land, for political one-up-manship and or electoral gain, one need not go back to the already litigated Constitutional cases of NIDS and or those Presigned and undated Senatorial letters of Resignations.
To fully appraise oneself of the Prime Minister’s nefarious intent and the clear and present danger he represents to our democracy, one only needs to look at the recent attempt at the power grab, and the indecent haste with which his party, using its aberrant majority in the Parliament with his lackeys in the Senate, to push through legislation, illegally naming the Municipality of Portmore, Jamaica’s 15th Parish.
So, rational minds ask the question, why the rush, to Name Portmore Parish number 15, with its apparent unreadiness with no supporting infrastructure such as Hospital, Court Facilities, Market, Fire Service, etc., and the analysis supports the Opposition’s position that it is indeed, to try and gain a political advantage through the process of gerrymandered boundaries.
And with the proposed changes, deemed unconstitutional by no less a body than the ECJ, if allowed to stand, would give sitting MP Terrelonge an edge, when his new boundaries are aligned with sections of old St Catherine, and possibly create another stronghold for yet another constituency.
This is the only logical and political explanation, especially evidenced by the attached correspondence purportedly forwarded to the Minister of Local Government and the President of the Senate, from as long ago as June 2024, in the first instance. In at least two pieces of Correspondence, now doing the rounds, the ECJ, made it abundantly clear, that in its interpretation of the Constitution, and the Laws governing that body, the Parliament does not have the Legal authority to determine Electoral Boundaries, that Authority remains the purview of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica.
But the Constitution and Laws of the Land are of no moment to the Prime Minister, in his pursuit of political longevity. He has time and again demonstrated a barefaced cravenness and a willingness to mollycoddle the corrupt and corruption, if it strengthens his hold on his Party’s Leadership, as evidenced by the fact that the current composition of the current list of Parliamentarians on his side of the bench, includes an alleged 8- MPs under investigation for illegally enriching themselves, with some suggestions that numbered among the 8 is the Prime Minister himself and his wife, the House Speaker. There are two alleged: woman-beaters; two-alleged rapists and one Murder suspect; A number of alleged international Drug dealers; at least one Gun runner, a reputed Gang-Leader; a number of Building Contractors, allegedly in violation of building codes; one whispered Human-Trafficker and a number of Petty-Thieves, not to mention the frightening number of dunces, to round off what has been dubbed the most Corrupt Administration, in the Country’s History.
So much so, that, Andrew Holness, who was generally regarded as an agent of change when he was first elected Prime Minister, is now regarded with shame and derision, the monikers the populace have accorded many in the Cabinet as distasteful, as the chicanery Holness and Many in his administration have been accused of committing and or facilitating. From Mr 28-Bank Accounts; Prime Choppa; and Crime Minister; to Miss Size 13’ And Miss Gravalicious; Mr Corner Lot; The Crawchies Don; The Billion Dollar RepairMan; The Road To Mandeville; Miss Friendly Vagina; The Tax Man; The Onion Czar, Jamaicans have found a way to adequately label those they found wanting, and have been brutal in their judgement.
Clinicians argue, that the fact that the information, with regards to the alleged misdeed of many in his roster of MPs and ultimately, his Cabinet, was out there and should have been known by the Prime Minister and used by him to inform his choices, That he paid nary a mind to the concerns engendered by the swirling accusations, speaks to what they say, is Prime Minister Andrew Holness’s greatest deficit, and that is, they believe that the evidence points to a man, who is suffering an acute psychological malady known as the Imposter Syndrome.
