Political opposition? We deserve better

Since I wrote my piece on the political Opposition in the issue of April 24, the intervention of the Labour Day holiday meant that there was no Midweek paper last week, and hence a two-week break in my promised follow-up. In fact, between March and April, there were several holidays during the week which had affected the publication of the Midweek and my own modest contributions through this column.{{more}}

Continuing where we left off on the New Democratic Party (NDP), the official Opposition in Parliament, readers would recall that I had expressed my disappointment with its performance. Let me make it clear that the intention is not to try and hammer the NDP at a time when it is obviously experiencing internal difficulties. Such approaches may cause discomfort to those affected, but they do not uplift those who seek to score such cheap political points, nor do they enrich the quality of the national discourse.

Rather, as a professed patriot, I am genuinely concerned about what negative effects the ineptitude of the Opposition has on our political democracy. The idea of the “absolute necessity” of a parliamentary Opposition is not like gospel truth to me, for a whole range of factors relating to the level of consciousness, mobilization and active participation of citizens in day-to-day governance matters, must be taken into consideration. Yet, it is precisely because of fundamental weaknesses in these areas that my concerns seem justified.

We have had a history where, as governments become entrenched and blinded by electoral success, they sometimes tend to ride roughshod over genuine democratic concerns and react negatively to dissent, criticism and differences of opinion. This led the Labour government of 1974/84 to describe itself as “the strongest government in the world”, only to be upended and proven wrong at the polls in 1984. Then, we had the one-party Parliament of 1989, with the NDP so inebriated by its continued victories in ‘94 and ‘98, that the train ran off its tracks, got into collision with the formidable barrier of the working people and had its term of office abruptly curtailed.

Lessons like these, though powerful, are quickly forgotten in the euphoric atmosphere of electoral success. The ULP had all this history before it, but cocksure, made some miscalculations on the constitutional reform issue and paid the price for it in the referendum of November 2009. It only narrowly avoided having to pay twice, scraping home in the 2010 elections. It is important, for the country as well as for the future of the ULP itself, that the government is continuously challenged. It needs challenges which will test its mettle and force it to lift its game.

However, that sort of challenge is not being offered by the NDP. At almost every opportunity, it seems to forsake the high road and degenerate to the lowest common denominator, to borrow a mathematical term. Rather than enlightened and visionary leadership, exposing the weaknesses of the governing party, it seems to pander to the worst elements among its followers.

The result has been painful frustration for the Parliamentary Opposition, blowing opportunities for a turn-around and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. In the process, rather than providing positive leadership to its followers and the country as a whole, it ends up tailing the most backward of its followers and backers.

The best example of this is the historic Constitutional Reform process, an undertaking embarked upon by the Opposition, in unison with the Government and the rest of the country. It was a perfect manifestation of country-first and being in step with the times. However, a combination of niggling disagreement with government’s approaches on some issues, and a succumbing to the internal pressures of those who are not mature enough to separate principles from tactical considerations, soon led the NDP to slide down the slippery slope of crass political opportunism. Every conceivable bit of misinformation which seemed to strengthen the “No” cause was employed, to the detriment of our constitutional advance.

The tragedy of it all is that, between this retreat into backwardness and ULP cockiness, our country ended up the loser. But so did NDP supporters, many of them still convinced that republican status would have isolated our country, would have meant the end to the EC dollar and Chavez’s head on our currency. When is the NDP leadership ever going to be able to undo this gross disservice to its own followers, never mind the country as a whole?

We could go on and on, quoting right-wing foreign policy positions straight out of the cold war era, the flip-flopping on the international airport issue, the failure to provide a positive alternative to the policies of the ULP, the obsession with the personality of PM Gonsalves and the tendency to resort to hostile propaganda, sometimes bordering on slander. Additionally, there is the practice of some in the NDP camp to ridicule those not perceived as being supportive of their positions. All this does is to alienate the party and drive wedges where adhesive glue would be more appropriate. They should learn from similar mistakes by old Labour.

All this does not prepare the party, its members and supporters for steering the ship of state in troubled waters. We all lose as a result. Our country deserves much better from those who would offer themselves up for political leadership.

Renwick Rose is a community activist and social commentator.