The Deconstruction of the Peoples National Party...(Dabdoub Affair)

Every so often, a politician or political party takes on an 'issue' about which the public is opposed.  They may not be verbal in their opposition, they may even appear to be aligned, but when it comes to voting, they go in the other direction.

The Peoples National Party of Jamaica has blundered into that abyss.  Controlled by Abe Dabdoub, (who was a born member of the Jamaican Labour Party, who crossed the floor for personal reasons...if not dispatched by the JLP leader, Bruce Golding to play mole) the 'issue' of 'Dual - Nationality'  was raised.

The Constitution of Jamaica, a 'holding document' does not permit Dual Nationals...that is those who are not members of the British Commonwealth of nations to sit in Parliament.

That since 1962 dual nationals, from both parties, have sat in Parliament, is slapped away with the, 'don't confuse me with the facts' mentality.

The Constitution of Jamaica is an Act of the British Parliament.  It was designed to get rid of Jamaica as a colony, taking on its own burdens.  If those who had formed the first government at independence has the intellect they pretend, they would have quickly begun crafting a 'local' document.

As Jamaica, as many third world nations, boasts a battalion of quasi-intellectuals,
changing the Constitution was far beyond their capabilities, as most didn't understand it.

In the 1970s it was actually amended to lower the voting age, proving that those sitting in that particular Parliament understood that they did have the authority so to do.

In 1993, an amendment, proposed by someone totally out of the Parliamentary process, giving women full citizenship was passed.

One might have thought, that if someone outside of the 'battalion' could note a clear irregularity, that perhaps there were others that should be examined.  One
might have thought, if one did not comprehend the level of self-satisfied stupidity which festers in the 'intelligentsia'.

Simply put, the 'Constitutional Lawyers' do not understand the Constitution.  They may have read it for the purposes of blather, but no more comprehended it than
an illiterate staring at a newspaper.

There are two ways to view the Dabdoub Affair; one is of an angry man, who deprived of a seat in Parliament crossed the floor, then lost the election and like a scorned school girl looks to express pique, or as a mole, dispatched to the opposition to insure it remains so.

Either way, the fact that the majority of Jamaicans have absolutely no problem whatsoever with a person holding American citizenship sitting in the Jamaican Parliament is proven.

The average person, though silent, appreciates that the local University is rather
substandard, and by any means possible, will attempt to get their child into an American institution where they can receive an actual education.

Others do all in their power to have their children migrate so as to receive remittances in actual money as opposed to the Jamaican paper.

Although these people may drape themselves in the Jamaican flag and play the arch-nationalist, it is an unspoken fact, that the majority would leave Jamaica if they could.

It is not simply the hungry underclass, those in the upper echelon of society often hold 'Green Cards', and their children reside in the United States.

Many of these parents imagine their children returning 'home' as a 'big shot', and to tell them that their children can not sit in Parliament is going to gain opprobrium.

That the majority of people despise Abe Dabdoub, that they reject the PNP for allowing Dabdoub to bring up this issue, and get such mileage, is proven at the polls.

It is a very sad commentary on the Peoples National Party that they have so misread the public that they take the opposing side of the argument.

Tragically, the leader of the PNP, Portia Simpson-Miller, had always been a person who had her finger on the pulse of the population, save now, when it matters, she might as well be a Tourist from Japan.