Abka Fitz-Henley | Has an anti-Jamaica culture overtaken the PNP?

A series of actions, along with instances of convenient inaction, have provided enough evidence to concern well-thinking citizens of our beloved island that the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has morphed into a political organisation that does not have Jamaica’s best interests at heart ,and that the party is indeed anti-Jamaica, both in its internal posture and public messaging.

The first instance involves voice notes that recently leaked into the public domain, in which a member of the PNP National Executive Committee alluded to the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) and said the PNP would likely use municipal corporations to implement delay tactics to stop projects from being implemented.

“Bear in mind that the NaRRA is what the JLP sees as its glory and its saviour for a fourth term. So they see NaRRA as a saving grace and they are going to do everything in their power to try to get things done, which means bypassing, like all parish councils, which, you know, we probably would do delay tactics and they don’t get it, which is why they did it that way. But safety standards and these things is a concern. So let’s continue to play our ball game of politics,” the PNP executive member was heard saying.

We should recall that the NaRRA is the Government’s special-purpose vehicle, intended to expedite the rebuilding of Jamaican lives, the country’s infrastructure, and communities that were ripped apart following the devastating impact of Hurricane Melissa, which wiped out 55 per cent of GDP.

For a member of that political cohort to flippantly and comfortably share with colleagues that the PNP would probably use delay tactics to frustrate a serious initiative that is important to the current and future well-being of our country and its citizens presents reasonable cause to conclude that the PNP has become an organisation that does not operate in Jamaica’s best interests.

That PNP President Mark Golding stated that the remarks were made by PNP members, but not members of the officer corps, yet could not bestir himself to condemn the sentiments, provides support for the conclusion that an anti-Jamaica culture appears to be prevalent in the PNP.

Further, it is a well-known fact that Jamaica has a problem with a culture of ‘con-manism’ and scamming. Though gains have been made in the fight against crime, fraud, theft and financial dishonesty by some of our citizens have not been restricted to our shores, in terms of their impact. Dangerous lottery scamming, which has over the years accounted for several lives as it perpetuates violent crime, has placed our island on the radar of our international partners, whose citizens are sometimes targeted. It is well known that how Jamaica addresses lottery scamming is important to perceptions of us as a country.

The leaked voice notes concerning the NaRRA present sufficient reason to ponder whether the PNP’s votes over the years in Parliament to shut down states of public emergency, despite data from the security forces strongly suggesting that the measure was saving lives in the communities where it was declared, were based on genuine conviction or merely a tactic to delay progress in the fight against violent crime.

Let us also recall that it is widely known that lottery scamming at the street level is referred to as ‘chopping di line’ or simply chopping. Despite the aforementioned, a PNP caretaker was emboldened enough to state on a public platform that he had no problem with any individual who wanted to chop.

“Mi a speak to the youth man dem on the corner, especially the one dem weh call themself choppa. Let me tell you straight, I have no problem with a man if him want chop, because dem chop us during slavery, so nothing no wrong if we chop dem back,” the PNP caretaker told Comrades.

That rhetoric, to which the PNP caretaker gave voice, is inherently anti-Jamaican in the context of the society that all well-thinking Jamaicans should want to build, in terms of a culture of honesty and lawfulness. When we consider that Jamaica has, over the years, received scrutiny from its partners for the pervasiveness of lottery scamming, the ease with which the PNP caretaker made his declaration raises serious questions about whether the Opposition party has our country’s best interests at heart.

The PNP president sacked the individual who made that comment before the September 3 general election, but the individual was quickly reinstated as a constituency chairman shortly after the election.

However, no such punitive action was taken against an Opposition lawmaker who is a member of parliament and sits comfortably in the Opposition shadow cabinet, despite having publicly encouraged Jamaicans recently to “chop di line” by pretending they suffered property damage in Coopers Pen, even if they did not.

That two prominent members of the PNP and ambassadors for the party felt comfortable openly encouraging a culture of dishonesty provides further credence to the view that the PNP, in its current dispensation, does not wish Jamaica well.

Well-thinking Jamaicans should not forget that, prior to the 2025 general election, a PNP councillor made a false claim that our water quality was compromised. His allegation, had it not been strongly challenged, countered with facts and dismissed as misleading, could have had a major impact on our citizens and our economy, which is heavily dependent on tourism. That allegation, which was supported by the PNP but later abandoned when the party lost the election, provides further evidence that the PNP does not have our country’s best interests at heart and will spread misinformation that might benefit it politically but is not in Jamaica’s best interests.

There are several other examples that could be referenced and which should lead to serious contemplation about an apparent culture of unpatriotic behaviour that appears to have permeated the arteries of the Opposition PNP.

However, in the interest of brevity, I will raise two more, including the willingness of some PNP sympathisers in the diaspora to promote false information about Jamaica. These sympathisers, who are from time to time seen engaging with prominent members of the PNP, have even taken to the streets overseas and aggressively used their social media platforms in a bid to galvanise support for their twisted and misleading messaging about Jamaica.

The aforementioned conduct, along with the behaviour of PNP operatives who this week expressed anger that residents did not verbally attack Jamaica’s duly elected prime minister, who journeyed to Coopers Pen to articulate solutions to their plight, which was not caused by his administration, should concern every Jamaican who is loyal to our country and wishes it well.

The facts appear clear. PNP members appear too willing to boldly promote actions, conduct and policies that are inimical to Jamaica’s best interests.

Senator Abka Fitz-Henley is chairman of the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP’s) Communication Taskforce.