Norris R. McDonald | ‘Ketchie-Shubbie’ politics, the youth and PNP’s identity crisis!

ON SEPTEMBER 3, Prime Minister Andrew Holness and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) secured another term. From his vantage point, the victory felt hard-fought and well-earned. Opposition Leader Mark Golding pointed to the Integrity Commission’s corruption allegations, but the electorate largely brushed it aside.

What should worry us more is the hollowing out of our democracy: only 39.46 per cent of Jamaicans voted – barely above the 2020 record low turnout.

Compare that with the era when politics meant something real: Michael Manley’s 1976 win drew 82.5 per cent turnout; Edward Seaga’s 1980 victory hit a record 86.9 per cent. Back then, Jamaicans believed elections could bend Babylon’s iron bars. Today, too many believe it’s all like three-card tricks!

KETCHIE-SHUBBIE POLITICS AND THE YOUTH

Over time our politics degenerated into what I call Ketchie-Shubbie politics. This is a ‘mad-food fight’over the spoils of office. The hungry ravished poor, and the shrinking middle class, are left to fend for themselves; in a hustle economy where the Jamaican dollar values less than half an American cent.

This tug-of-war between PNP and JLP in ‘Ketchie-Shubbie politics’ is not about building high-speed, device-ready schools or well-equipped hospitals or improving people’s lives. It is about rewarding themselves, friends and families and ‘backra massa’ foreign interest.

Reality check: in the last three cycles, the JLP beat the PNP among 18-45-year-olds. Two questions the PNP must publicly answer without spin, to rebuild and maintain credibility.

1. Voice: Does the party have an authentic stance – domestic and international – strong enough to attract the 64 per cent of Gen-Z who didn’t vote (and to hold those who did)?

2. Execution: What worked? What failed? Where did the PNP drop the ball, and why?

Even when the polls predicted that six in 10 young people planned to stay home, the PNP failed to design and execute a plan to flip the script. Even given Electoral Office failures, the PNP must address issues such as messaging clarity, grassroots politics and digital ground game.

PNP’S SILENCE ABROAD, CONFUSION AT HOME

In terms of world affairs, there was a time when the PNP’s international voice – whether in Government or Opposition – electrified the youth. In the 1970s, the PNP thundered against apartheid South Africa, stood in solidarity with Cuba, and championed the Non-Aligned Movement. Young Jamaicans could feel proud that their small island was a champion of international justice.

Now? Gaza’s starvation and mass death – silence. Pan-Africanist Ibrahim Traoré threatened – silence. Venezuela under invasion talk; 11 Caribbean fishermen killed in international waters as God King Trump and American imperialist, great-power, politics flex – silence.

So, what is the PNP in 2025? A doctor fish, changing colours to blend in? Or a chicken hawk, hoping to pander its way into power: which clearly never worked. Young voters can smell authenticity – and they can smell fear!

IMF DOGMA ‘DUMBS DOWN’ THE NATION

Election ’25 is behind us, and again both parties hugged IMF dogma like a comfort blanket. The PNP produced a good manifesto – but too late, too timid in the street-level mobilisation, and too soft in turning policy into a movement people could join.

Meanwhile the squeeze is real: wages shrink, purchasing power evaporates, rents surge, light bills climb, schools and hospitals mash up, imported food prices skyrocket. Jamaica’s food import bill has ballooned over US$1 billion annually, while debt servicing gulps down over 40 cents of every budget dollar.

The late grassroots philosopher Wendel ‘Rocky’ Martinez had a name for it: “the dumbing down of the nation”.

How does it show up? Leaders talk above the people, reciting debt-to-GDP ratios like psalms – as if poor people must treat IMF targets like divine revelation from ‘Puppa Gawd’.

‘Sweet Jezus! Mi Puppa-la-la!’

Pretty words mask ugly realities. Whether out of fear of accountability or cynical politics, the effect is the same: confuse the public, drain the fight, keep Babylon steady. That is not economic stewardship; that is technocratic gaslighting.

THE CHALLENGE AHEAD

Despite hiccups, Jamaica held a relatively peaceful election. That is commendable. It was joyful to see Labourites and Comrades pass through each other’s meetings, dancing, laughing, and hugging. That’s something to be treasured and zealously guarded.

As for leadership, despite the PNP’s loss, Mark Golding shows promise – brains, steadiness, and a willingness to be his own man. If Golding remains PNP leader, he must dig deep into playbooks of the giants – Manley, Spaulding, DK, PJ, Portia, and Howard Cooke. Those towering giants understood and practised grassroots politics as a way of life to serve the Jamaican people.

Finally, my dear friends, while languishing again in Opposition, the PNP, in my opinion, needs to rebuild its political base. Speak plain. Organise relentlessly. Show young people what a people-centred government looks like – before you ask them to vote for it.

COURAGE, ACTION, NO RETREAT

Jamaica stands at a hinge moment. Our democracy is thinning out; our economy is debt locked. Silence and apathy are surrender.

• Defend the referees: Civil society must mobilise to protect core institutions, starting with the Integrity Commission.

• Organise the young: From inner city to deep rural, Gen-Z must register, form youth clubs and citizens’ associations, and apply non-stop pressure for progressive policy changes — food security, jobs with dignity, safe communities and honest government.

• Name the system: Break the Ketchie-Shubbie order; refuse economic dependency dressed up as ‘stability’.

• Choose production over performance: Build a sovereign, production-driven, debt-light Jamaica where a young person can see a future worth fighting – and voting – for.

Picture it: farm-to-school meals replacing imported junk, solar-powered clinics keeping the lights on in rural parishes, youth tech hubs in St Mary and Clarendon building apps for export, and small farmers supplying hotels instead of Miami wholesalers. That is not utopia; that is sovereignty in action.

Our ancestors bled for self-determination. We can’t hand it back because of complacency and inaction. Let us always remember ...

Babylon cannot feed our souls ...

And it will not feed our children.

Ya man – no retreat, no surrender.

That is just the Bitta Truth.

Norris R. McDonald is an author, economic journalist, political analyst, and respiratory therapist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and miaminorris@yahoo.com.