Unnu know dat is from 1944 Jamaicans got Universal Adult Suffrage? Yeh peeps!

Now, for those who don't know, the word 'suffrage' actually doesn't have anything to do with suffering, although if you ask me, we've been doing a lot of political suffering since then. No, mi friends, suffrage is an old time word that basically means that in an election, all adults have the right to vote for the representative of their choice.

Yes, suffrage denotes the right and freedom to pick your party. But between 1944 and now, we've somehow taken it to mean the right to be either PNP or JLP. So for 67 years the country's been bouncing between the two Ps dem until we get stuck. Yeah man, di country stuck and it ah squeeze wi big time.

paranoid

Just look at the two hand symbols and you will get the message: the JLP's two-finger sign means 'two ah dem' and the PNP's means 'squeeze wi'. Well, if all goes as expected, next year is supposed to be an election year and `all Jamaica will get paranoid about those two parties. And although since third options just don't seem to work here, I want to propose a new party - made up of musicians and other entertainers.

I actually got the idea from veteran musician and educator Ibo Cooper who informed me that King David in biblical times and former British PM the late Edward Heath, are perhaps the only two national leaders who were also musicians, and they both did relatively good jobs. And we have tried people from all other professions in the parties vying for posts as national leaders - pastors, educators, trade unionists, etc. I think it's high time we try a party of musicians now. They'd make as much noise as the current crop of politicians maybe, but it would be more beautiful noise. Plus, people love musicians.

And after all, who know more 'bout party than musicians? A musician party must haffi ram! And instead of boring people with whole heap of long talking, they could sing or rap or DJ their messages and we'd maybe listen more intently and remember more. Nuh true?

leadership roles

I could see people like Ibo having major leadership roles in this party, especially since it's his idea. And maybe they could even broaden it to include other entertainers like comedians - real comedian! That clarification is necessary because some of the current crop of parliamentarians seem very good at acting like comedians sometimes. It's just that their jokes are usually at the expense of the people. I could also see the party having its policies highly influenced by culture, especially the first culture: agriculture (cough ... cough!)

The name of the party would be very simple, it would be called PFRJ, and that would stand for something like 'People's Forum for Reviving Jamaica' or the 'party fi run Jamaica'! Yeah man I think it could be a wicked new party. Mas Ibo, hurry up and start it!

Will this get your vote?

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