Peter Espeut | Our democracy is not working

The word democracy comes from two Greek words: ‘demos’, which means ‘the people’ or ‘the citizenry’ or ‘civil society’; and ‘kratos’, which means ‘to rule’ or ‘to hold’ or ‘to grasp’.  Hence the focus is on ‘rule by the people’, and not on the power exercised by those who ‘rule the people’.  

It was Abraham Lincoln, 14th president of the United States who famously said in his Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863, that democracy was ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’.

Some believe that democracy is of politicians, by politicians, and for politicians.  That is a perversion of democracy; and if we are there, or heading there, ‘We the people’ – the ‘demos’ – must reverse the direction.

In most countries the ‘demos’ do not ‘kratos’ directly, but elect persons to govern on their behalf (representative democracy).  The elected representatives then put in place mechanisms and institutions to provide personal security, health care and other social services for the ‘demos’, and the framework within which individuals can earn a living while producing goods and services needed by the ‘demos’ as a whole.  This would include education and training of the workforce, which is part of the ‘demos’.

The trouble is that once elected, many of these representatives do not govern solely on behalf of the ‘demos’, but do so largely in their own interest, and in the interest of their family and friends.  This perversion of democracy is not only corrupt, but is also inefficient.  Padded contracts and kickbacks mean government waste, and that other important needs are unmet because of insufficient resources.

Part of good governance – and implied in democracy – must be that public institutions must be constructed to detect and cauterize profound conflicts of interest, nepotism, cronyism, influence-peddling, bribery, graft and illicit enrichment from the affairs of state.  It is naïve and even disingenuous to assume that public servants are all honourable men and women.  To protect democracy the opposite must be assumed, to better guarantee the honour of those who offer themselves for public service.

For best results, the ‘demos’ cannot devolve their responsibility to oversee their democracy entirely upon those who need watching.  The fox must never be expected to effectively watch the henhouse.  Civil society – the ‘demos’ – you and I must do our own watching.

Big up to Citizens’ Action for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE), Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), National Integrity Action (NIA), the Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal (JAMP), the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), and like organizations to which we Jamaicans owe a debt of gratitude for being a counterweight to government overreach, and, frankly, corruption.

I wish the Church did more.  The salt must not lose its savour!

In my view, our democracy is not working.  Certainly it is not working well.  Those elected to represent and serve the ‘demos’, act as if the people are their servants.  They resent oversight, and information that should be open to public scrutiny – like who gets government contracts – is shrouded in secrecy.  Income and asset declarations by public servants made to the Integrity Commission are national secrets; in real democracies they are public documents.  The Integrity Commission is constrained from even revealing who is under investigation.  The rules that politicians put in place to detect and prosecute corruption are more protective of themselves than of the public trust and public assets.  This is a perversion of democracy.

The right to life and bodily integrity should be inviolate.  The state – acting for the ‘demos’ – should be is the guarantor-in-chief of the right to life.  In 1865, the Jamaican colonial state under Governor Edward John Eyre unleashed terror on Paul Bogle and other peasants resident in St. Thomas-in-the-East who were protesting against inequality in post-slavery Jamaica, including injustice in the courts.  The security forces used excessive force to put down what was a local disturbance.  Governor Eyre declared martial law (similar to our present-day states of emergency), and the military, militia and Maroons killed 439 black Jamaicans, executed 354 others after courts-martial, flogged 600 men and women, and burnt 1,000 homes.

Those excesses were widely condemned in England, and Governor Eyre was removed from office.  British civil society mobilized to try Governor Eyre for murder; the 800-member Jamaica Committee included notables like economist John Stuart Mill MP and 18 other MPs; scientists Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, and Herbert Spencer; Dons from Oxford and Cambridge, peers of the realm, bishops and clergymen, generals and admirals.  Thirty thousand persons contributed to the fund to pay the lawyers.

Eyre got off because the politicians in the Jamaica House of Assembly had passed an act indemnifying all the soldiers, maroons and politicians responsible for the wanton killing.

Talk about conflict of interest! It’s like Donald Trump wishing to award himself a presidential pardon!

[Why am I remembering the amnesty granted to the soldiers who invaded the Kirkland Heights home of Keith Clarke in 2010, pumping 25 bullets into his body, mostly into his left side and back?]

That rate of state killing of black Jamaicans in 1865 has not been matched until recently, but we cannot expect civil society in the UK to mobilize on our behalf.  

Despite having more than 1,000 body-worn cameras in its arsenal of implements against crime, not even one has been deployed on police squads conducting special operations.  Not even a token one to save face!

The government agency providing oversight over police killings has been consistently ignored. The media, civil society, the churches, and so many others have called on our representatives to be more accountable, to no avail.  Elected officials who should be afraid of the electorate ignore the wishes of the ‘demos’.  Our democracy is not working.

I believe that the government is emboldened by the fact that they were re-elected in 2025 despite the high rate of police killings, and with high government officials under investigation for corruption and illicit enrichment.

And they must be confident that accusations of police death squads, attacks upon the Integrity Commission, refusing to table Integrity Commission Reports, sidelining oversight of hurricane rebuilding operations, advocating environmentally unsustainable projects, and widespread allegations of corruption, will not be obstacles to their re-election by 2030.

Is Jamaican civil society going to stand aside and look?

Our democracy is not working.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and development scientist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com