UIC’s President, Joseph L. Patterson accuses members of plotting to take the political party away from him

BY DEVON THOMPSON

UIC, short for United Independents’ Congress, Jamaica’s third official registered political party has landed itself in hot water with the Jamaican people and Jamaican blogger, Jamaican Carlos. The UIC’s President, Joseph L. Patterson has accused high-ranking members of its Executive of “party treason”, plotting to overthrow him and to take the political party away from him. Some of these previous executives have been accused of being paid by the PNP and JLP to oppose him.

He publicly went after and subsequently removed anyone who opposed him from the political party. This is akin to what happened to Roman Baber and Belinda Karahalios in the Ontario Provincial Legislature when Doug Ford removed them from the Conservative Caucus for opposing restrictive and heart-wrenching lockdowns.

But the high-ranking members of the UIC were not removed for something so dramatic and life changing. They were booted from the party’s executive because they opposed the President’s request to be financially compensated from membership donations for the work he has been doing for the UIC and Jamaica.

Mr Patterson along with the UIC’s Executive, (of which I was a part at the time), staged Jamaica’s first strong protest against lockdowns and mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations. It rallied the country to unite, standing up firm against Andrew Holness’ tyranny. Many of us can recall Andrew Holness’ Minister of Health, Christopher Tufton saying, “After two year’s with the number of solutions that are available, whether it is vaccination or testing or just information, it justifies a level of continuity within our society, but also where we begin to discriminate in favour of persons who have been vaccinated, and I think those are some of the bold decisions that are going to be necessary for moving forward.” (Source: Loop News)

At the time of writing this article, only 23.5% of the eligible Jamaican population is identified as fully vaccinated. How smug this Minister had to be, to suggest discriminating against 76.5% of the population. One million more and that would equate to the amount of Canadians currently banned from flying on a plane or train within or outside of Canada because of being vaccine free.

The UIC and Mr Patterson no doubt made it extremely difficult for the Government of Jamaica to execute their plans to inject 100% of the population against their will. However, the Jamaican Constabulary Force at that protest arrested the President.

The President and the UIC must be commended for standing up for the Jamaican people when no one and no other organizations did. Where was Jamaicans for Justice? Where were the churches? Where were the organizations that claimed they cared about the Jamaican people? Where was the opposition PNP? Where were they?

They were nowhere to be found, but the UIC under the leadership of Joseph L. Patterson made a similar error recently as the island came to a near standstill with public sector workers across the country engaging in a strike and protest. The United Independents’ Congress of Jamaica was nowhere to be found, and was criticized for ignoring the plight of Jamaican workers. Jamaican Carlos was the most vocal of all critics and in Joseph L. Patterson style, as he publicly tarnished the reputation of previous UIC executives and kicked them out of the party; he publicly attempted to downplay Jamaican’ Carlos’ criticism of the UIC being missing in action.

This resulted, once again, in a public back and forth between the UIC’s President and strong supporters of the organization; where accusations were made, feelings were hurt and dirty laundry aired. It resulted in a slate of UIC candidates resigning and publicly stating their displeasure with how the organization is being run. There is a leadership deficit within the UIC that needs to be rectified.

Jamaicans have looked for a change in their country in so many places: the Jamaica Labour Party, the People’s National Party and most recently, the United Independents’ Congress (UIC). It seems as if as a people, we can’t catch a break, if it’s not one thing, it’s the next.

Is this a generational curse, or are we fated to continue failing as a people? Are we fated to only be known for: Bob Marley, weed, reggae, dancehall, beaches, guns and violence?

Jamaicans in Canada want to be able to call Jamaica their home again, and Jamaicans in Jamaica just want to live in peace. We want our country back. The clear villains are the JLP and PNP in their 70+ years-long reign of violence and corruption, but as a people, we need those who stand up to oppose those two organizations to not give in to arrogance, and self-importance. We need these new political leaders to be firm, but loving and understanding. Those who choose to step into the line of fire must have clear and pure intentions for our country.

We want to feel proud of Jamaica again so that when we tell someone we are Jamaican, they don’t just think of ganja, beaches and sports. We want them to see innovation, technology, business, and entrepreneurship. Next week, I will be following up this article with advice and recommendations that will bring this great nation to a place other nations want to model.