Mr Ronald Thwaites, the lawyer and Roman Catholic deacon who is member of parliament for Central Kingston, likes to portray himself as an atypical, post-partisan politician which, for the most part, he accomplishes.

Indeed, we found refreshing, Mr Thwaites in that role in the legislature — tabling serious private members' bills, asking searching questions of ministers and seeking consensus on issues that threaten to become the subject of partisan wrangle. We liked it when Mr Thwaites talked about ending garrison politics and waxes philosophically about the role of parliamentarians, and politicians generally, in eradicating these blighted zones of political exclusion.

It seemed to us, when he articulated these concepts, that Mr Thwaites saw, and believed in Jamaica and its people as a cohesive whole, capable, together, of things greater than the sum of our individual selves. And perhaps he still does.

But Mr Ronald Thwaites, by his recent actions, has called into question our assumptions about the foundation upon which he built his politics and whether his instincts are any less tribal than those against whom we contrasted his style and what we held to be his substance.

Mr Thwaites is against the suggestion, being discussed at the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), to cut his Central Kingston constituency in realignment of boundaries that is part of a move to increase the number of constiuencies to 63 from 60.

Over-representation

This newspaper has no immediate position on the logic of eliminating the Central Kingston constituency specifically, although we are against the plan to increase the number of parliamentary seats. We insist that Jamaica, with 60 members in the national Parliament and more than 140 local government councillors, is already over-represented — assuming the representatives do their jobs. Indeed, we feel that what the authorities seek to achieve by increasing the number of seats to an odd number, eliminating the possibility of a hung Parliament, can be more efficaciously accomplished by reducing the number of constituencies to the constitutional minimum of 45. The country would save money.

Registered voters

We do not mind any one, including Mr Thwaites, debating that point, except if the MP for Central Kingston continues to proffer the fundamental argument he has up to now advanced for saving his constituency.

Mr Thwaites did throw into the mix his contention that there are other constituencies with fewer registered voters than his own and that his constituents have peculiar needs that require special representations. That may be true.

What we find especially offensive, though, is Mr Thwaites' implication that Central Kingston should be kept intact out of appreciation for its political complexion and character. The idea, apparently, is that parts of Central Kingston would join West Kingston, which is represented by Prime Minister Golding of the governing Jamaica Labour Party. Other sections would go to East Kingston where the sitting MP, Phillip Paulwell, is of Mr Thwaites' People's National Party.

Mr Thwaites' suggestion is that to mix supporters of one party in one community into an electoral district that includes strong support of another party community, in an adjoining community, is a recipe for problems.

Our view is that the greater disaster is the inherent assumption that they should be kept apart - the maintenance of political ghettos and garrisons.

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