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<span style="font-weight: bold">News Source: OTGNR - </span>
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : Information Minister D...t; (Gleaner)...</span>
THE MINISTER of Information Daryl Vaz has announced that "it is a done deal". He was referring to plans to relocate the army headquarters from the current location at Up Park Camp along Camp Road in St Andrew to Caymanas in St Catherine. Government has identified 400 acres of land in the Caymanas area to build a new army headquarters. Up Park Camp will be sold to some high-priced realtor that will convert it to high income housing. This, Prime Minister Bruce Golding told Parliament, will free up space to revitalise the city of Kingston. The first rule of thumb which should be applied to the done deal which Minister Vaz has taken the trouble to inform us about is to determine to what problem is the relocation of the JDF headquarters the solution. The famous adage 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' ought to apply here. The Government says the problem it is seeking to fix is the need for revitalisation of city Kingston. Towards that end, the Government has renewed Coronation Market, thanks to a $100M donation from Digicel. It also has approved plans for Digicel to build its headquarters downtown Kingston. Those who previously proposed the revitalisation of city Kingston have always felt that the place to begin was with Kingston Harbour and with the corridor from the Harbour View roundabout to Bank of Jamaica at Nethersole Place. If that was the plan, others have argued that the relocation of Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre would have been a key move.In 1992, the Wolfe Commission recommended the relocation of the prisons and the building of one substantial, modern correctional facility. When the PNP administration left office in 2007, my understanding was that the lands were identified and contracts were going to tender to build just such a facility. I am told that the facility would have a capacity of about 6,000 inmates. The facility would have wings that were low, medium and maximum security, and it would also include a female wing. If such a facility were indeed built, it would have allowed for the freeing up of land at Tower Street and South Camp Road, and it would also free up White Church Street in Spanish Town where the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre is located.While Golding was the member of parliament for Central St Catherine, I was conducting a discussion on the 'Public Eye' and raised the idea of the relocation of the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre in order to free Spanish Town for greater commercial development. A very excited Bruce Golding telephoned the programme to articulate plans along those lines. Now however, he has forgotten about that for a frolic of fancy and wants to relocate the JDF headquarters. If the goal is revitalising city Kingston, moving the JDF headquarters is hardly the most logical strategic move. The other question in making a grand plan is always to ask, is it feasible and practical? The answer to that question must be left to the tender mercies of The Gleaner editorial this past week. The editorial indicated that it was a far too expensive solution at this time. It suggested that even if the 200 acres headquarters fetched the grand price of $2.2B, that price could hardly pay for the construction cost of the new headquarters, complete with barracks, administrative offices and air wing. We may ignore security consideration for the moment. The construction of a new headquarters for the army cannot be afforded by Jamaica at this time. The fiscal challenges faced both by the health and education sectors would make the choice in favour of some grand real estate project, capricious, cruel and cynical. The decision to sell Up Park Camp and build a new headquarters on Caymanas lands is too much for too little. Jamaican heritage What makes this decision wrong is not so much the shallowness of strategic thinking concerning the revitalisation of city Kingston; that is pardonable, or the imprudence of fiscal decision making, that is common. What makes the decision scandalous is the process or rather lack thereof in coming to such a significant decision. As has been pointed out by The Gleaner editorial, Up Park Camp has been the home of the Jamaican military for more than two centuries. There are profound issues of Jamaican heritage bound up with that location. The idea that persons can gather in a room, consult with some friends and then come out pronouncing to the rest of the Jamaican people what they have decided and impose it on us as a done deal is scandalous.Was P.J. Patterson wrong when in 1998 he indicated that the Jamaican population was one that demand to be consulted and would not simply be dictated by rulers? Have the members of the Bruce Golding-led administration mistaken the powers of political office for the right of gods? Up Park Camp should not be the right of a Cabinet to dispose of without consultation. This is not about the sale of real estate or even the quality of fiscal decision making, it is about the quality of democracy. Is Jamaica to be governed in consultation with its people duly considering the causes and the consequences, or is to be run by the caprice of masters? Students of history will recall that this was the issue that led to the French revolution and the beheading of the king. The people resisted rulers who claimed that the gods had given them the right to rule. It was the tax on tea imposed without representation that led to the American war of Independence.The question that we must contemplate is not what Golding and the rest of his administration will do. The question is, what will we do when we discover that we wake up one morning and the Jamaican flag is sold and no one, needs to consult us. In two weeks, Air Jamaica, the carrier bearing the name Jamaica will be no more. It was a little piece of the rest of us in the sky. It became too expensive and had to be sold and then eventually buried. Reluctantly, we understand. At least it is replaced by something with the name Caribbean. Environmentalists objected to the need to dualise and spend US$60M on the Palisados strip. Others indicated that the traffic numbers do not justify the expansion. Still, the project has proceeded. They have not taken the trouble to answer the questions nor give assurances nor subject the project to wider public consultation. They have simply rammed it down our proverbial throats. Now it is the turn of the project to relocate the army headquarters. We have not been consulted or advised properly. It has been decided upon and presented to the population as a fait accompli. The pattern is of arrogance and of contempt for the Jamaican people.A country cannot be run in this way. It is not the democratic way. What is worse is that we cannot be assured that a fair price is paid for the land that is being sold. When land along the Mandela Highway corridor adjacent to this very Caymanas was leased at peppercorn rates to a politically connected party, we were told of grandiose plans, no mention was made about army headquarters. How can we be sure that this time around that it is not once again a rouse to reward a political favourite? One does not know and cannot tell, but I know it will come back to haunt us. Do it right the first time and you will not need to do it again. Leave Up Park Camp alone, or touch it only after broad-based consultation.
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : Information Minister D...t; (Gleaner)...</span>
THE MINISTER of Information Daryl Vaz has announced that "it is a done deal". He was referring to plans to relocate the army headquarters from the current location at Up Park Camp along Camp Road in St Andrew to Caymanas in St Catherine. Government has identified 400 acres of land in the Caymanas area to build a new army headquarters. Up Park Camp will be sold to some high-priced realtor that will convert it to high income housing. This, Prime Minister Bruce Golding told Parliament, will free up space to revitalise the city of Kingston. The first rule of thumb which should be applied to the done deal which Minister Vaz has taken the trouble to inform us about is to determine to what problem is the relocation of the JDF headquarters the solution. The famous adage 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' ought to apply here. The Government says the problem it is seeking to fix is the need for revitalisation of city Kingston. Towards that end, the Government has renewed Coronation Market, thanks to a $100M donation from Digicel. It also has approved plans for Digicel to build its headquarters downtown Kingston. Those who previously proposed the revitalisation of city Kingston have always felt that the place to begin was with Kingston Harbour and with the corridor from the Harbour View roundabout to Bank of Jamaica at Nethersole Place. If that was the plan, others have argued that the relocation of Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre would have been a key move.In 1992, the Wolfe Commission recommended the relocation of the prisons and the building of one substantial, modern correctional facility. When the PNP administration left office in 2007, my understanding was that the lands were identified and contracts were going to tender to build just such a facility. I am told that the facility would have a capacity of about 6,000 inmates. The facility would have wings that were low, medium and maximum security, and it would also include a female wing. If such a facility were indeed built, it would have allowed for the freeing up of land at Tower Street and South Camp Road, and it would also free up White Church Street in Spanish Town where the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre is located.While Golding was the member of parliament for Central St Catherine, I was conducting a discussion on the 'Public Eye' and raised the idea of the relocation of the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre in order to free Spanish Town for greater commercial development. A very excited Bruce Golding telephoned the programme to articulate plans along those lines. Now however, he has forgotten about that for a frolic of fancy and wants to relocate the JDF headquarters. If the goal is revitalising city Kingston, moving the JDF headquarters is hardly the most logical strategic move. The other question in making a grand plan is always to ask, is it feasible and practical? The answer to that question must be left to the tender mercies of The Gleaner editorial this past week. The editorial indicated that it was a far too expensive solution at this time. It suggested that even if the 200 acres headquarters fetched the grand price of $2.2B, that price could hardly pay for the construction cost of the new headquarters, complete with barracks, administrative offices and air wing. We may ignore security consideration for the moment. The construction of a new headquarters for the army cannot be afforded by Jamaica at this time. The fiscal challenges faced both by the health and education sectors would make the choice in favour of some grand real estate project, capricious, cruel and cynical. The decision to sell Up Park Camp and build a new headquarters on Caymanas lands is too much for too little. Jamaican heritage What makes this decision wrong is not so much the shallowness of strategic thinking concerning the revitalisation of city Kingston; that is pardonable, or the imprudence of fiscal decision making, that is common. What makes the decision scandalous is the process or rather lack thereof in coming to such a significant decision. As has been pointed out by The Gleaner editorial, Up Park Camp has been the home of the Jamaican military for more than two centuries. There are profound issues of Jamaican heritage bound up with that location. The idea that persons can gather in a room, consult with some friends and then come out pronouncing to the rest of the Jamaican people what they have decided and impose it on us as a done deal is scandalous.Was P.J. Patterson wrong when in 1998 he indicated that the Jamaican population was one that demand to be consulted and would not simply be dictated by rulers? Have the members of the Bruce Golding-led administration mistaken the powers of political office for the right of gods? Up Park Camp should not be the right of a Cabinet to dispose of without consultation. This is not about the sale of real estate or even the quality of fiscal decision making, it is about the quality of democracy. Is Jamaica to be governed in consultation with its people duly considering the causes and the consequences, or is to be run by the caprice of masters? Students of history will recall that this was the issue that led to the French revolution and the beheading of the king. The people resisted rulers who claimed that the gods had given them the right to rule. It was the tax on tea imposed without representation that led to the American war of Independence.The question that we must contemplate is not what Golding and the rest of his administration will do. The question is, what will we do when we discover that we wake up one morning and the Jamaican flag is sold and no one, needs to consult us. In two weeks, Air Jamaica, the carrier bearing the name Jamaica will be no more. It was a little piece of the rest of us in the sky. It became too expensive and had to be sold and then eventually buried. Reluctantly, we understand. At least it is replaced by something with the name Caribbean. Environmentalists objected to the need to dualise and spend US$60M on the Palisados strip. Others indicated that the traffic numbers do not justify the expansion. Still, the project has proceeded. They have not taken the trouble to answer the questions nor give assurances nor subject the project to wider public consultation. They have simply rammed it down our proverbial throats. Now it is the turn of the project to relocate the army headquarters. We have not been consulted or advised properly. It has been decided upon and presented to the population as a fait accompli. The pattern is of arrogance and of contempt for the Jamaican people.A country cannot be run in this way. It is not the democratic way. What is worse is that we cannot be assured that a fair price is paid for the land that is being sold. When land along the Mandela Highway corridor adjacent to this very Caymanas was leased at peppercorn rates to a politically connected party, we were told of grandiose plans, no mention was made about army headquarters. How can we be sure that this time around that it is not once again a rouse to reward a political favourite? One does not know and cannot tell, but I know it will come back to haunt us. Do it right the first time and you will not need to do it again. Leave Up Park Camp alone, or touch it only after broad-based consultation.