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The sad consequences of bad governance
Monday, May 12, 2008
A downside of our political system is that with parliamentary elections scheduled every five years, politicians are constantly counting votes.
We submit that this obsession with ensuring success come election day, is largely responsible for the kind of slackness in governance that has facilitated the escalation of squatter communities all across this land.
The unwillingness of our political leadership to act decisively because of political expediency has contributed to such tragedies as is now afflicting Harbour View in east Kingston - once among Jamaica's most upstanding communities.
Yesterday's Sunday Observer tells us that "RAW sewage, collapsing hillsides, blocked drains and deteriorating roads" have left the residents of Harbour View with a feeling of being "under siege".
A squatter community in the hills above Harbour View that first sprouted more than two decades ago is undermining the integrity of the steep hillsides, triggering collapse. Resulting landslides are not only threatening the formal settlement below but are also blocking drains which, in turn, lead to flooding and the destruction of roads and other infrastructure.
The squatters themselves are in very grave and imminent danger since the land on which they have built their houses is not stable.
The larger tragedy is that the squatter problem above Harbour View is by no means singular. We are told that there are over 700 such communities across Jamaica. Our leading tourism centres - Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Negril - are being threatened by the effects of informal settlements.
We note that in his Budget presentation last month, Prime Minister Bruce Golding promised action to deal with squatting. Mr Golding promised then that the minister of water and housing would speak more substantially on the matter - presumably in the Sectoral Debate. But in his brief remarks, Mr Golding also said: "It will require firm action and rapid response from the police. It will also require the accelerated provision of serviced lots so that would-be squatters can have somewhere to erect their structures rather than capturing land to which they are not entitled."
Obviously the move to end squatting must be allied to land titling reform, to which Mr Golding also referred, and to an incisive and practical programme of environmental protection. In short, a proper and enforceable land use policy for which we have repeatedly called in this space.
Is this Government possessed of the political will to carry through the "firm action" required to end squatting and informal settlements, even at the expense of votes? The future of communities like Harbour View and indeed Jamaica hangs in the balance.
We dare not close without a word on the flow of raw sewage to the sea from Harbour View because the treatment plant has not worked for over 20 years. Member of Parliament Mr Joseph Hibbert says that a new treatment plant is being planned, though he apparently has no timelines.
However, the law-abiding, long-serving residents say that for years they have been lobbying and appealing to the state-owned National Water Commission to correct the problem "but nothing ever happens". The truly sad thing is that Harbour View residents may well have had a very different experience had they stooped to the unlawful, anti-social blocking of East Kingston roads with debris and fire.
Monday, May 12, 2008
A downside of our political system is that with parliamentary elections scheduled every five years, politicians are constantly counting votes.
We submit that this obsession with ensuring success come election day, is largely responsible for the kind of slackness in governance that has facilitated the escalation of squatter communities all across this land.
The unwillingness of our political leadership to act decisively because of political expediency has contributed to such tragedies as is now afflicting Harbour View in east Kingston - once among Jamaica's most upstanding communities.
Yesterday's Sunday Observer tells us that "RAW sewage, collapsing hillsides, blocked drains and deteriorating roads" have left the residents of Harbour View with a feeling of being "under siege".
A squatter community in the hills above Harbour View that first sprouted more than two decades ago is undermining the integrity of the steep hillsides, triggering collapse. Resulting landslides are not only threatening the formal settlement below but are also blocking drains which, in turn, lead to flooding and the destruction of roads and other infrastructure.
The squatters themselves are in very grave and imminent danger since the land on which they have built their houses is not stable.
The larger tragedy is that the squatter problem above Harbour View is by no means singular. We are told that there are over 700 such communities across Jamaica. Our leading tourism centres - Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Negril - are being threatened by the effects of informal settlements.
We note that in his Budget presentation last month, Prime Minister Bruce Golding promised action to deal with squatting. Mr Golding promised then that the minister of water and housing would speak more substantially on the matter - presumably in the Sectoral Debate. But in his brief remarks, Mr Golding also said: "It will require firm action and rapid response from the police. It will also require the accelerated provision of serviced lots so that would-be squatters can have somewhere to erect their structures rather than capturing land to which they are not entitled."
Obviously the move to end squatting must be allied to land titling reform, to which Mr Golding also referred, and to an incisive and practical programme of environmental protection. In short, a proper and enforceable land use policy for which we have repeatedly called in this space.
Is this Government possessed of the political will to carry through the "firm action" required to end squatting and informal settlements, even at the expense of votes? The future of communities like Harbour View and indeed Jamaica hangs in the balance.
We dare not close without a word on the flow of raw sewage to the sea from Harbour View because the treatment plant has not worked for over 20 years. Member of Parliament Mr Joseph Hibbert says that a new treatment plant is being planned, though he apparently has no timelines.
However, the law-abiding, long-serving residents say that for years they have been lobbying and appealing to the state-owned National Water Commission to correct the problem "but nothing ever happens". The truly sad thing is that Harbour View residents may well have had a very different experience had they stooped to the unlawful, anti-social blocking of East Kingston roads with debris and fire.
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