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Is the JLP just another PNP, just another ride?
WIGNALL'S WORLD
Mark Wignall
Sunday, December 07, 2008
The world is probably now expressing more than a sigh of regret at the passing of the US presidential election campaign. From the party primaries to the final day in November, the inclusion of Barack Obama, a man coloured with African blood, made it all that more appealing as he easily transcended any stereotype of 'blackness' and made a compelling claim of being among those presidential candidates with the ability and the personality to be considered as potentially 'transformational'.
During the nearly two years, some may have seen the economic train wreck coming, but, as long as we could watch Obama do his signature trot up to the podium and McCain hobble his way through the disaster that was his final contribution to American politics at that level, we were okay and at ease with whatever it was we gave little thought to.
At home, enough people voted for an almost generational change and gave the nod to the JLP after 18 years of the PNP enjoying a power that was in large measure a mixture of a weak-kneed approach to leadership of a country badly in need of not just growth and development but the transformation of its people, and a sharing out of the nation's coffers to friends, relatives and those 'genetically' connected to the party.
It was not enough that we hoped, some prayed, and others shared a burning need to see the JLP give early signs that it meant to live up to its manifesto promise of a strong stand against corruption - one of its pet areas of criticism of the PNP during our election campaigns.
As we watched and listened, the prayers seemed to have been in vain and the hopes became dashed as not only did the wave of economic uncertainty begin to rise higher than any ability we had to ride it out, but the JLP government seemed headed to that change that was only more of the same. While violent crime pressed closer to home and uncertainties at the workplace and in the economy loomed, allegations of corruption in the JLP grew stronger than any former hope we had that the JLP would be any different from the PNP.
The contractor general's reports on matters investigated are usually not half-done, truncated probes. The investigations are indicative of a department working way above what would be expected from it, given the staff and the number of hours in a day. It is quite obvious that Mr Greg Christie is an exceptional man.
Although no one is willing to hazard a guess as to where his politics is, it is understood that he is not hostile to this government. What everyone is sold on is what was said to me in the middle of last week by a well-known JLP activist: "Christie is a man who is just doing his job. Period."
The allegations against certain board members of the JUTC are particularly troubling, and many of us who lauded the late Douglas Chambers are now either caught between saying we will wait until the matters raised are fully ventilated in the usual manner, or, throwing our hands in the air and making a declaration that Jamaica is intent on committing suicide.
I am personally troubled by the allegations in the OCG's reports because, although I did not meet Chambers in person, we had had quite a few telephone conversations on other matters and had lost track of each other in the last three years. In one of the last conversations we had, the plan was that we would soon meet.
It is going to be extremely difficult for Prime Minister Golding to bob and weave his way out of this one, and I am certain that Mike Henry as minister of transport is too valuable a political property to the JLP for him to be 'dressed down' by the prime minister.
Mike Henry is, of course, that eagerly articulate MP for Central Clarendon who represents the 'oldsters' side of the party and is thought to be a Seaga-ite rather than a Golding loyalist. That said, even though all JLP MPs and Cabinet ministers know that the prime minister is hobbled by his razor-thin majority in Parliament, I do not believe that in any closed-door meeting with the prime minister, the Central Clarendon MP will adopt an inflexible approach to Golding's position, even if that position is a clipping of Henry's wings.
There are no underlings to serve up nor are there sufficient numbers of them to put in a stew. The ingredient personnel are all big names, and for Golding to salvage any little bit of his pre-election personality, he will have to put someone on the chopping block.
That is, of course, with the understanding that the prime minister is himself not available to be included in the menu items.
Jamaica getting unwanted press
Francisca Kellet, travel editor and author, has done us a disfavour by telling the truth about us. She lists us among the 'Dangerous Places to Visit'.
Yes, little Jamaica, once a paradise, now a place where on any one day there are about 10 cars driving with, on average, three men, armed, faces hardened by the smell and sight of death, on the prowl for what is out there. Last Tuesday I saw one of those cars. Three men stopped by a roadside stall and ordered a soda. As the driver ordered he stared at no one. The passenger beside him had a long face with evil eyes and he was staring at something behind the car. I followed his eyes. He was staring at a police car by a pump in a gas station. The driver had parked the car at an oblique angle to the sidewalk. His face was round and death was etched on it, from the scowl about his mouth to the small, cold eyes staring down at his lap. As the money and the soda were exchanged, I glanced at the one in the back. He had on a cap and its peak was down over his face. At no time did anyone of them look at any one of us who were by the stall. In less than a minute it occurred to me that they were in for bigger pickings, and the stall and the patrons would not be held up that day, at 1:00 in the afternoon.
Kellet writes, "Although Kingston has a reputation for gun crime and violence, most incidents take place in the central residential neighbourhoods which tourists rarely visit. However, visitors should remain vigilant in isolated rural areas and deserted beaches, even in daylight hours."
It seems to me that there is some unwritten pact operating in the tourist resort areas which remains the safest zones in Jamaica. As for the rest of us, violent criminality has blurred the lines between the social borders which we eagerly expanded on at the very dawn of our independence. So Havendale and Aylsham are now no safer than Fletcher's Land or Spanish Town.
Why does Jamaica kill creativity?
Having read my short piece last week where I wrote on the firing of Ian Moore from the post of PCJ chairman, one Jamaican engineer gave his viewpoint on how Jamaica treats its more skilled sons and daughters. Like Ian Moore, a highly skilled engineer who also ventured into private business abroad and became highly successful and wealthy, there are many Jamaicans residing abroad who would like to offer up themselves, not just for the income, but to 'give back' something to a society that is teetering on the edge of failure.
He writes, "I can't even tell you the degree of opposition that I am experiencing after less than a year in Jamaica. One of my colleagues who is also a very competent engineer and came back to Jamaica two years ago has resigned himself to a desk job and has told me that I should bury my dreams.
"In fact, his words were, 'Nuh come here and dream too much, is pure fight yu ah go get', with some expletives of course. Most of my friends whom I visited have got themselves desk jobs and have put on weight; their eyes have lost the glitter of high expectancy of coming back to Jamaica to use their acquired foreign skills to develop their country. I am plodding along; I have met an MIT graduate (a civil engineer) who has decided that the desk job is not part of his plan, so I am following suit and collaborating with him on doing something meaningful. The thought of going back to 'foreign' has crossed my mind many times but the feeling of 'ah yah so mi born an mi belong yah' has been a greater pull.
"Many years ago when I was working as a consultant engineer in Jamaica I saw a team from a company in Miami, who came over to collaborate on a project. When they walked in the plant, everyone stood at attention; I was amazed. We (local engineers) spent most of the time teaching them things that they were expected to know as engineers, but because the contract we won was based on their collaboration we went ahead and taught them how to do the job (we have to eat food, don't we?).
"I hope that one day we will appreciate the brand Jamaica. Our people have stood/worked with the best in the world and in many cases have outshone them. Jamaica is not short of good talents; they have just been silenced or broken. We have to start demanding high standards and selecting the right people for the job; we are not boxing out food out of anybody's mouth. If we insist on high standards then people will step up to the plate. I have seen Jamaicans conform abroad, so why can't they conform 'ah yard'?
"USA and UK are now saying that the jobs are for their people, so why can't we produce jobs for Jamaicans? Do you not think that will reduce crime? Why do we have so many young, strong people hanging out on the corner? We have to do something, even if roadblocks are set up to discourage us. We overcome abroad, so we can overcome ah yard."
Give us guns now
It is obvious that the only avenue not taken or tried is the arming of the general population. The police force has its personal agenda, and that is the personal business of those members who rely on the 'runnings' for additional income.
Making guns available to law-abiding citizens will very obviously shock a nation of people who have been sold on the idea that there are already too many guns in town. And they would be right. There are too many guns in town. In the wrong hands.
When a car drives out from under the slimy underbelly of the zones and the subculture which the politics canonised in its heyday, all of those three men on board know that the citizenry is unarmed. If the men in that car which stopped by that stall knew that it was likely that two or three of the men standing by were legally 'strapped', they would be very wary of looking any 'food' in the broad daylight.
In a section of St Louis, I gather that there is a gun buyback programme being run. US$50 for a handgun and US$100 for a rifle. Jamaican gunmen would laugh at that offer to scorn. US$50 (less than J$4,000) can barely sustain a family of five for a week. With only basics. US$100 (less than J$8,000) cannot properly fete a gunman and his woman (for the night) at a street dance for more than four hours. The gun amnesty should not be tried in Jamaica anymore because it is always just a nine-day wonder. The citizenry must be armed. 'The politics' cannot protect us. Indeed it appears that 'the politics' is in the business of impoverishing us. The police cannot protect us because significant sections of the force are always entangled in resource shortages and widespread corruption and links with criminality.
Private security guards only protect the rich, the famous and the politicians. They cannot protect us. Our neighbours cannot protect us because they themselves are forced to cower behind closed doors. Give us guns. Bring into force a national ID which will require it being on the person as long as he/she is in the public domain. Then open up the licensing authority to no less stringent scrutiny of the applicant but a more liberal issuing of permits.
This JLP government has not indicated that it has a single clue as to how to solve the violent crime problem in the here-and-now. Before gunmen take us to that great beyond, we need a fighting chance.
We need guns!
Ian Moore a better man than Clive Mullings
One online commentator who said he knew Ian Moore from schooldays lamented that Clive Mullings could fire Moore with such ease. The remedy, he believes, is leadership from the prime minister.
"Let me say this, that Ian Moore was on to exactly what is required in Jamaica's energy sector and I hope that Minister Mullings is not among those insecure persons who cannot deal with Jamaica's best talents in technology including mining, energy and telecoms.
For the record, Ian Moore and I went to Calabar the same time; we were in the same class and he has always been among the brightest group. It's no surprise he has used his talent to accumulate personal wealth and to offer to contribute to national development in an area of the economy that is so important.
"And now for someone like Mullings to just fire Moore is tragic and requires his boss Golding to take this matter much more seriously. If Mullings is allowed to continue to head the very important ministry, then Jamaica will fall further behind."
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