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Permanent secretary bemoans lack of social standards
BY PAUL HENRY Observer staff reporter [email protected]
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
JAMAICA was Sunday described as a dysfunctional country where "anything goes", and a society now plagued with myriad ills due to a persistent lack of
social standards.
The biting comments were made by Reginald Budhan, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, during a service to mark the Bureau of Standards' 40th anniversary at the Hope United Church in St Andrew.
Reginald Budhan, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce (centre), shares a light moment with Reverend Dr Artnell Henry (left), chairman of the Board of Standards Council, and Noel Osbourne, executive director of the Bureau of Standards. The occasion was a service at the Hope United Church in St Andrew Sunday to mark the bureau's 40th anniversary. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)
"...I will be bold enough to say that it is the lack of social standards why we have so many dysfunctional families.
It is the lack of social standards why over 80 per cent of our children are born out of wedlock and why marriage is the exception today rather than the rule," said Budhan, who spoke on behalf of Minister Karl Samuda.
Budhan also blamed the fact that the birth certificates of over 50 per cent of children born in Jamaica do not carry the names of their biological fathers on the lack of social standards as do the "many broken homes" and the abundance of single-parent households.
"It is the lack of social standards why we have so many children on the streets begging and wiping windscreens. It is the lack of social standards why we have a dysfunctional country characterised by crime and violence. Ladies and gentlemen, today there is no social standard. Everything goes," added Budhan.
Sunday, he urged the congregation and citizens in general "not to sit by idly" and watch the country "degenerate socially".
He also called for the church's involvement in the development of social standards, which is expected to guide public conduct, now being undertaken by the standards bureau.
"When promulgated, the bureau will need the church to assist in promoting them from the pulpit," Budhan told the gathering.
In a message which seemed to concur with Budhan's, Reverend Dr Roderick Hewitt called for a return to God's standards of "morality, justice and righteousness".
Hewitt also called on the church to stand up against injustice, like the Biblical prophet Amos did, and not to compromise God's principle in favour of power or status.
BY PAUL HENRY Observer staff reporter [email protected]
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
JAMAICA was Sunday described as a dysfunctional country where "anything goes", and a society now plagued with myriad ills due to a persistent lack of
social standards.
The biting comments were made by Reginald Budhan, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, during a service to mark the Bureau of Standards' 40th anniversary at the Hope United Church in St Andrew.
Reginald Budhan, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce (centre), shares a light moment with Reverend Dr Artnell Henry (left), chairman of the Board of Standards Council, and Noel Osbourne, executive director of the Bureau of Standards. The occasion was a service at the Hope United Church in St Andrew Sunday to mark the bureau's 40th anniversary. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)
"...I will be bold enough to say that it is the lack of social standards why we have so many dysfunctional families.
It is the lack of social standards why over 80 per cent of our children are born out of wedlock and why marriage is the exception today rather than the rule," said Budhan, who spoke on behalf of Minister Karl Samuda.
Budhan also blamed the fact that the birth certificates of over 50 per cent of children born in Jamaica do not carry the names of their biological fathers on the lack of social standards as do the "many broken homes" and the abundance of single-parent households.
"It is the lack of social standards why we have so many children on the streets begging and wiping windscreens. It is the lack of social standards why we have a dysfunctional country characterised by crime and violence. Ladies and gentlemen, today there is no social standard. Everything goes," added Budhan.
Sunday, he urged the congregation and citizens in general "not to sit by idly" and watch the country "degenerate socially".
He also called for the church's involvement in the development of social standards, which is expected to guide public conduct, now being undertaken by the standards bureau.
"When promulgated, the bureau will need the church to assist in promoting them from the pulpit," Budhan told the gathering.
In a message which seemed to concur with Budhan's, Reverend Dr Roderick Hewitt called for a return to God's standards of "morality, justice and righteousness".
Hewitt also called on the church to stand up against injustice, like the Biblical prophet Amos did, and not to compromise God's principle in favour of power or status.
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