JAMAICA`S ECONOMIC PROBLEMS, WHO IS TO BE BLAMED?

THE current economic situation in Jamaica is one that nobody is happy with, other than those political aligned to the governing  party and is benefiting via the corruption route. None existent growth and a structural reform program that is solely geared towards passing IMF test without accompanying growth initiatives to stimulate the economy cannot be the way forward for this country. The blind can see that. In the Senate
on Friday last, the Opposition JLP,Chairman, Bobby Montague, making his contribution to the state of the Nation, rightly compare the Government economic(are lack thereof) policy to man "high" on cocaine. He rightly pointed out that the present economic program with the IMF is destroying the country, as things like social services and infrastructure development are been neglected to the point where it is endangering public safety.

One wonders if the Government is "high" on something why they continue to pursue a policy that is contractionary in every way possible. Tax returns are under performing as is expected, because of this simple fact: their is a taxable limit in an economy whereby their is no growth and taxes and cost of living is going up. Jamaica has reached that taxable limit. Shrinking incomes cannot sustain a government tax program as we currently have, because the Government is sucking out money out of the Economy that otherwise would have gone to the buying of goods and services, and is not been replaced or supplemented by another means. Remittances isnt what it use to be, from the global recession hit some years ago sending the global economy into a tizzy, and for the large part hasn't recovered sufficiently, to create jobs for Jamaicans overseas who have traditionally supported their love ones here by sending money home regularly,that lost their jobs in the recession

 And to drive home that point, from in the 1990`s, the only form of monetary activity that has brought money into this economy-other than tourism, has been remittances. That has prop up a government economic model, of stifling economic growth in favor of borrowing. This is what has cause our present crisis.

the 1980`s, the Jamaican economy recovered from the devastation brought on by the communist lap dance, instituted by a man that either was smoking cocaine, or suffering from some form of degenerative disease, and was producing impressive growth rates. But what must be noted, is that those growth rates was not brought about by the waving of a magic wand, but by simply doing the basics right:producing things other countries are willing to buy. We had a thriving clothes manufacturing sector, comming out of the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), and other forms of Manufacturing. Those industries alongside bauxite to a lesser extent, produce those impressive growth rates of 5 or more per cent per annum. After the JLP was voted out of office, we saw those growth rates dipped precipitously and hasn't recovered since. The question now that has to be asked is why in Gods name did Mr. Patterson and Omar Davies deviated from the economic policyin  that was enriching the Nation? That question may not be answered for the rest of our life time. But to make it even more astonishing, is that in 1996, the same Government came up with what became known the National Industrial Policy(NIP)-yes i know alot of you reading this have never heard of such a policy before now-that was geared towards and i quote from the foreword:

 the goal of achieving a per capita income of $4,000 by the year 2010.

How will this be acheived? I quote again:"

This requires an average annual growth in GDP of six percent. (p. iii) … At the same time, the government is committed to developing an integrated and structured approach to economic policy. … Accordingly, policies for stabilization of the macro economy must be integrated with policies for promoting growth and diversification of production.

Wonderful aint it? Oh yes. Growth rates of 6% was needed to allow Jamaicans to enjoy per capita income of $4000 US dollars by 2010. But why was there such a need for growth rates of that magnitude? Simple. The PNP abandoned  a growth policy that was export oriented, and substituted in its place, a debt accumulation policy, and not only that, but the systematic, and well thought out destruction of the financial sector, wiping out yet again a substantial part of the Jamaican economy. It wasn't just the banks that went under but alot of other businesses that just couldn't manage the ridiculous interest rates that was been charged to barrow money. But even then, the PNP understood the need to get Jamaica back on the growth track. So the obvious question is why didnt they do it? They didnt do it for two reasons: (a) they place a larger emphasis on winning elections rather than governing well and (B) they didnt know how to do it. They still dont know how to do it decades after. While the NIP called for such impressive growth rates, the government then didnt see it fit to do what was necessary to produce such growth rates. What they did was started on the policy of deficit spending. Not only was money wasted on ill concieved projects like NETSERV, but alot of it was siphoned off to win elections. In the runup to the 2002 general election, state resources was mobilized in such away as to secure a win at the polls even though the Government knew it was ruinous economically! Talk about wicked! Then Omar by some providence of God or just sheer contempt for Jamaicans made it know in his now infamous "run wid it" speech. Not to mention, the many millions that went into the pockets of many persons in the form of cost overruns on projects such as Sandals Whitehouse.

So its pretty plain to me that the Government deviated from the NIP not by coincidence but by design. They knew that if they were to produce such economic prosperity, their is no way under heaven certain people who is essential to winning elections, could get rich, without working.You see the PNP understands economics this way: If i cant make the money fast enough am going to barrow until i have enough. Now the cost of all those bad policies, destroying the economic foundation left by Mr.Seaga, the dumping in file 13 of the NIP, is what we are seeing now-a failing state. In some sectors a failed state. The current IMF policy is only postponing the inevitable-a total collapse of the economic base of the country and a decent into taotal anarchy. That only can be averted by a removal of them from office, or a total re-thinking of the present economic strategy.For mei prefer a total removal.

WHERE DOES LIBERAL THINKING STOP?

THE World has undergone dramatic changes over the past fifty years, and so have a lot of what is loosely termed Conservative thinking on almost every facet of life. What was once outlandish to do, is now acceptable, and encouraged as a new way of thinking or doing things. This undoubtedly have given the world a fresh look at many things and has led to many innovations that have been quite beneficial to our way of life. In what historians have labelled the dark ages, little was known about anything other than religion, (which in many cases deviated from the clear teachings of God declared in the bible, to something coming from the devil) and many persons suffered from what was then incurable diseases.

Once what we now know to be the age of enlightenment (which to me is not so much about enlightenment per se but an improvement upon certain things that was already known in some shape or form) took hold in Europe with guys like Rousseau and Voltaire among others, thinking began a radical realignment. Things that was frowned upon started to be inquired into, and science started to play a much bigger role in human affairs. One consequence of that was an erosion into what was considered religion in that time. Wrongly or rightly. But for me one of the greatest legacy of the enlightenment period, is the effect it had on liberalization of the thought processes of human beings. Things that was once condemned as ungodly or blasphemous came into mainstream life with positive results and grave negative results also.

For one women started to see their share of influence rise in areas once dominated by men. It’s out of this sort of liberalized thinking, that in my view the modern feminist movement grew out of. Women were namely housekeepers before the revolution and realignment of the sexes started. Women were given the right to vote and so forth. They could go and have an education without having to be a part of the aristocracy. They could now go out and work too, thereby in some ways freeing themselves from the strangle hold of men. While I am not saying that the enlightenment period gave women a lot of rights or freedoms, straight away, but what it did was to give the proponents of greater freedom for women the opportunity to formulate the thoughts that would allow for such things to come later.

Sex also saw its fortune undergo a dramatic change. People started looking at their bodies in a different way. Previously, sex was the purview of married people, for recreation purposes. And that is understandable because so many people died young, so it became necessary that sex should produce children. However as cures for diseases was discovered and people started living longer, the need for another use for sex became important. Sex now became more of a recreation activity, and that led to the Kama Sutra become more widely used and improved upon. We now have seen the continuation of the liberalizing of sexual thought and practice in ways the enlightening could never have imagined. And the list goes on.

However, the liberalizing of thoughts from Conservatism in many cases has have disastrous consequences on the human family. While women could now leave the home go to work in greater numbers for instance, the family as a unit became fractured and dysfunctional, as both parents are now working and the children are no longer the only focus of the mother. Children started to learn things on their own and most times it was the wrong things. The morality that use to be taught from an early age became lost in the sea of competing demands, and its end result has been a set of kids brought up without a moral center and a cold interior that has led to the further destruction of society at large. With the advent of science scoring greater and greater successes and more gadgets becoming available to persons now that have the economic means to buy such things, these things took the place of shared family values and time, as parents and children become preoccupied with them-especially Television. As things got more advanced, society began to suffer. Unspeakable evil started to gain in popularity. Murder, rape, prostitution etc., took off, and human beings started to devalue each other. Not even animals were spared, as cosmetics became the in thing and women crave them, to make them more beautiful. That again started the age old question of what constitutes beauty, and which race was the most beautiful. We have seen the consequences of the bleaching phenomenon that took hold among black people.

Disrespect for parents and authority thrived as the old structures of discipline was swept away and the new liberal thinking took hold. Hollywood started been father and mother to children, and KFC and MacDonald’s replaced proper home nutrition. Obesity became entrenched. Sex started getting so liberalized that nothing is out of bounds anymore. The lust for the flesh became so great that it transcended the boundary of the other sex to same sex, much more than before. That again continued the destruction of the society and all that is good and wholesome. Abortion became the new mass murder weapon of choice, as the experimentation with sex started producing unwanted children. Then came the advent of the AIDS epidemic that has wiped out thousands upon thousands of women, children and men and up until now, there isn’t any cure for it. Religion wasn’t spared either. The value placed on life became nothing as the marched of science gave men the power to destroy themselves in ways unimaginable before. Guns that can fire hundreds of rounds per minute, replaced swords and bayonets, and that led to deaths right across the world, only surpassed by the first and second world wars. Society began its slow descent to anarchy that is still continuing in different degrees in societies around the globe today.

I could go on pointing out the destructive effects of the liberalized nature of thinking, and still couldn’t find an end point. The question now is: where does liberalized thinking stop? When will society realize that their needs to be a re ordering of the human family to much more conservative thinking to halt the destruction of the moral center of every society? The Americanization of the entire globe through globalization-that is predicated upon-you guessed it-the liberalization of trade-has caused untold sufferings to societies that traditionally have been organized around traditional values like the respect for the aged, parents and authority, the love for life, dressing in appropriate ways, and hard work, etc. These values need to be brought back into modern society if we hope to have anything resembling a bright future. At the rate that we are currently going as a human family there is absolutely no way we can dream of a new world that we all are in peace and prosperity and realize it. Too much liberalization of thought has contributed to too many social and spiritual ills that we as a human family cannot continue to be the recipient of. Time for a change back to conservative values.

STOP BEHAVING LIKE HITLER AND YOU WONT BE LIKEN TO HIM

Recently the PNP saw it fit to release a statement condemning a photograph that is circulating on social media of a swastika imposed on the PNP emblem. The condemnation that the PNP gave to matter is by all means stupid. While it continues to dodge questions on matters of tremendous importance to this country, like the wasting of public funds by the NHT to buy a failing entity and the lies that were and are been told to justify the purchase, it found time to condemn what cannot be considered as more than a stupid matter. It goes to show what is of importance to this hapless group of people.

It is not by any means surprising however, as we see time and again members of the PNP especially the incompetent Prime Minister, taking issue with political satire in the official media, very personally as if she is above been laughed at. And the way how she goes about hitting out at any form of criticism is tantamount to how the Nazi dealt with dissenting views, with one exception, the critics aren’t shot dead. And at the rate they are going it may be just a matter of time before that starts happening.

The picture that has caused so much problems for the PNP shows Minister Faulkner in a Nazi uniform, and we must bare in mind that the photo came out after the media briefing where the Minister sought to bully journalist in toeing the party line, to the extent that a journalist mike was physically taken away from him and one was turned off, to the threatening of Head of Nationwide News Network Cliff Hughes by the media Director in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to pull the station off air. In a democratic and free society such behavior is intolerable and have to be condemned in the most forceful manner. When the PNP seeks to do things reminiscent of how the Nazi`s behaved in the 1930`s, and then get satired for it they should not be complaining one bit. While many persons associate Nazism with the Holocaust, we must remember that the Holocaust came later in the Reign of Hitler-not at first. What they started out in the early days doing was controlling the media through the feared SS and intimidating and jailing their opponents. Not to mention the night of the long knives. The pattern of the PNP since taking office has been confrontational, dictatorial and disrespectful to Jamaicans in general. Look at how they treat with scant regard the Office of the Opposition leader, and the how the JLP Senators are bullied by the Senate President, the arrogant, pompous and out of order Floyd  Morrison, to the point where recently, Senator Tom Tavares Finson had was to angrily complain about the treatment meted out to them by the President.

Yet those instances pale in comparison to how the Prime Minister and her information spokesperson deals with sensitive issues of National importance. The Prime Minister comes to Parliament and refuse to answer questions about NHT, mislead the Parliament and the Jamaican people and have not apologize for it among many others. Time and time again the Prime Minister has acted in ways contrary to the Democratic principles that underpin a Democratic State and have behaved in dictatorial manner reminiscent of Adolf Hitler. The PNP needs to understand, that it is not what they think people will think about their actions, but actually what people thinks about what they do. Ministers in this government has behaved on many occasion just like how the Ministers in the Third Reich behaved then. Take for instance the Richard Azan matter and how he behaved and how the Councilors in his constituency behaved, one even made the point that it was nothing more than a nine day wonder. What we have witness is a pattern of behavior that is anti-democratic and dictatorial in nature. Furthermore we have in the past seen what the PNP is capable of when it puts the machinery of the state to fulfill an ideology-we saw it in the 1970`s.

What the PNP must understand is that Democratic principles are the foundation on what all Free states are built. All truly democratic societies are built on the freedom of the press, freedom of speech and sound governance. While we may not have officially sanctioned press censorship, but the manner in which the PNP is behaving towards the Press will send a chilling effect on the few unbiased media houses in this country. The recent attack on those of us on social media is designed to have the same effect. What the PNP is after, is to cause social media proponents of good Governance like myself to go into hiding behind fake profiles or to stop criticizing the Government. While official media have to respect the PNP or some archaic law that protects certain people from close scrutiny, social media carries no such restriction. That’s what the PNP is afraid of. They can’t control social media. Recently another photo about vote buying in the last election in Central Westmoreland that was published by a known social media activist, drew from Minister Hanna a thinly veiled threat of court action against the lady. These are all designed to create the feeling of unease and fear for social media critics like us. But we must fight back, and fight back in a strong, determined, and forceful way, criticizing even more the policies of the PNP that is ruinous to this country. Criticizing the social media group SYMJ over the picture of Faulkner, and trying to tie it to the Jamaica Labour Party, smacks of how Hitler tried to pin everything bad on the Communist Party at that time in Germany. It’s not only dangerous to draw such comparisons that doesn’t exist, but in our climate of politics, that can be a death sentenced to us on social media and the JLP, as the PNP is loaded with idiots that is itching to do anything that comes to their mind in defense of their party. The reason been some of us like me who criticizes the PNP on a daily basis do not hide behind fake profiles.

The Group SYMJ while it’s loaded with supporters of the JLP, it doesn’t means that they are affiliated with the JLP. They do have high ranking members of the PNP that are members of the group. Should we then assume that that they are supporters of the JLP? One must understand that in this day and age, social media is a critical part of the democratic process and groups will be set up that contain people of like political persuasions. That doesn’t mean that these groups are directly linked or supported by the JLP. The PNP should be very careful it doesn’t open a Pandora`s box, and cause a social media fight back that can bring the party to its knees. We on social media do have ways of getting information that can really hurt people.

WHEN EVERYTHING GO WRONG TO WHO DO WE TURN?

WHEN everything goes wrong to who or what does one turn to have been the cry of all and sundry since time immemorial. Some persons have turn to drinking, gambling, murder and the like to find a way to solve their problems individually. Nations have gone to war with other nations, religion has turned to persecution of minorities and those that do not share their views. Whatever method or means that humanity have found to try to get things right when all seem wrong, the truth is for the most part it has gone horribly wrong. We can see it every day around us.

At this time that age old question is now been ask in this country. With the society falling apart, the economy in total disarray, morality hitting all-time lows, education in a mess, and God knows what else, the question now been pondered by many, is very important. For ages now men have look for salvation in many areas, the Jews looked for a Messiah, the Arabs are looking for their Messiah-the Mahdi, the Germans look to Hitler in the 1930`s and so too did the Americans to Roosevelt. Jamaica look to Seaga in the 80`s to provide salvation too. These men have provided varying degrees of success to their Nation and people in their time-depending on what barometer is used to measure success in the case of Hitler. In any event, he transformed the German economy to be able to wage war from 1939 to 1945. The reason why these men have been successful is that they provided leadership, and guidance, stability and prosperity when their nations needed it. Hitler set about transforming Germany and to educate his population, totally overhauling the economic foundation of Germany and turning it into a productive enterprise. That was very good. But what Hitler did well was to channel the despair of the German Nation, in such a way that there wasn’t social implosion but a renewed sense of belonging and National pride, by providing the most important thing any person needs to survive in difficult time: hope. He gave the hopeless Nation, (suffering from what some terms the oppressive treaty of Versailles signed when Germany lost the First World War, and the global depression that hit the world then)hope.

Jamaica is now in a similar position. This Nation is in desperate need of a leader with a vision for a brighter future that can be understood by the simplest man on this island. This Nation is in need of a leader that can inspire, the populace towards a clear objective. Hitler did that very well in Germany. While am not advocating the tyrannical nature of Hitler`s Germany, our National leaders would do well to understand how he went about inspiring people and given them hope. What we have in Jamaica is not leaders that actually have leaders that inspire hope, only ones that quarrel and quibble. Our present Prime Minister is a prime example.  When one sit down and listen to our politicians, all that one hears is a steady stream of the blame game. And the amazing thing about this blame game mentality, is that it is predicated on the assumption that because one side did so badly the other side has the authority to do worse, and nobody dare criticize them. What is not evident to those who seek to lead us is that the constant blame games, have not, and will not, rectify our present troubles or inspire hope in the Jamaican population.

Everything about Jamaican politics is boring, un-inspiring and redundant. We argue over politically leaders, not policies or programmes, we argue over party, not performance, we argue over who waste Jamaican resources more, rather than standing up and saying no to whomever waste these very limited resources. To show how apathetic this nation has become, the custody battle between Yendi Phillips and dancehall entertainer Chino is discussed more than the recent revelation that one Government Minister racked up a phone bill of 1.09 million Jamaican dollars.

What is sad is the hopelessness that characterizes this Nation seem to have no end in sight. Young people are growing up every day without a sense of purpose, looking at life as been nothing to really honour or protect. Just look at the hundreds been slaughtered each year in this small Nation. I remember when the present Minister of Education the Reverend Ronald Thwaite’s was in Opposition, he made a stunning remark one morning on his then talk show, Independent Talk on Power 106 FM. He said he visited one of our prominent incarceration institutions and he spoke with some young men that told him they did not expect to live to see twenty-three years of age, so whatever they hope to achieve in life they want it before then. That’s just a stunning but true statement. When a nation have so much young person’s devoid of any hope for a better future, it’s not surprising that there is the level of violence and mayhem in this country as we are currently living through. There is just nothing to give hope to these disillusion young people-of whom I must admit am one -that the next ten years there will be a change for the better.

The young ladies isn’t fairing much better either, as having a college degree does not guarantee a happy and prosperous life, but shacking up with a lotto scammer or don is the goal to be aspired to. Sad but true.

There isn’t a national vision that is inspiring or worthwhile thinking about or even practicable for that matter. All that we hear of is Vision 2030 and the logistic hub. Both of which few actually understands much more to be inspired by.  In my view those are two things that can truly be classified as a dream.

Hitler organized Germany around a shared vision, a clear, attainable goal that all Germans could readily understand- to make Germany a great nation once again. He set about creating the conditions to make Germany great, and he got the entire Nation to believe it. Jamaican leaders need to understand that very simple fact. But unlike Hitler who had a vision of what he wanted Germany to look like, and set about putting it in place, our politicians have no such vision to inspire us all to accept and rally around. The question still stands: to who or whom do we go to when everything is falling apart? 

POLITICS DON'T WORK.

THERE has been a thought running through this country that politics do not work and has failed this country. And one just have to look around at the condition of the country and it’s obvious that, that fact is true. For fifty plus years of independence politicians have systematically destroyed the dreams of the citizens of this country. It cannot be anything but by design that the country is left in the state it is in.

Let’s look at the human resources that we have as a nation and analyze how poorly politicians have manage it. From the basic school level right through to university, we have witness the failure of our politicians policies to develop the human resources of this country. When you have an education system that is constructed on the basis of a conveyor belt system that takes a student from grade seven until grade eleven without adequately assessing how much that student has learned throughout those years, can only lead to one thing: disaster. When you have a vocational education system that is predicated upon quantity and not quality, there can only be one outcome: disaster.

Now the question is, why? Why have politicians believe that it must be a policy to keep the majority of the citizens uneducated? It’s simple actually. They do not want an educated populace thinks! Jamaican politics aren't predicated on a thinking populace. It’s just not conducive to it. If the populace understands what governance is all about and what government should be doing for the up-liftment of the populace, then politicians could never make ridiculous promises that they have no intention of keeping, they couldn't buy peoples votes for a dish of curried goat etc., because the populace would be looking at the track record of the Government, its manifesto and how practical those intentions are, and how will those intentions translate itself in real benefit for the country. A thinking population is less tribalized, hence not able to be manipulated by politicians to maintain garrisons and to brain wash people into voting one way regardless of how ruinous that way is to the country. We must understand that education does for the brain what the spirit does for the soul. 

Without a good education system, then politicians will do like Arnaldo did, rack up over a million dollars in phone calls. That couldn't never happen in a Jamaica that is well educated. He would have to pay back that bill and resign from Government forthwith. It’s not by chance why the investment in education is so low, but by design. Let’s look at how the PNP wins election. The PNP base is not the educated class but the poor uneducated, dependent people in this country. Why is it that the PNP positions itself as the party of the poor? If it should try to shift policies away from favoring the poor, it try to help the poor it claims mostly through crash Program me and corruption, it will lose the election. Now look at the polls, that is showing the PNP loosing popularity with the Jamaican public, it Is because the PNP have been forced to abandon certain things they would usually do to waste resources on keeping people poor and dependent on the state, while having to structurally adjust the economy in a way that has increased the suffering on the poor. And to make it worse the love factor and the much talked about political capital that the Prime Minister has, is no longer as potent as before.

Another point to note is how bad this country has done economically. For most of this country lifetime, we have seen the economic barely moving. The only time this country has seen any real growth is from the 50`s through to 1972, when the PNP took power and destroyed the economic base of the country by a whopping 25%. That means, if the economy was valued at 100 $ when the PNP took power by the end of their tenure it valued only 75 $. What that did was to wipe out a lot of the businesses that was here producing goods and services that was been sold elsewhere thereby creating wealth. What about those who claims the growth in the 60s was uneven and the poor was not benefiting? It’s actually very simple. No country on earth that has been industrialized, has ever found a way to actually distribute wealth evenly all at once. What happens is that the wealth is accumulated by the Government in the form of taxes and then spend it on welfare programs, education and other areas that compliments the wages and salaries earned by people that are actually working. The object of economic growth is to employ as much people as possible creating goods and services and earning a salary. Economic growth is not predicated on making everybody rich at once or at all but to make everybody have a chance to be gainfully employed and to better themselves. Now once there is an expansion in the economic base of the country, then employment is going to accrue. Those that criticize the trickle down approach of industrialization should pay attention to what has happen to every communist country on earth, they all have change their economic foundation to capitalism in its full form, and have embraced the trickle-down effect. What is important to note is that the object of capitalism is not to make everybody rich but to create enough opportunities so everybody have a chance to be well off.  In the words of Winston Churchill, communism virtue lies in the “equal sharing of Misery.”

Now the PNP never got that but thought a redistribution of wealth would be the answer to making everybody rich rather than creating the conditions to enable people to work and produce wealth for themselves and the country. We are still suffering from that nonsense today. The 80`s` brought back a recovery and Jamaica started to grow again. Then we had the PNP back in power in the 90`s and set about systematically destroying the economic base that the JLP built that was working. Again economic growth plummeted and debt soared. The appetite for debt become so great that the productive sector was once again marginalize and production slowed to a crawl. What became important to the PNP was winning elections rather than governing properly, and in the words of the Prime Minister at that time PJ Patterson:” this government has presided over the most massive redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich, since slavery was abolished.” What in effect he was saying is that he govern this country in a way that benefits the rich at the expense of the poor.

What that has done is to create a set of disillusion in the minds of the populace that has never been experienced since slavery was abolished. We started seeing the rise in crimes, the rise in dons more than before, and the disintegration of the society. As a Nation, we have seen backward step after backward step that has plunged this nation further and further down the abyss of nothing ness. It has inevitably created the idea that politics does not work and there is but one step to take and that is to get what wants here and now, even if it means murdering somebody to get it.

POOR GOVERNANCE synonymous WITH PNP GOVERNMENTS.

With the recent revelation of Government Ministers and Junior Ministers racking up phone bills that cumulatively reaches over five million dollars, the matter of good governance and prudent managing of public finances have once again re-surface.  

In a time of austerity and” sufferation “of a large majority of Jamaicans it is pure evil to have government ministers been so profligate. It cannot be that while civil servants are been asked to hold strain, while prices are going up and inflation have reduced their purchasing power significantly, these things are happening so frequently. From the SUV`s, the deportation of Abu bakur back to Trinidad, down to this present fiasco, we are seeing a government that claims to be holding strain wasting resources left right and center-and it’s not even election time as yet-god help us when that time comes, and nothing is been done to stop this. What can one junior Minister be talking about so much to rack up a million dollars? What is he calling home to Mars? It’s simply extraordinary. But again it fits the pattern of how the PNP governs. It’s almost expected that the PNP will waste resources in such manner, as it has grown to believe that whatever it does it will not get punished by the electorate. Remember Omar`s infamous run wid it statement?”

Now what does that say about Governance in this country? Let me draw upon something that happen in Japan recently and was all over the BBC. A lady resigned from the Government over the misuse of campaign finances, not public money, but she saw that what she did was not in keeping with best practices in governance and she left. In Jamaica that is not so. What politicians and their supporters do is to find every conceivable excuse to explain it away and at the end nobody gets held to account. That cannot be good governance and cannot be good for our democracy, as people will continue to lose faith in our political system. Look at the voter turnout in the last election and it’s quite obvious that Jamaicans apart from the die hearts are not interested in politics and scandals like these will continue to further erode confidence in our political system. What will inevitably happen is a kakistocracy, as more and more competent people shuns politics, and as we know democracy cannot survive without political representation.

What does this scandal say about the Prime Minister and the control she has over her own Government? As we have seen repeatedly she is a weak leader than has no understanding of what proper Governance entails. She seems incapable of holding her own Ministers accountable, and that has led to a feeling within her Government that it is a free for all. From this news broke, she should have called a meeting of her Cabinet and order these ministers to pay back at least half of the money that has been spent paying down those bills, and order the junior ministers to pay back at the very least 75% of their bill. What that would do is send a signal to these Ministers and Junior Ministers that that sort of wasteful behavior will not be tolerated. But alas that will never happen. She is a sad replica of a very poor leader.

What does that does for the economic Programme? Well it’s simple really. For every dollar that is wasted, somewhere in the budget gets cut as the finance Minister have to meet IMF targets. What that translates into is less money to spend on roads and hospitals etc. that is in a mess. How can we as a Nation hope to make it as a first world country by 2030 if our politicians continue to waste scarce resources? For politics to truly deliver, it has to be manage prudently. Our politics is nothing but a cess pool of nastiness, wastage, corruption and incompetence.

Without a radical realignment of our political priorities as a nation, we are going absolutely no where. The PNP needs to be punished by the electorate very badly next time around so they can understand that we own Jamaica and not them.

LEAVE US ALONE

THE recent debate over the legalization of homosexuality in Jamaica has reached a level we have never seen before.The intensity that has now characterized the discourse in the country on both sides is intresting to say the least. On the acceptance right,they have taken it to the courts to challenge the constitutionality of the Nation's buggery laws that criminalizes Homosexuality. The court action is significant for a couple of reasons:it has galvanized the forces against it in such away that hasn't been seen in this country before on anything,of importance. The Church has taken it on headlong,organizing demonstration and speaking out in almost perfect harmony,denouncing any move to legalized homosexuality. On the other hand,however,their is those that support the move towards freedom and equality-as they put it-and the current court action has brought them closer together in there quest to gain acceptability.

 BACK GROUND TO THE COURT ACTION.

To give a background to the current court action that is now before the courts brought by a gay rights activist is both timely and instructive. The gentleman is alleging that he ask the two free to air television stations in the Island(TVJ AND CVM) to air a documentary promoting tolerance towards homosexuals and they refused. He is also contending that the Nations public broadcaster,(PCB)when asked did not show the documentary either and they are now party to this matter. The gay rights activist is contending that his right to freedom of speech has been breached when all three refused to air the documentary. Not surprisingly,all three entities are saying they did no such thing. There is also another suit in the courts that has been brought by a homosexuals,who is alleging that he was removed from a house he rented based upon his sexual orientation. He is challenging the constitutionality of the buggery law. Not surprisingly overseas gay rights groups have joined his constitutional challenge.

With all of these different court actions and interested parties joining each camp,it has reignited an issue that has not died a natural death even though the government of Jamaica has not made any real attempt to repeal the buggery law due to public opposition,and the fear that any Government that repeal that law will never be elected to office again. The Prime Minister, however has indicated a willingness to have a look at the buggery law,and  that has infuriated a wide cross section of the Jamaican populace.What many persons do not understand it seems,is that the strong opposition of the populace,is due to what they see as an abhorrent and unnatural act,alien to our beliefs and cultural practices.It cannot be that the majority of Jamaicans,are against the legalization of homosexuality and are been forced by gays,and their supporters to accept what is considered to be a nasty and frankly ungodly act. To use the nations courts to force their lifestyles on us,is tantamount to treason,and should be thrown out of the courts forthwith! Jamaicans do not subscribed to that sort of behavior,and in my estimation should be allowed to live without that sort of nastiness been legal in this country.The homosexual community is demanding that they be allowed to carry out such unnatural acts,on the basis that they have the right to do so,and everybody must accept and live with it.But contained within that,is the wanton refusal,to allow  the majority of the populace that do not want that to happen,the freedom to have our government keep the law that criminalizes such acts. It seem these fellows believe that they alone have rights! 

DEMOCRACY

Democracy is founded upon the principle of majority rules. People are free to elect Government to enact legislation that serves the interest of the majority. That's simply a fact of life.If the majority decides against homosexuality been legalized,in a real democracy,that should be the law,plain and simple.The gays should not be given any leeway whatsoever to force there lifestyle on us. If it is that they feel so aggrieved,there is a simple solution,just leave! We do not want their sort of corrosive lifestyles contaminating a society that is still heavily Christian in character,(if even nominally so) and where we subscribe to the view that a man and a woman must have sexual intercourse,and not two men.Like it or not,we view homosexuality as a sin and an unnatural act,that is a crime against nature and should indeed be criminalize.We do not want our kids to be taught that it is acceptable and normal for two men or women to be having sex,and to be called wife and husband. Thais an abomination,of judgmental proportions. Our lifestyles may look archaic to others that embraces the homosexuality,but to us that's our way of life,and we make no apologies for that!   

UNDERSTAND US OR LEAVE US ALONE.

The homosexuals should understand that their behavior will never be accepted by the majority of Jamaican's,no matter what the court rules. It would be a dark day in Jamaican history if the court ruled that the buggery law must be repealed. That would be the end of our nation's identity and character. Our society is one that is based upon our beliefs,garnered from the bible,and culture. These nation's that now has embraced the homosexuality agenda and has legalized it,was once against it. But once the homosexuals attained high office they push through their agenda and force it upon others who do not subscribe to that sort of living., Because they have so much success in first world countries they believe that they must ensure that the world embraces their warped way of living. So far Jamaica has stood up against that sort of living and hopefully our judges will not betray us and struck down the buggery law. Those that seek to contaminate us with such despicable behavior should understand that we will not embrace their culture and will not subscribe to such nastiness. They may be first world economically,but they are worse than third world morally. Leave us alone with our way of life. .