Curb the corruption, Longville Park residents say
WITH THE crime monster claiming more than 60 lives since the start of the year in Clarendon, it would not be strange if this was cited as the biggest impediment to economic growth in the parish, but not so say some residents of Longville Park.
They say that the greatest impediment to economic growth in Jamaica is corruption and that much of this stems from unnecessary bureaucracy.
Kemeila Ewers was part of a group of residents who participated in The Gleaner’s ‘On the Corner’ series with cochairman of the Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC) Keith Duncan last Wednesday, and she was adamant that corruption is a clear and present danger.
TRY AGAIN
“We face too many barriers to get fundamental things done in our own country, and it frustrates you to the point where you just give somebody a money,” declared the educator, pointing to the illicit process in which persons make back-door payments in order to acquire a driver’s licence.
“The authorities keep telling you to try again, come back in a week or a month. So, while some of them aren’t outright telling you to pay, in essence, that is the aim. So, naturally, if persons know someone who’s willing to accommodate that, they will oblige to speed up the process.
“Why place a vacancy in the paper, to have somebody apply for the post when you know you’ve already selected someone and the person won’t be successful? Its corruption, and if we don’t rid the country of it, there’s no way we can succeed economically because those who are worthy and deserving have to know someone to get somewhere,” charged Ewers.