Only right can correct wrong

DURING HIS Independence Day message to the country in 2013, His Excellency the Governor General (GG) Sir Patrick Allen expressed the view, perhaps the hope, that “there is nothing wrong with Jamaica that cannot be fixed by what is right with Jamaica”. His comments were predicated on his belief that “the large majority of Jamaicans are decent, hard-working, law-abiding citizens and that we have the capacity to transform Jamaica into the country which we envision”.

I concur that there are countless decent, hard-working, law-abiding citizens who have the moral capacity and competence to lead Jamaica into greatness, but alas, there are not many to be found in the hallowed halls of politics, the bastion of national power and leadership. Without the right [quality] people immersed in our politics, that which is wrong with Jamaica will never be corrected.

So, what of the other areas of national public life, you ask, isn’t there enough right resident within those areas to correct what is wrong? Simply put, no: while all good things in national life flow from above, so too do the bad things. Politics dictates the size, shape, quality and inequality throughout our public agencies and national life in general.

What’s right with Jamaica, our good, decent citizens are not attuned to local politics, and neither is our politics attuned to them. Right and wrong cannot mix in this equation.

DECENCY AND RESPONSIBILITY

What would it take to right the critical wrongs in our political and public service systems? I would start with decency, which would no doubt “stir response to duty’s call”. Thereafter, I would go with responsibility, putting the needs of people first, and ensuring those needs are properly attended to.

Reflect on the chaos which prevailed last week, due in large part to the much-needed but overwhelming rains. For months, we were drought-stricken and those in government and the relevant agencies knew that eventually the rains would not just come, but come aplenty. In the interim, they did precious little to clear the drains or clean the gullies. Then came the rains and the flooding.

Each morning, while driving to work, it was evident the drains were blocked by piles of garbage, plastics and debris – all waiting for the afternoon rains to cause further inconvenience and damage.

But story really came to bump when, in the middle of the downpour on one of those miserable days, while stuck in the parking lot that was supposed to be Old Hope Road, sirens and flashing lights aplenty signalled to us mere decent, law-abiding and extremely frustrated citizens that we should clear the way for a member of the chosen fraternity, a politician, no doubt, to pass by us. Well, I did not budge, and neither did the other motorists. We could not, at any rate, given the bumper-to-bumper situation, and so the chosen one was forced to stew like the rest of us.

Surely, if there was a sense of care and responsibility among the heads of our public agencies, there would have been pointed efforts to clean up the critical areas so as to avoid the sure catastrophe of inaction.

Surely, if there was any decency among our leaders, that politician would have been an equal-opportunity road user, suffering the inconvenience of traffic jams rather than the indignity of being stuck like the rest of us common folk, entourage and all.

So, while I agree with the views of the GG, I maintain that that which is wrong with Jamaica will not be corrected until we correct that which is wrong with our political system, getting the right people to represent us, decent people who will be part of our solution, not part of our problem.