Sincerity and truth
THIS WRITING is about sincerity and truth in public life. Both virtues have to be evident and constant in the conduct of governors if a peaceful, non-repressive, productive society is to exist. Mr. Holness has recently called the nation to prayer for these qualities in personal and national life during the Lenten season. This is a good call.
At the end of this month, Jamaicans are being asked to vote in a cultivated atmosphere of widespread distrust among ourselves and in the sincerity of leaders. They are also deeply suspicious of the truth-telling of many in political and public office. The very subject matter of the election, the system of local governance, is suspect. How ordinary people know it to operate is not how it is supposed to be.
DIFFERENT WORLDS
Last week, campaign utterances and in Gordon House aggravated the perceptions of insincerity and untruth.
The prime minister complains that public appreciation lags behind the considerable economic advantages created by his administration. Apart from the inevitable tendency to conflate policy announcement with successful execution, the truth is that it is the government who is a stranger to the disadvantages and unnecessary hardships faced by ordinary people.
Take for instance the tidy and optimistic economic picture offered whenever the minister of finance speaks. All of that means nothing to the minimum-wage worker trying to feed a family and maintain a semblance of dignity on less than $15,000 per week.
The modest inflation numbers bear no relation to the weekly increases in dry goods and market prices. Hundreds of thousands of our people can’t afford adequate food and other basic necessities. But who in authority is addressing these basic needs with sincerity and truth? Those who self-congratulate about macroeconomic gains say nothing helpful about food, health and transportation right now. Jamaica is more unequal than ever this election season.
As they engorge themselves with fat salaries and perks, the message to the rest of us is the same as it was since 1865: “Wait! Soon come… look how many groundbreakings are taking place. For now, just hold this money” – inducement either to vote or, if you would likely vote PNP, to stay away. Big bucks will be running this week!
Whose perception is out of kilter when the first class primary school needs to hire a competent bursar who must be paid twice what the Ministry will reimburse for this post? Same time as the parents are told by the government, which correctly demands strict accounting for public funds sent to the school, that they, the parents, need make no contribution to public education? Where is the sincerity and truth in this situation?
It is a relief that murders are reduced in January and road fatalities similarly. But when it is an obviously low priority to relieve the antecedent causes of crime and violence or the manifest unsuitability of many motor operators, not many will be convinced that the rosy figures can be sustained. They have good reason not to be.
UNDERPERFORMERS WHO RULE
The same goes for the supposed action agenda set out in t he Throne Speech delivered on behalf of King Charles by his viceroy. Track the lofty utterances from year to year f or repetitions and measure the abysmal level of fulfilment of all the promises and commitments made last Thursday? What is going to make it different this year? Sir Patrick Allen is a sincere and truthful man. What constraint makes him read stuff which he knows is unlikely to get done. And isn’t it an imperative of conscience to use your words to address the most pressing needs of needy people rather than being a mouthpiece for the ego-tripping underperformers?
Which brings us to the preelection debates. On any truthful account, local government is a disappointment in the estimation of most citizens. Councillors have very little autonomy to tackle the weight and range of issues for which they are nominally responsible. They are at best branch managers for the Minister of Local Government. What is the purpose of voting on February 26 if the wholesale reform of local government is not on the agenda? As it is, the councillors are bound to fail even reasonable expectations. Most become very well paid area leaders for their party rather than well-equipped brokers of civic order and development. No wonder this outing is being treated as a show-and-tell of central government’s standing.
The Minister, Mr Hill was heard warning public officials to avoid nepotism and favouritism in the award of contracts. Good. He now knows something which we knew already. His mild advice identifies what many believe to be widespread at several levels of state administration. Did not one mayor recently call for an investigation into corrupt matters for which he, same one, is responsible?
WHY VOTE
Voters should cast their ballot based on which candidate or party articulates the clearest and most credible path to local government autonomy and accountability and commits to stand against all forms of corruption, purposeful and unfair delay in the grant of permits and delivery of services. Otherwise there is no point.
The party with most money to splash can win but to what end? Obtaining and exercising power for anything but the common good and the relief of the most vulnerable is unvarnished tyranny.
Just asking. Are all the accounts of the municipal corporations up to date and audited?
DEBATING
A debate is a matching of wits, intellect and hopefully humour and good will about a particular topic. There is no place for prepared statements to be read instead of directly proposing and rebutting arguments. Grandstanding and profiling are boring,insipid and immature. Neither is a debate the same as a press conference where you answer questions as you please. I dare the sponsors of political debates to wheel and come again with two moots. The first would be “How must local government in Jamaica be restructured to best serve public needs”. And second, “How best to secure fairness, efficiency, transparency and accountability in the operation of municipal governance”.
It will be a disgrace if nothing changes at month-end except a few faces.