Wheel and come again
THE LONGEST voting line I observed last Monday was in front of the United States Embassy on Old Hope Road. Most of those people appeared to be well-educated and in the 18-35 age demographic most conspicuously absent in all Jamaican local government voting lines. They are also the people whose productive energies the nation can ill-afford to do without.
Instead of public jousting between the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and People’s National Party (PNP) as to who “won” the contest, the parties should shut up and apply themselves to governance in a new and cooperative way. That might help to dissuade the multitude who are voting with their feet against the prevailing socio-political economy.
NOTHING TO BOAST ABOUT
On election day I drove to the May Pen Cemetery and quickly gave up the prospect of finding the burial place of relatives in that overgrown jungle which is the responsibility of the municipality. The stinking garbage in the market district further down was evidence of the same expensive neglect. All this in the constituency of the minister of local government. The representatives for that division are lucky that even three out of ten electors bothered to vote.
The fat lady pictured on television with the punctured nose, tongue and green regalia who got two bags of chicken as incentive for her vote, summed up the public’s mood. She would support any side who “worked with her” because she does not expect to see her representative after the campaign dust settles. So all the PNP had to do was to come up with more chicken. After all, even “big MP switch”!
The crowds who had turned up for the excitement, the outing and the loot on the campaign trail were absent in the voting lines. The governing majority in most municipalities can claim no more than 15 per cent of those who could vote. What kind of mandate is that?
ADVANTAGE PNP
The People’s National Party now has an impressive and widely expanded ambit of governance. What will they do with it? If Andrew Swaby and the other six PNP-aligned mayors operate in the same rut as their predecessors, their days will be numbered too.
Take public cleansing as a first priority. Any councillor who leads in the delivery of a clean environment in their division will be doing a great service to their constituents, the lustre of their party and themselves. But who can do that when they have no control of public sanitation and will end up with begging bowls in front to Desmond’s ministry for the resources needed for projects?
Under present management and structure, disappointment and failure are likely. The new administrators should make a clean environment their priority anyway. Despite tolerating filth and disrespect for so long, Jamaicans do not like to live in nastiness and will appreciate strong efforts to beautify their surroundings.
Warmington paid the longdeserved price for being explicit and raw about his tribalism and ugly arrogance in appropriating public funds for his partisan objectives. And the crowd loved it, didn’t they. But make no mistake, many others in power share his sentiments and copy his behaviour, if not his demeanour. Nor is he sufficiently de-fanged if in their fear of his big mouth turning against them, his party retains him on the Integrity Commission Oversight Committee.
External auditors should be afforded immediately, especially at the KSAMC, to verify expenditure and expose malfeasance and inefficiency in the municipalities . All accounts should be brought up to date and submitted to parliament within one year from now, failing which there should be a freeze on expenditure until compliance. Enforce this and watch people scamper.
The performance of all committes , particularly those connected with building and commercial approvals, must be scrutinized to detect and prevent corruption and to weed out the turgid bureaucracy which feeds graft. Have there been opportunities for unjust enrichment, as many suspect?
In short, the efficiency, transparency and incorruptibility of local governance are the only things which can restore confidence in the institution. These are the only things worth talking about.
DO BETTER THAN THAT
Sadly, last week several issues occurred which should offend our consciences. The most egregious is the refusal of asylum to the first group of Haitian refugees who sought haven here several months ago. No reasons have been given. Every Christian in Jamaica who is sensitive to God’s care for the outcast throughout the Bible must rise up in condemnation of this cruelty. Without more, those who made this decision, should be exposed and repudiated.
Next, there is the announced divestment of Nutrition Products Limited (NPL), the hub of the school feeding programme. Under the chairmanship of James Rawle between 2012 and 2016, this agency reformed, expanded and made a surplus which could be reinvested. If we really cared for our children and wanted to reduce the frustration, migration and dystopia in our society, we would double the vote for school feeding and strengthen, not jettison, institutions like NPL.
The litany continues. Look how long Fitz Jackson has been struggling to get us a little relief from the predatory fees which Government allows banks to extort. A date way down in October has been given for an aspect of the matter to be adjudicated. The delay is shameful. I predict that when Fitz prevails, retroactive repayment will be denied just as it has been with the benefits due the security guards.
Unfair too in the estimates of expenditure is the $10 billion earmarked for the University of the West Indies but less than $2.3billion for the University of Technology. They deserve parity while we work out a different model of financing tertiary education. And why do we continue to contribute $200 million to the profitable Caribbean Examination Council in addition to the very high fees paid by every entrant?
And please take shame out of our eyes by explaining the allocation of $1.4 billion to the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs when last year’s expenditure has resulted in a disappointing flop. Shouldn’t performance guide expenditure? What’s going to be different this year?
The tight but changed balance of control in local government should excite a new vigilance and heightened scrutiny among the citizenry about how priorities are set and how our money is spent as we lurch towards a general election choice.
Lastly. Please Mr. Holness. Like you, all of us understand the need for economic growth. Except it is really anaemic and fitful. Why? And as we do grow, inequality is increasing. So are pain and distemper spreading among the weakest. Remember Mr. Seaga told us that trickle-down economics doesn’t work. Didn’t you feel and see that last week?