The Jamaican Political Landscape

I was born in Jamaica and grew up in Hopewell, Hanover, which is close to Montego Bay, the tourist capital of Jamaica. My family and I migrated in the late 1970s when there was rising political unrest on the island due to the threat of Jamaica becoming an English-speaking territory of Cuba. I remember people leaving in droves to go to Canada and the United States. I have returned to Jamaica on several occasions since then and I must say that my impressions of the land of my birth have changed dramatically with each visit. I was particularly taken aback when I visited last June at the squalor in the center of Montego Bay, which was once a tony city bustling with so much activity. There were so many roads that were in disrepair, Pye River Cemetery was an absolute eye-sore and above all, I was completely baffled at the sight of a water treatment plant that replaced what used to be acres and acres of sugar cane. The stench that comes from that plant is unbearable some times during the day and there is a subdivision across the street.

I must say, that the nation has become technologically savvy, to some degree and one can find the latest fashions and trends there as well, but the broader question is at what cost to the heritage and dignity has the island forsaken its basic responsibility to its people? Jamaica has always been a premier tourist destination for as long as I can remember and the island has always been a friendly place to be, with the best accommodations, foods, culture and activities for all. But Jamaica has sunken into some levels of degradation due to the recently ousted Peoples National Party, which governed the island for 18 years. P. J. Patterson and Portia Simpson Miller have been the worst leaders in the country's short history. They have managed to plunder resources, while selling Jamaica out to any bidders that meet their criteria. The crime rate has skyrocketed and the drugs have become a very pervasive problem on the island. A recent report released by the U.S. State Department has listed Jamaica among the top 20 drug trafficking hubs in the world. Surely this is not what our forefathers such as Alexander Bustamante and Norman Manley had hoped to see in our history. Jamaica is among Venezuela, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Haiti on this list. There is a great deal of corruption in the police ranks and we need good, solid leadership and a far-reaching crime-fighting plan that can take the streets back from the criminals and remove all fear from residents.

The government is in debt up to its neck. The island is in total disarray and I hope that the new Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, an economist and veteran parliamentarian, can undo some of the mess that P.J. Patterson and Portia Simpson Miller, as well as their cronies, have created. The government borrowed millions of dollars from the Chinese government to build a cricket stadium to host the Cricket World Cup earlier this year, which will rarely be used. The total outlay for the stadium and expenses came to a mind-boggling JA$7 billion, or US$100 million! Golding has said that the new government has inherited a debt of almost a trillion dollars, which is an enormous nightmare. When the Jamaica Labor Party left office in 1989, the debt was $38 billion. He also said that the murder total for this year is likely to be in excess of 1,300, a remarkable statistic for a country of nearly three million people. Hurricane Dean battered the island in some areas and will set back the government's growth, inflation and balanced budget plans, to some degree.

Jamaica's difficulty in increasing its social and infrastructural investments continues to contribute to the government's struggle to reduce crime and violence and to measurably improve good governance and the rule of law. The island is challenged to fulfill its most basic role, that of ensuring citizen security. Jamaica's violent crime and reputation for corruption deter investment and increase the cost of doing business. Efforts to improve good governance and reduce corruption are not only critical to social and political stability, but figure prominently in Jamaica's ability to achieve economic competitiveness and sustained growth.

Socially speaking, Jamaica's young people face a myriad of risks, such as early sexual initiation, sexual and physical abuse, dropping out of school, unemployment, substance abuse and drug dealing, and violence. HIV/AIDS continues to spread indiscriminately throughout the island, aided by significant stigma and discrimination that keep the disease underground and foster reluctance for testing and treatment. Jamaica's poor-performing, under-funded education system is not reliably producing young people with adequate literacy and numeracy skills, much less the higher level skills needed to compete in an increasingly complex, competitive global marketplace.

If the country is to realize sustained economic growth, the Jamaican government must create an enabling environment within which the private sector can be the catalyst for economic growth. In order for that growth to be sustained it must also be equitably distributed throughout the population, which means that efforts must be undertaken to address the need for growth and development in rural areas. Jamaica can be a wonderful place to live and visit once more, if the government would take its role seriously and try to recapture the days when discipline and accountability were mainstays. The land of wood and water has a lot of positive as well, such as its close proximity to the North America, where it could receive outsourced jobs from the U.S., however, the negatives have to be countered and remedied first.

We should give the new Prime Minister a chance to fulfill some of his mandates, such as providing free secondary school education, reducing crime, creating an educated and productive workforce, attracting investments that create jobs, generate prosperity and ensure that the prosperity is shared among all people, transparency and accountability in government and the elimination of corruption, that has dogged Jamaica for so long. He has some good ideas and it will be interesting to see them come to fruition. I want to see the Old Jamaica come back and the deplorable conditions in which the poor live and the way in which the cities have been left to deteriorate be fixed. Jamaica needs a facelift in a major way.

I am dreaming of the Old Jamaica, the original "no problem mon!" tourist capital of the world.