In Praise of Reports and Enquiries in Jamaica

Image courtesy of
nixxphotography at www.freedigitalphotos.net

It’s become fashionable in Jamaica for us to dismiss reports and enquiries as a waste of time and money.

“Let’s move on,” we like to cry.

“We all know what happened,” is another frequent – and erroneous – statement.

We actually all don’t. Some of us undoubtedly do. But rumours and veranda talk won’t help us as a nation. Forensic, dispassionate,  analytical assessments of events and conditions in our country is what we really need, both as a basis for change, and as critical contribution to the annals of our history as a nation. This, whether we are talking about the 2010 Tivoli operation, the treatment of our children at Armadale, or how young, poor Jamaican men are treated by the security forces.

Take for instance, the very important report just produced by INDECOM, the Independent Commission of Investigations, called “Safeguarding the Right to Life: Issues from investigations of Jamaica’s Security Forces in 2012.”

Most people will never read it, will never be aware of the extremely serious concerns raised by INDECOM about the ways in which our security forces interact with those in custody and the mentally ill, and yes, I would bet you that many of those same people will say, from a position of pure ignorance, that the report was a waste of time. It most assuredly is not.

Here are three important issues from the report:

Issue 1 – The Fleeing Felon

The “fleeing felon” law (as laid down in case law) states that it is justifiable for police to kill persons suspected of committed felonies if they are running away and there was no other way to catch them.

The distinction between felonies and misdemeanors is an arcane one, now abolished in Britain, but as with so many other laws, still on the books in Jamaica. The distinction, INDECOM says, is that in the case of felonies, the state can forfeit the property of the offender, but not in the case of misdemeanors. On such a basis, one’s life can be forfeited by running away from the issue 1 – police!

The report says “in a case investigated in 2011, the police suspected that the occupants of a car had committed a felony. Their suspicion was based on insufficient information, they were mistaken. Sadly, the occupants ran from the police, one of them was shot and killed.”

INDECOM suggests that the fleeing felon law is incompatible with Jamaica’s new Charter of Rights, and that therefore the police should be wary of using force to arrest someone running away. At the same time, INDECOM points out that failure to use  deadly force “when lawful and necessary” may result in the constable being held to have neglected his duty if someone is hurt by the feeling suspect.

Recommendation

INDECOM recommends that instead, Parliament should pass a law setting out the circumstances in which reasonable force can be used in such situations.

Issue 2 – deaths of mentally ill persons when in confrontation with the security forces

INDECOM reports that in 2011, six people believed to be mentally ill were killed by the police. In none of these cases, INDECOM said, did the police employ any special measures. Seventy-five percent of the cases investigated from  2005-2012  ended in fatalities.

“In the majority of cases, police impatience contributed to an escalation of the  situation with the final result being the killing or injuring of the mentally ill person. This is a breach of the JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) procedures and in extension a breach of right to life.

In a significant number of cases, the victim posed no obvious, or immediate threat to the police or citizens yet the interaction with the police led to the victim’s death or injury,” the Report said.

Recommendations

INDECOM recommends that training programmes and refresher courses on dealing with the mentally ill be provided for the police; that within 12 months, all stations and response units be equipped with tasers; and that there be at least two medical response teams in each region including police officers specially trained to deal with the mentally ill, especially in rural areas, and that such teams be on call 24/7.

Issue 3 – Death in Police Custody

Image courtesy of renjith krishnan at www.freedigitalphotos.net

Following a complaint about the Port Antonio police station, INDECOM reported that there had been five deaths there in police custody between 2005-2009. Further investigations nation-wide indicated that there had been at least 36 deaths in police custody between 2005 – 2012. Added to the numbers who died in the custody of the correctional services, at least 12 people died in state custody every year.

INDECOM states that “all persons dying in custody were male and of Jamaican nationality. The men were generally of poor social background and general lack of family support. Some of the deceased were remanded pending the outcome of a psychiatric evaluation, so in essence they were displaying elements of mental illness.

“During the period of our study, the majority of the persons who died in custody suffered from a mental illness.”

INDECOM also raised serious concerns about the way in which mentally ill people are treated once taken into custody, with extremely poor quality accommodation, and infrequent monitoring, noting that:

“The mentally ill persons who died in custody were all kept in inhumane and inappropriate conditions. Where cells are reserved for mentally ill persons, they are, more often than not, the worst cells. At some stations, the mentally ill persons shared cells with other inmates.

“In all the cases of mentally ill persons who committed suicide, there was infrequent or inadequate monitoring. In 25 per cent of the cases, death was by apparent suicide…

“In the cases where death was caused by injury or illness, the victims had complained prior to death, but their complaints were not addressed.”

INDECOM recommends additional training for police in assessing people who potential suicide risks, basic training for all officers doing station duty in dealing with the mentally ill, ensuring treatment for those at risk, properly monitoring cells in which mentally ill persons are kept.

NB the Police have said the number who died in police custody was 29 not 36, that some died of natural causes (which was reported by INDECOM) and that training to deal with the mentally ill is already in place (INDECOM outlined what is in place.)

The fact is, we are fortunate now to have institutions, both governmental as in the case of INDECOM and the Office of the Children’s Advocate, as well as non-governmental organisations, as in Jamaican for justice and Amnesty International, doing in-depth investigations of our institutions of government and how we Jamaicans are treated by agents of the state.

Veranda talk is not the basis for legislative change and policy developments. Reports from agencies like INDECOM, the Armadale Commission of Enquiry and the upcoming Tivoli Commission of Enquiry can provide such a basis. What we on the verandas need to do is channel our energy into insisting that the work done is honoured, that the important recommendations made are implemented, and that lasting, real change results.

Jamaican Leg of Shanique Myrie Case Ends – Points to Note

Flag of the Caribbean Common Market and Community (CARICOM) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

The Caribbean Court of Justice sat in Jamaica for three days from March 4 – 6, 2013 to take the evidence of Jamaican witnesses in the Shanique Myrie case. Myrie claims to have been discriminated against by the government of Barbados when she tried to visit the country in March 2011.

The claimant, Myrie, called six witnesses, while the government of Jamaica, an intervening party, called four witnesses. It is great that the public is so interested in this case, but here are a few points to note. 

1. The part of the evidence to which the public has been exposed is that which has emerged under cross examination. This is because the witnesses state their account of what happened in written statements which are then tendered into evidence to stand as their evidence in chief. In other words, you don’t see, as you would in a criminal trial, the witness verbally giving his or her account. This means that the public generally does not know the entirety of the witness’s account, its length, how many details were provided, or the depth of the account. All we have heard are the parts which the opposing attorney chose to highlight.

In other words, when we hear an attorney in cross-examination – and the same thing will happen when the court travels to Barbados – hammering away at one or two or several details – at this stage it is very difficult to say whether a witness has been “discredited” or not. What are the key issues in the case? In this case, a key aspect of the evidence is the cavity search, which the government of Barbados is denying ever took place. Was Myrie shaken on that critical aspect of the testimony? This was not an aspect dealt on in any detail in cross examination so the public cannot really make any informed view of that issue. That, of course, will be for the judges to decide.

Myrie’s witness statement was 18 pages long. The public was therefore not exposed to the vast majority of her evidence and as a result cannot at this point make any realistic or informed assessment of her evidence as a whole.

2. It is a truism in law that memories fade. It would always be unlikely for any witness to remember every detail of a matter that took place some time ago. That would be taken into consideration in assessing credibility of a witness.

3. This is not a domestic court. It is an international court with no jury, but with seven experienced judges hearing the case. The difference is helpfully explained in a rebuttal filed by Jamaica’s Deputy Solicitor General Dr. Kathy Ann Brown in response to an application by the attorneys representing Barbados to strike out the statements of three of the Jamaican witnesses. She stated that:

“International courts generally allow parties the freedom to submit any evidence they wish in order to prove the facts necessary to establish their respective cases. It is submitted further that an international court determines the relevance , materiality and weight of the evidence offered by any party and in appropriate circumstances may generally only exclude evidence if it is duplicative, defamatory or obviously irrelevant.

In contrast to the treatment of evidence at the national level …in international cases rules of procedure that govern the submission of evidence and its evaluation are less restrictive.”

 In other words, a lot of evidence will be admitted that may not have been admitted under the rules of evidence in domestic courts, and it is for the judges to sift through the evidence and make their assessments.

As  a result, one of the attorneys explained to me that the frequent objections which would normally be made in domestic court were not made, as they were allowing the court to hear all the evidence being presented. This would be why one concerned observer commented that the Barbadian attorneys were walking all over our witnesses.

4. I have also been disturbed by some of the disrespectful comments about one of the witnesses who told the court that he could not read or write. The suggestions I have heard (from Jamaicans) are that he should not have been called to give evidence. The witness has given his account of how he was treated. Why should he be denied the opportunity to do so because of his inability to read?

The courtroom can be an intimidating place for many people. Consider the lawyers flitting around in black robes – the imposing bench of, in this case, seven judges sitting on high, the way in which lawyers talk  (when in court) which almost inevitably does not sound anything like the way normal people talk, and in this case, the thick, to the ears of many of us,  Bajan accent in which the lead attorney was questioning the witnesses. And last but far from least, there was the frustrating refusal of almost everybody in this case to actually speak into the microphone – judges and attorneys alike. Add to that the fact that a witness’s natural language may have been Jamaican patois, not English. Any of these factors could have contributed to an inability to properly understand the questions being asked. Let’s be a little more sensitive in our assessment of our fellow Jamaicans.

 The upshot? Don’t jump to conclusions and pronounce the case won or lost just yet. This could be a landmark case in the region. I have no doubt that will be reflected in the ruling.

 

 

 

 

Related articles

• Caribbean Court of Justice Sitting in Jamaica – Significant (newsandviewsbydjmillerja.wordpress.com)
• Eyeing the case before the Caribbean Court of Justice (kaieteurnewsonline.com)

Day One of the Shanique Myrie Case

Caricom-Flag (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Opening Submissions

The Caribbean Court of Justice on March 4, 2013 began hearing the case of Shanique Myrie, a Jamaican woman who alleges that she was unlawfully denied entry to Barbados on March 14, 2011, because of her nationality and that she was subjected to degrading treatment including an illegal cavity search. The case is grounded in the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, which governs the operation of CARICOM.

Day one of the proceedings saw Myrie’s lawyers making opening statements, while Myrie’s witness statement was admitted to evidence, following which attorneys for the state of Barbados began to cross examine her.

Opening statements were made by Myrie’s lawyers, Michelle Brown and Nancy Anderson.

Anderson told the Court that the case was about two of the most important rights at the level of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) as set out in the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas which governs the operation of CARICOM, freedom of movement, and freedom from discrimination on the basis of nationality.

The case, she said, is also about one young woman traveling for the first time to another Caribbean country, who arrived there on March 14, 2011, and experienced a pleasant first few minutes in that country. She was then escorted to a waiting area, interrogated by two police officers from the drug squad seeking to ascertain if she was a drug courier, and subjected to an embarrassing, painful and offensive cavity search, Anderson said.

The treatment was in breach of the government of Barbados’ international obligations, and its obligations under the Treaty. She said there was only one reason for the suspicion of Myrie, that of her nationality,

Brown, dealing with the legal issues relating to the case, said that the court will be asked to interpret three aspects of the Treaty, in relation to freedom of movement, a guarantee that the Treaty rights of CARICOM nationals must be observed, and that fundamental human rights of CARICOM nationals must be observed.

She said it must be the standard that all CARICOM nationals be treated with respect and that they should expect to be treated with respect.

She stressed that under the Treaty, there should be no discrimination against CARICOM nationals based on nationality, and that Jamaican nationals ought to be treated in the same way as Barbadian nationals.

She said that when Jamaicans arrive in Barbados “there should be no sniffer dogs if the same treatment is not meted out to other nationals.”

The Court will be asked to find that fundamental human rights in international law should also be recognized in Community law.

Myrie is seeking declarations that Barbados has breached its obligations under the Treaty, that her rights were violated and that she is entitled to damages in compensation. She is also seeking an apology from the government of Barbados.

Caribbean Court of Justice Sitting in Jamaica – Significant

 

Caribbean Court of Justice logo (Photo credit: Mark Morgan Trinidad B)

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is sitting from March 4-8, 2013 for the first time at the Jamaica Conference Centre  in Kingston, Jamaica, as it hears a case brought by a Jamaican, Shanique Myrie, against the state of Barbados.

Miss Myrie is alleging that she was subjected to discriminatory treatment by government officials when she sought to enter Barbados and that the discrimination was based on her nationality. This, she is arguing, is contrary to the Barbadian government’s obligations under the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas which governs the operations of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

It is a significant development for the region for a number of reasons. The discussion about whether CARICOM countries should accede to the appellate jurisdiction of the CCJ has been going on for years, somewhat obscuring the fact that the CCJ is up, running and adjudicating, and that Jamaica does in fact have access to the Court in its original jurisdiction, in relation to matters arising under the Treaty.

That simply means that if a matter relates to the Treaty of Chaguaramas, for example, trade, or as in allegations in the current case, free movement or discrimination based on nationality, the only court legally empowered to adjudicate on such matters is the CCJ.

The Shanique Myrie case brings the court to life for Jamaicans. It is sitting in real time, in Jamaican space, dealing with an issue that many Jamaicans have complained about – their treatment at the hands of immigration officials of other Caribbean countries.

Although based in Trinidad and Tobago, it had long been proposed that the CCJ would be itinerant, travelling throughout the region to hear cases. This is the first such occasion. It demonstrates to Caribbean nationals the proximity of the Court, and removes at least one layer of cost involved in traveling to the UK to access the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. I am not going to pretend that this will make access to the Court cheap, or even affordable for many. Legal fees can be prohibitive, and as the Shanique Myrie case has shown, depending on the facts of the case, traveling costs can still apply.

Nevertheless, this exposure can only be good for the Court.

Related articles

• Free movement in CCJ spotlight (trinidadexpress.com)
• Eyeing the case before the Caribbean Court of Justice (caribbean360.com)

That Burning (Jamaican) Flag

Does anybody but me think the excessive excitement we created over the VW ad, which I wrote about here,  led to the Saturn commercial featuring the burning of a Jamaican flag which is now being reviled? After all, the VW ad to date has received over 13 million views on Youtube, and was a talking point in the United States and Jamaica.

To digress a bit, have we gone a little, just a tad, overboard though? I mean the actor is now a VIP?  The red carpet is being rolled out, and it’s got him a trip to Jamaica and more work – so this white actor with the fake Jamaican accent is going to be promoting Jamaica now. Maybe we are trying too hard. Just a thought.

Anyway, is it any wonder that the Saturn people thought, “Let’s jump on board the Jamaica train. But we have to up the shock value. What will get people talking again? I got it! Let’s burn their flag!” Maybe to go from getting people talking, to burning our flag wasn’t a leap that most people would have made. But here we are again…ironically, discussing another German ad featuring Jamaica.

According to Wikipedia – sorry, couldn’t find another reference right now – it is illegal in Germany to burn the German flag. In relation to flags of foreign countries:

“…it is illegal to damage or revile them, if they are shown publicly by tradition, event or routinely by representatives of the foreign entity (§104 StGB –{ Criminal Code}). On the other hand it is not illegal to desecrate such flags that serve no official purpose (especially including any (that) the one willing to desecrate them brings by himself for that purpose).”

That is, it would be illegal to burn the flag at the Jamaican embassy, for example, but it would not be illegal to burn a random Jamaican flag – as in the coffee shop ad.

Should they have burned the Jamaican flag? Well, what were they aiming for? Controversy? Well, they’ve got that. Attention? They have ours. As of today, they have received nearly half a million views on Youtube. A far cry from the VW ad but we’ll see if that number climbs dramatically in the next week.

Flag burning is usually seen as an act of political protest, against a government’s policies.

Just this month alone, a political activist in Hong Kong was sentenced to nine months in jail for burning the flags of China and Hong Kong to protest government policies and positions. In Belgrade, criminal proceedings are being taken against deputy leader of the Serb radical party for allegedly “setting flags of the United States, the EU and NATO on fire” to protest against the Hague Tribunal’s decision to acquit someone accused of war crimes against Serbs.

Last September, thousands of people in Lahore participated in protests where the American flag was burnt to protest against a movie trailer said to insult Islam (in an ironic twist, one protestor died from inhaling the fumes from the burning flag, according to reports.)

But in the United States, that bastion of patriotic red, white and blueness – the flag can legally be burned, as it was in protests during the Vietnam

United States flag being burnt in protest, in New Hampshire on the eve of the 2008 election. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

War. That’s not to say everybody is happy with the state of the law. Congress has tried to pass laws banning desecration of the flag but these have been struck down by the court. The Supreme Court in 1989 in the case of Texas v Johnson ruled that flag burning is an expression of free speech protected by the constitution.

So the legal treatment of flag burning varies from country to country. But everywhere, it is recognised that  flags are usually burned to protest important, political issues in a dramatic (and offensive) statement of contempt. It is the very fact that the act is one which most people find deeply offensive that makes it such an effective form of protest.

You can’t convince me that this was a misguided attempt to praise Jamaica. Not with the political context and significance world-wide of flag burning. They knew exactly what they were doing.

Be offended. Don’t be offended. That is up to you. But don’t be fooled by assertions that the intention was good and it is actually a compliment to Jamaica. This was a cynical attempt to use a controversial device to get attention, while cloaking it in pseudo-respect for the Jamaican flag and people.

That the makers of the Saturn ad understood the political issues is clear from the storyline of the ad. I assume they thought the attention to the commercial would override the very real risk of offence it would cause. The motive was clearly to get attention. And we are certainly giving it to them.

Parliament Called Upon (Again!) to Work Harder

 

Gordon House
Photo by DJ Miller

Speaking in Parliament this week, Leader of Opposition Business in the Jamaican House of Representatives Delroy Chuck yesterday echoed a sentiment that many non-Parliamentarians have long expressed – that not enough business is being done in the Houses of Parliament.

At the end of a sitting which lasted less than an hour, Chuck said “enough business is not being done in The House, but let us hope that next week will be a full session. Apart from next week, let us make sure that we deal with these Private Members Motions and utilize the sittings of The House in a more fulsome way.”

The Gleaner’s parliamentary affairs column The Gavel also drew attention this week to what it called

“the lacklustre manner in which the Parliament has been attending to the people’s business.”

This came a year after the Gleaner’s editorial which called for an end to the “doziness” in Parliament and expressed the optimistic wish that “with its members having taken their oaths, the legislature will immediately get down to serious work, eschewing its laziness of the past. That is, we expect the House and Senate will sit more often, for longer hours and pass more laws than they did during the life of the last Parliament.”

The editorial writer’s expectations have surely been dashed!

CARIMAC lecturer Fae Ellington and Douglas Orane, former Senator and the chairman of Grace Kennedy, are among those calling for Parliament to sit more frequently, with Orane noting that there is a “direct correlation between the number of times that Parliament meets and the number of bills it is able to pass.”

Parliamentarians argue that they need more resources, including better research facilities . There have also been calls for a new Parliament building which I wrote about in an earlier post here.

We need more sittings of Parliament, better facilities and expanding physical facilities. Maybe even constitutional reform. There are a lot of possibilities and a lot to discuss.

Before all that, however, I would like to see us make better use of the time we have now. Sure, better research facilities would? should? result in more informed debates (assuming they are used).  But can our Parliamentarians, particularly those in the Lower House, really say they are doing all they can at the moment? Can they really say they read the Bills properly (or at all), try to digest and understand them? Reading the Bills and doing some basic research on the Internet would be a good start. The laws and policies of many other jurisdictions can be found online. That can be done from their living rooms and that alone would allow for more informed interventions in the House.

Why can’t they sit longer? Why can’t they have more debates on issues of national importance? Why can’t more of the Private Members’ motions be taken?

More sittings that last less than an hour won’t help solve that problem. I do think we need more sittings. But until we have a commitment from the Parliamentarians to sit longer and work harder, I am not sure that additional sittings will help.

That VW ad – Jamaica No Problem – Offensive? Or Good Exposure?

Have you seen the VW ad that’s creating all the controversy? It depicts an American spreading joy and cheer by talking to everyone in what is supposed to be a Jamaican accent. Check it out, it has had over 1.5 million hits on Youtube in less than a week!

The ad has also sparked criticisms of racism and stereotyping.

USA Today cites “pop culture guru” Barbara Lippert  as one of the critics.

“It made me uncomfortable to see all of those white people in an office setting doing this,” she is quoted as saying. “I found it offensive.”

Apparently, seeing white people trying to talk Jamaican is  offensive.

Diving at Rick’s (Negril, Jamaica) (Photo credit: caribbeanfreephoto)

Well, that happens every day of the year in our resort towns though! Somehow, the critics perceive the ad as making fun of Jamaicans and our culture. It is interesting that many Jamaicans, who can be so quick to take offence, don’t seem to see it that way.

Erwin Floyd G, commenting on the Facebook page of my radio programme Beyond the Headlines said this:

“there’s nothing wrong with the ad…it shows how much everyone around the world appreciates our culture and will do anything to incorporate it in their’s…it shows happiness and acceptance to me. A great ad!”

Let’s get this straight. I have NO problem with this ad. Do the accents suck? Of course! The VW executive interviewed about the issue on CNN’s Starting Point said they used a coach to work on the accents. Emmm, ok. They didn’t do such a great job. But is that really the issue?

The message of the ad is that if you go to Jamaica, you’ll be happy. Jamaicans are happy-go-lucky people who spread happiness wherever they go. Is it a stereotype as some charge? Yes, probably, but when we’ve spent 50 years marketing ourselves as the country to visit if you want to “feel alright” and with our unofficial (official?) tourism slogan being “Jamaica, no problem” I’m not sure that we can take offence at this point. But undoubtedly some people have.

Another visitor, to our Facebook page, Barbara Hart, said this:

“VW need (sic) to pull this ADD (sic) this is outrageous, we are not a poppyshow, this is not hilarious this is mocking our Patwa language, and he sounded so false to the bone, every one try (sic) to use us in every way possible…”

Is Jamaica more nuanced a country than sea and sand, with some dreadlocked ganja-smoking idlers sitting under a coconut tree? Clearly. But the vast majority of our visitors will never see that side of Jamaica, since they will only ever interact with “happy”, smiling Jamaicans whose job is to make them “feel alright.”

For me, the more important issue is the tremendous reach of our culture, how others enjoy our language (which we are unable to come to terms with) and the tremendous impact we have on the world.

Let’s put this in financial perspective.

Yahoo Finance reports that companies are paying nearly $4 million for one 30-second Super Bowl ad this year, and

English: Line graph of cost of 30 second advertising spot during Super Bowl US television broadcast. Data taken from Wikipedia articles (if more than one price is given, lower has been set). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

that last year more than 111 million people watched the 2012 Super Bowl. That’s millions of people who will likely see this ad and could be influenced by it.

One CNN anchor who commented on the VW ad said that he wasn’t sure what it did for VW but it did make him want to visit Jamaica. I’ll take that!

What do you think? Did the ad offend you?

Related articles

• VW Jamaica-theme Super Bowl ad: Racist? (usatoday.com)
• EXCLUSIVE: VW reveals 2013 Super Bowl ad and ‘Starting Point’ panel debates use of Jamaican accent (startingpoint.blogs.cnn.com)
• Volkswagen’s Super Bowl Ad Has a Jamaican Accent (mashable.com)
• Volkswagen accused of racism for ad using whites with Jamaican accents (caribbean360.com)

The problem with Prime Minister Simpson Miller and that Chicago Tribune editorial

 

One of the primary problems facing Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller is the cult of fanatical followers she has inspired. While this is understandable given her tremendous popular appeal, the negative side is that every criticism is perceived as a personal attack on Jamaica’s first woman Prime Minister by elitists who turn up their noses at her humble background and are determined to bring her down. As a result, many of her followers seem incapable of objective analysis of her pros and cons.

One can only hope that there is at least one person in the room with her who will stick up a hand to say when she is going wrong, but I’m starting to seriously doubt it.

A perfect example is the Prime Minister’s recent national broadcast. At a time of great uncertainty for the Jamaican economy, at a time when the whispers in the corridors of finance and business are that the year ahead will be very difficult for the country, at a time when Jamaicans are unsure what to expect from an IMF agreement, or what to expect if there is no agreement, the Prime Minister steered clear of actually talking about any of the real problems facing the country.

Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out what should be obvious to us all, and the Chicago Tribune for some reason, has now chosen to hold up Jamaica to the world as an example of failed policies and a dismal economic outlook, saying Jamaica provides an object lesson in

“the catastrophic effects of borrowing way too much, and the painful choices that follow. This saga, less familiar than Greece’s, is a lesson for lawmakers in the U.S. and elsewhere.”

“The Caribbean nation actually is in worse financial shape than Greece: Jamaica has more debt in relation to the size of its economy than any other

Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

country. It pays more in interest than any other country. It has tried to restructure its loans to stretch them out over more years, at lower interest rates, with no success. Such a move would be risky for its already nervous lenders. So Jamaica is trying to wangle a bailout from a skeptical International Monetary Fund. Another deadline for a potential deal just came and went last week, though negotiations continue,” it goes on.

That’s the reality the Prime Minister seems determined to ignore. What Jamaica needs is not Pollyanna-type platitudes, and an exhortation that

“Our ancestors did not fight so gallantly; did not shed their blood for us to now capitulate to gloom and doom. No. We know, as Jimmy Cliff assured us, that we can get it if we really want. All we have to do is to try, try and try, and we will succeed at last.”

No, what Jamaica needs now is a hard, realistic look at our current situation, and a courageous start to the necessary conversation the country needs to have.

Maybe someone in the room could point that out to the Prime Minister the next time she and her people are crafting a national broadcast.

Five Wishes for Better Political Leadership for Jamaica in 2013

Gordon House – seat of Jamaica’s Parliament
Photo by DJ Miller

Here are some qualities I would love to see to a greater extent in our political leaders.

1. Leaders who can see through their orange and green coloured glasses that not everybody criticizing them belongs to a rival political party. Some of us just disagree with your policies or direction. Full stop.  Hell, with barely 50% voter turn-out in the last election, there’s a 50-50 chance that whoever is criticizing you isn’t voting for any of you, anyway.

2. Leaders who take the time to understand the criticism aimed at them. When Jamaicans complain about your pay or perks, it is coming from years of disillusionment at what politicians have done to our beloved country.  You may not have been personally involved, but don’t ever forget that for the sake of power, politicians have torn Jamaica apart with political tribalism and killed our children, our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and friends with political violence. Whatever you have or have not done individually, memories of the havoc wreaked by your fellows are still fresh.

In addition, you have failed to deliver even moderate sustained prosperity to our nation and you have spectacularly failed to deliver an equitable education system.  When people complain about what seems to you to be a measly sum of, say $4 million, it is coming from Jamaicans, many of whom are struggling to find lunch money or bus fare, who have no option but to use the under-resourced and over-crowded hospitals you have given us while you fly off to Miami for treatment. Some of your critics have to send  children to the ill-equipped schools which is your legacy to us, and many of our children leave school as illiterate and innumerate as the day they started. So instead of responding with arrogance and disdain, how about listening carefully to what people are really saying, and answering in a tone of respect and understanding with a real and empathetic attempt to explain your (sometimes reasonable) position.

3. Leaders with a vision for Jamaica. Vision 2030 or not, very few of us have a sense that there is a targeted vision for Jamaica, that a clear direction has been charted and that we are moving with steady determination towards a real goal. We have no real hope that in our lifetimes, Jamaica will see an economic turnaround that will bring real benefits to all society, not just your friends the rich businessmen. Have you ever really, really listened to I-Octane’s “My Story?”

“Respect to all who sell bag juice
Who sell it to help dem youth
A whole heap a hell dem go through…

Man a suffer too long
Yeh man a suffer too long
Live in a di ghetto too long
Man a suffer too long.”

Listen to it again. One more time. That’s why we need a vision and visionary leaders.

Inside the Parliament of Jamaica (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

4. Leaders who do real work in Parliament. Our Parliaments have been singularly unimpressive. Many in the Lower House are efficient only at warming benches. There is scant attention given to careful scrutiny of the Bills that are brought to the House. Debates are stunningly superficial and often lacking  much evidence of research and thought (save for a very few speakers), and the desk-thumping that passes for participation apparently serves only to wake up the somnolent. I must note that the Upper House has traditionally been light years ahead of the Lower House in this regard. This is why it has been so disappointing to have seen over the years Senate appointments made on the basis of party loyalty only, resulting in Senators who bring little in the way of intellectual rigour to the Upper House. Which brings me to Number 5.

5. Leaders who put Jamaica before party. No, we don’t think all of you do this. In fact, we are sure you don’t put Jamaica first when we see ill-advised appointments, clueless Cabinet ministers, the constant and costly re-invention of the wheel just so that you can say such and such a programme was all yours, the dithering on matters of national importance, the refusal to make hard decisions that will cost you at the polls. So while you spend decades and generations thumping desks in Gordon House, our beloved Jamaica becomes choked with garbage, squatter communities mired in poverty abound, stray dogs roam the streets and our beautiful, bright children lose their way permanently.

There are some politicians whom I think have some or all of these qualities. However, they are usually not the ones in the most senior positions of leadership. But there is some hope.  What do you think? What kind of political leaders do you want to see? Who gives you hope? 

Book Review – Huracan by Diana McCaulay

 

 

Huracan is an ambitious work by Diana McCaulay inspired by stories of her own family, that unfolds in Jamaica in three different time periods, the twentieth, nineteenth and eighteenth centuries.

 

 

 

In some ways, Huracan is very different from McCaulay’s debut “Dog-Heart” which was set entirely in contemporary Jamaica,  but one senses in both novels the author’s deep interest in exploring issues relating to class and colour. Huracan is a fascinating vehicle for that exploration, providing as it does, a showcase for close examination of class and colour prejudice  in Jamaica over the centuries and the abuse of power generally at the expense of poor, black Jamaicans constituting the majority of the population.

 

 

 

The book opens with Leigh McCaulay, a white Jamaican, returning to the island after her mother’s death to be immediately greeted by the inevitable “White gal!” a description which forms the backdrop of her re-discovery of Jamaica of the 1980s,  which she remembers from the privileged childhood vantage point of the small, closed circles inhabited by rich white Jamaicans. Her choice, this time, to live and work in an entirely different socio-cultural environment is all too obviously, just that, a choice which she can leave behind her at will, in contrast to the people around her.

 

 

 

English: Cane cutters in Jamaica. 1880s. Français : Des coupeurs de canne en Jamaïque, dans les années 1880. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Then there is the world of 1786, where slavery is still legal, and where Zachary Macaulay has arrived from Scotland to make something of himself, as a bookkeeper on  a sugar plantation. The setting then shifts to

 

 

 

 

 

 

1885 post-Emancipation Jamaica where Pastor John Macaulay has just arrived from Scotland with dreams of ministering to his black flock.

 

 

 

The descriptions  of life in Jamaica are vividly drawn with occasional  tongue in cheek observations of contemporary Jamaica in particular – note the depiction of the household worker who comes to work and changes into a blue uniform with an apron and spends the day cooking, cleaning and serving but is not to be called a “maid,” nomenclature which became politically incorrect in post-Independence Jamaica, and the portraits of deliberately unhelpful service providers, as well as  the exaggerated bonhomie of tourist workers trying to earn their share of the mighty US dollar.

 

 

 

One scene I found particularly interesting was that describing the passage of a hurricane on the slave plantation. While the hurricane lashes the Great House, the black house slaves:

 

 

 

 “stood like sentries. Everyone else sat on chairs or on the floor…animals and machinery had been stored in the hurricane house but there had not been enough room for the over four hundred slaves of Bonnie Valley and many had faced the storm unsheltered.”

 

One can only imagine the thoughts and feelings of those house slaves knowing their families and friends were facing the hurricane in flimsy huts, and finding their bodies in the mud after the storm.

 

 

Ultimately this is a story about exploration – of self, of society and of country. McCaulay has created a cast of believable characters in three compelling stories which leave you wondering why Jamaica hasn’t progressed further and faster.

 

 

A very good read – highly recommended.