Wasting Time in the Courts

Congratulations to Acting Senior Resident Magistrate Vivienne Harris who according to an article the press, issued a bench warrant for the arrest of a police constable who failed to provide a statement which led to case of illegal possession of ammunition being postponed several times.

I have often wondered why more RM's and Judges do not exercise this level of discipline in their courtrooms and issue bench warrants against recalcitrant police who waste the court's time, many times even failing to turn up for the case. Instead, they victimize those against whom the police bring charges by ordering them to come back to court again, and again, and again........I recall the time I pleaded not guilty to a traffic offense only to have to go to court 6 times as the police officer never turned up and the RM seemed to be in a victimizing mood each time the case was called up.

I have also always wondered why I have never heard any Chief Justice instructing judges to take a stand on this time wasting practice by the police although all are fully aware that this is one of the main reasons for the backlog in the courts. But I suppose they think it is only their time that is valuable!

THE RGD

Does Jamaica need a Registrar General’s Department (RGD)? Of course we do. For this department is the repository of the most important documents needed to do just about anything in the country. Yet the fact that the one we currently have does not provide quick, efficient service or in some instances, any service at all, is tolerated by all our governments.

To begin with, can you believe that this most important department has not had a working switchboard for over two years? Further, it is almost impossible to find a working number form the long list of numbers their recording spits out. As to getting the number of someone in charge, if you do, such numbers are met a recording saying …..‘this party does not accept incoming calls!”.

Oh yes they are very efficient at extorting large fees from the public for “express” and other services, but giving any value for money does not seem to be on the agenda there.

The RGD falls under the Ministry of Health, so the buck stops with Minister Ruddy Spencer and his Permanent Secretary. It cannot be that they are unaware of the lack of professionalism and poor performance there, since for years, the call -in programs have been replete with complaints on a daily basis against that department. Has the present government which campaigned on "change" ever made a move to have the services there improved? Absolutely not.

Oh yes, they are excellent on rhetoric but absolutely incompetent when it comes to performance.

I wonder if the new economic measures should be accepted as a serious intention by the government to finally going start doing the job they were elected to? If this is so, why not have a quick cabinet reshuffle and get rid of non performing ministers?Of course I would never hold my breath.

Quite frankly though, I thing it would be a better idea if the functions of the RGD were divested to a couple firms in the private sector where at least competition would bring about a better level of efficiency and customer service.

For the record, my, latest frustrations with the RGD had to do with getting a death certificate for my late best friend Hilma Walker who died in November 2009. Her son and my godson, needed it urgently so he could insure the car which is in her name but which he drives to UWI where he is a medical student. We paid for "express' 7 day service, but you guessed it. Ten days later, we were no closer to getting the document.

It took a complaint to "Perkins on Line " to get some action., for the minute a complaint against that organisation is aired on the programme, the manager, Mrs. Holness usually calls immediately. She did.

Although he got the documents two days after the complaint was aired, guess what, they sent it to the wrong address. But I guess we should be grateful for small mercies, for they could have sent it to Dovecot!

HAITI, I'M SORRY

Before karaoke started last night giving me an opportunity to belt out my depression in song, I was absolutely despondent and devastated. This is because I had been watching reports of the situation in Haiti. One small barefooted boy of about 8 years old had a heart wrenching effect on me. There was the young man looking absolutely forlorn, shocked and lost, sitting on the pavement. What hope did he ever have in life having been born in Haiti I wondered? Then I went into a bout of philosophical questioning, of course, starting with whether there is really a god.

I mean, why have the majority of the over nine million people in Haiti seemed to have been condemned to a life of misery from the cradle to the grave?

I remember the first time I set foot in that miserable country. I had been on the way to Santo Domingo with my late cousin Polly and since it cost no more to make a stop in Haiti, we decided to spend a few days there.

The first shock was seeing kids playing in the dirty drainage water with the pigs. This was in the drains that you see running beside the road from the airport to Port A Prince. Then our walks downtown were frequently interrupted by hopeless mothers carrying emaciated babies, begging for anything you could give. A visit to the famous iron market where the most beautiful paintings and craft items done by the Haitian people are to be found, was depressing and annoying as every step you took you were surrounded by a number of people either begging alms or telling you a long, sad tale about their miserable life, pleading with you to buy their craft items and ease their misery.

On the other hand, the absolute affluence in Petionville was in stark contrast. The palace where baby Doc lived was of course exotic and really palatial and when we tried to get close on the sidewalk to take pictures, we were told by a fierce guard that no one was allowed to walk on the sidewalk beside the palace!

Years later, work took me to Haiti on a number of occasions and each trip was more the depressing than the last. I remember on one trip taking a regular bus to Gonaives as I wanted to see the rural countryside. It was really horrific as you really got a close look at the arid countryside and deforested hills crowded with shacks, most of which were made from nothing but cardboard. Yes, cardboard. Everywhere, the poverty and hopelessness assaulted your senses.

I was therefore not overly surprised on reading some years ago that a number of Haitians were surviving on nothing but grass and mud pies. I was a bit difficult to see how they could even digest such things, but that's what the report said and based on the about 80% unemployment and the absolute nothingness that you see everywhere in that country, it seemed plausible.

Now the Haitians' lot in life has not come about because they are lazy or don’t really care how their governments operate, as we do in Jamaica. For from 1804 when the Haitian slaves led by Toussant Lovertuere rebelled against Napoleon’s occupational army and routed it thus winning their independence, the people there have been fighting for a better way of life.

Each time they get a despotic dictator, they are not afraid to shed their blood to get rid of him, but unfortunately, every pretender that succeeds the last one, does nothing but exploit then people, stealing even aid sent to help the poor. Even Aristide who had been a priest and had taken a vow of poverty, was said to be worth US$9 million when he was forced into exile. My goodness, suppose he had taken a vow of wealth?

To add insult to injury, the oppression by man had been compounded by the oppression by nature. For last year alone poor Haiti was hit three times by hurricanes and it is said that the flood waters still remain in parts of Gonaives.

Now this major earthquake has totally devastated Port A Prince. When you see pictures of what it has done to the well built century old palace, there can be no question as to what has happened to the rest of the buildings in that unfortunate country. Look at the multi-storey United Nations building there. Nothing but rubble.We are told that hospitals and schools have been destroyed and because of the lack of equipment, rescue operations are either minimal or ineffective.

So it is difficult to dismiss the President’s estimate that up to a hundred thousand persons could have been killed in this disaster. He also went on to say that about 3 million people are either homeless or have lost everything. My god, why such punishment for the poor Haitian people?

Can you imagine the absolute loss of hope that prevails in that country at this time? And coming at a time when there was a small ray of hope brought on by the Bill Clinton's initiative which had brought some investment and low paying jobs to the country. The Haitians, unlike us, recognize that low pay is better than no pay hence they had embraced these initiatives and were working assiduously to convince the rest of the world that they would work their way out of their misery.

Now this.

You know, in January every year in Jamaica we have earthquake awareness month and during that period, frequent tips are given to tell us what to do in case there is a major tremor. This is because our last really major earthquake which destroyed Kingston was in January, the 13th January 1907, to be specific. That being over a century ago, we keep hearing that we are overdue for another major rumble. On Tuesday when I heard the breaking news that there had been a major earthquake, 7 on the Richter Scale and it had had hit Haiti and a tsunami warning had been sent out for the western Caribbean, my heart skipped a beat, for I really thought this was it. While the tremor was felt by some persons in St. Thomas, Portland, St. Mary and Kingston, because the epicenter was just outside Port A Prince, no damage was done in these parishes, thank God.

You know they always tell us that good comes out of evil and I am really trying hard to see the good that is in this for those miserable, destitute and even hopeless Haitians who survive this latest disaster. Thank goodness, the world's response has been immediate and generous. Even Jamaica with its own terrible economic problems was quick to send aid and manpower from the army and the disaster preparedness organization to assist the rescue which is being hampered by a lack of equipment. It is also so heartening to hear the average, struggling Jamaican pledging to help their sisters and brothers in that neighboring country in any way they can.

So could the good that comes out of this latest evil be that now that that country is nothing but one big rumble, it will give them an opportunity to really rebuild it properly? Raymond Wilson said "To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing."
I cannot but hope for the Haitian people.

NEW YEAR , NEW RESOLUTIONS.

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New year 2010 started out as usual with me getting up at 6am. We were supposed to ride to Bog Walk to a brunch. Start time I was told, 6.15am. So I headed out from home at about 6.15am, to meet the rest at the riders somewhere on the road.

It was a nice easy ride up Hope Road in the cool, crisp, morning air. Of course, Fun and Thrills members are never on time so I never saw any sign of them until I got to Liguenea. There they all were standing around as if they weren't going anywhere. Then I was told they were waiting for Michael who had gone to pick up some girl. Why wasn’t I surprised, after all, he is constantly replenishing his harem so why should New Year 2010 be any different? 

After a long wait I suggested that we start riding and they could catch up. No one agreed with me. A stark reminder of why I don’t join organizations as I hate to wait and besides the will of the majority is rarely my will. But it was a new year, so we waited and waited and waited.
Finally we got on our way, anticipating a wonderful ride through the scenic Bog Walk gorge then a delicious breakfast. The gorge did not disappoint as it was as beautiful, refreshing and cool as ever and not that much traffic was around.

Of course it wasn’t known specifically where we were actually going, for Charles, the confused was the organizer and whereas he had told me Bog Walk he had told others Linstead. It turned out that we went to neither place but instead rode past both to get to Charlemount.

At Charlemount we went into the wrong plaza, used the bathroom facilities and got up the hopes of a restaurateur that some 25 persons were going to patronize him for breakfast, before we were informed that we were in the wrong place. So what’s new?

We eventually found the right place, but guess what they had no plan to have food before 

1pm. So when we arrived at around 10am they were rushing to get us some breakfast. My annoyance only diminished when we were provided with a domino table. Spy and Fatman against Betty and me..

Long live woman power for after they got a straight 6 love, Spy took off only to be replaced by Winston. They got a straight 3 love (so Fatman got 9 love for the New year) before the blessed call that the food was ready saved the day. The mackerel tasted ok but was full of bones.

In the meantime, I learnt how coconuts were picked from tall trees without them all bursting. It’s simple really but I just did not know. What the climber does is to go up in the tree with a long rope and a knife. He then attaches the rope to the stem of the bunch of coconuts, cuts the stem and gently lowers the entire bunch to someone on the ground. 

Brilliant. The coconuts were great.

In the meantime, they had rushed some jerk chicken to supplement the breakfast, but it was awful. No seasoning.

After we returned to Kingston we had to start cooking for our Fun and Thrills Christmas party. Every one was assigned food or drinks to bring and would you believe they wanted me to cook curried goat? Curried goat is something I only cook after psyching up my mind for weeks before! So I did roasted chicken and I hear poor Winston Chin You had to spend about four hours seasoning the goat at the last minute.

The party was at Howie’s house and went very well. Ample food drinks and David did slide presentation of our past rides. It must have inspired many persons as on our Saturday ride 15 people turned up. Howie didn’t however. "Too much party last night.!"

On Saturday morning I left my home 6 am and arrived at the headquarters at 6.35am. Would you believe we did not start riding out until after 7 am? `Another day of waiting and waiting.

Then came the cass cass, another reminder of why I don't join organisations.

Apparently Charles had asked Michelle to organise the food as he was going to go to the children's home to get the kids organized to take them for a ride in Hope Gardens as we had promised at the Christmas party. Unfortunately, that plan was only communicated to a few persons and I certainly did not hear. When Charles and Chuck rode out I rode behind them. When we got to Papine I noticed that they did not go through the market but as I was heading to Annie’s to buy breakfast, I turned off. I was not at all curious about where Charles and Chuck were going as they often marched to their own drum beat, like the time they rode to Hellshire and then just jumped into the van and headed back to Kingston without saying anything to anyone. So I headed to Annie's to buy breakfast. The others arrived shortly after.

While we were there we were shocked to see Chuck riding into the plaza with the kids in tow, a most dangerous thing since we should not be taking the responsibility of carrying them on the road.

After we bought breakfast, Tara, Desiree, Patrick and I rode up to the children’s home and were told that the riders had not yet returned. We rode into Hope Gardens and saw Charles, Chuck and the kids riding around and joined them only to be met with a tirade from Charles about us not helping him with the kids.

Actually when the idea of taking the kids for rides on Saturdays came up, I figured a roster would have been drawn up setting out which group would do it each Saturday as I certainly could not see the sense in fifteen or sixteen adults taking five or six kids for a ride. This was not done hence the haphazard affair.

We, along with David rode around with the kids while Charles ranted, then they changed the route and we lost them so we headed to breakfast When he arrived for breakfast it was another round of ranting and raving about how no one had come to help he and Chuck with the kids. Eventually, they finally came to the realization that the thing had to be better organized, thus a roster was drawn up,

Shaggy is my favourite entertainer but when I got an invitation about midday to go to his wonderful concert, I declined for I really can't take crowds and the long lines. I guess I am happy to just listen to his music and admire him from afar. Anyway i had seen him on stage before and besides I wanted to wake up early for my Sunday morning ride.

Sunday morning I was up by 5.45 and rearing to go as we were scheduled to ride up to Jacks hill at 6.30 am. I hurried to get ready then I recalled my daughter asking me the day before what my new year's resolution was and telling her I had none.

So, I made one. 

I decided there and then that I would never rush again to meet fun and thrills riders as they have no respect for time. So I took my time and departed at 6.16am. It was cool and nice and since the designated meeting place was Widcombe, uphill all the way, I decided it would be a leisurely ride for me, ear plugs in, music playing and whatever time I got there would be fine with me. I only rode a little faster when I got to Bob Marley’s museum and saw a young man running behind me. I decided that no runner would overtake me, so I stepped on it and when he turned off, resumed my leisurely pace.

Got to the designated meeting place at 2 minutes to seven and saw no one so decided to ride up to Tavistock and head back home as that would have been enough exercise for one day. When I got to the stream in the road, I saw Jerry Maffood and he rode past me and said the others were coming behind him. When they caught up Michael claimed they were late because they had been waiting on me but that was obviously untrue since the meeting place should have been Widcombe, not his home and besides no one called to find out if I was on my way. Howie also came up with the same lame story but by then I had decided that I had outgrown Fun and Thrills.

When we got to the first rest stop, Mafood said he was going ahead and Chuck and I joined him. Chuck only rode a few yards before dismounting and saying g he was going to push is bicycle all the way up. When I told him that he would be breaking Alair's record he jumped back on.

By then Jerry had thundered ahead and I struggled to keep up with him. I finally saw him at the intersection of Jack's hill, road and Cherry Gardens. By then, riding at my own pace while enjoying some wonderful music through my earphones.(there is a great gospel DJ called DJ Nicholas, I must check out his stuff and download some). I decided that since it was a new year, I was going to resume riding by myself again, at my own pace, when I felt like, and spend more time enjoying some great music. I told him I was heading home for I had had enough uphill riding for one day and besides I was having people over for dinner and I would have enough time to do all I needed to and get some rest before they arrived.

The ride down was wonderful as the roads in Cherry Gardens are really smooth like Long \Mountain and it was downhill all the way. Got back at 8am.

Another great ride.

New Year’s resolutions;

No more waiting on anyone to go riding as will now be riding by myself when I feel like and go wherever I feel like.

No more Wednesday rides but will do Long Mountain and Beverley Hills on a Saturday morning and cut out Annie’s greasy breakfast. For although I love the salt fish fritters (which really have no salt fish!) they are full of oil and therefore do my high cholesterol no good.

Will continue riding with Fun and Thrills when they are going out of town to places I have never been or been to recently.