The R.G.D again!

In a letter to the Observer on Friday 25th February, Hazel Cunningham who signed herself as a Manager at the RGD, claimed that the on line payment system was working well and implied that I was at fault for not getting through.

What Mrs. Cunningham omitted however is the fact thart their web page was 'unavailable ' on Tuesday 22nd February, the day after I reported the failure of the system to their "Customer Service." After seeing my letter in the press, two readers sent me emails saying they too had a similar experience.

Wouldn't it have been more honest if she had said the problem was fixed instead of implying that nothing was ever wrong?

I hear they have prayer meetings evey day at the RGD. I wonder if they are told that honesty is the best policy at these prayer meetings?

Buju Banton

Hmmm.

I wonder if it is true that it was based on the infamous, secret MOU's signed on behalf of the Jamaican government by Dr. Peter Phillips, former minister of Security, that the US government started to listen to Grammy winner Buju's telephone conversations?

Could it be that what they heard in the illegal taps led them to set up a sting operation?

I really wonder. But we will never know for sure , will we?

Sorry Fi Mawga Dwaag........

Sorry fi mawga dawg, mawga dawg tun rung bite yu.

Tat is a line from a popular Jamaican song and it is so true.

When our unfortunate brothers in Haiti had the devastating earthquake, Jamaica was the first country to jump in and send in all sorts of support.

But guess what? Two years later we see Haitians burning the Jamaican flag!

This they did because the government took the right decision to protect its people by quarantining Haitians young people who were sent here to play football , although those who sent them knew that they had the contagious malaria disease.

It seems to me that the government should be commended for being proactive in protecting its people, while the Haitian authorities should be condemned for child abuse. For the team that was sent was under seventeen years old, thus mere children.

Malaria causes people to be weak and their bodies wreak with pain, yet the authorities there sent three young men in that condition to play football! How absolutely heartless of them.

I hope the next time the Haitians need assistance or set off on their rickety boats to seek a better life, Jamaica will not enter their thoughts.

One Step forward...........

"One step forward, two steps backward."

That must be the motto at the Registrar General's Office in Spanish Town.

The last time I applied for a document from that department I was able to apply and pay on line. Today, the application was accepted on line but no allowances were available to pay and an email was sent instruction that one should go to one of the branches within 14 days and pay for the service.

The only explanation I can think of for this regression is that the bureaucrats there must have decided that those who apply on line were having life too easy so they must be made to suffer, hence they are now being sent to the outlets to wait forever to be served.

I wonder what happens when people who live overseas apply?

Do they now have to journey to Jamaica to pay for the service, get a number and wait for a day or two until their number is called?

Apparently the only people who are satisfied with the services of the RGD are Mrs. Holness the Registrar General, and Mr. Rudyard Spencer, the Minister who is responsible for that department of government.

P

Modern Day Slavery

As a black person, one thing about slavery that has always bugged me is the fact that it was our own s0-called black brothers who sold us to the white man, into slavery.

Has anything changed really though?

Not in Jamaica apparently.

Take the case where the debts of struggling black people were sold to white Americans for 30 cents in the dollar and then the bill collectors were given authority to charge horrendous interest rates, compounded to boot, on the outstanding amount. This has resulted in debtors, although having paid several times what they initially owed, being required to work for the rest of their lives to keep paying these Americans because of the compounded interest rate. So was it surprising that the first white American debt collector was able to buy himself a huge yacht within the first six months of having bought himself local slaves who must work for th rest of their lives to pay him while never seeing their debt reduced?

This was done by the PNP government made up supposedly of black people.

Sold a second time by their own black brothers!

Sigma Run 2011

This year, Sigma outdid itself with close to 16,000 entrants in the 5 k run/walk to raise funds for the kids. Of course a crowd such as this would have inconvenienced some people although it was well publicized which roads would be closed. However I was cynically amused when a man came to the barrier in a SUV and raised "holy hell" for he claimed he was being prevented from going to church. I really could see why he needed a whole lot of churching!

Anyway, as usual, we from F&T marshaled, however, I was not about to go down to Emancipation Park for a briefing at 6 am as that time is dark and I think it is dangerous to be riding alone. So I left home at 6.15 am and arrived there just after 6.30am but the briefing seemed to have just begun.. The F&T team of marshals was Nicole, Alric, Orrel, Michael, and Sharon. Tara, Howie, Alicia Michelle and Pat ran in the race as did Uncle Roy.

I had volunteered to monitor the lead lead male walker but had a problem as the radio they gave me had a dead battery. Being proactive, I immediately called the emergency number 469 2722 and told them I would call in progress reports to them . They said it was fine but when I called the number I got voice mail. So I tried the other number and I tried to explain the situation but all I got was blank. It was as if i was speaking to someone from Mars! I assumed the noise in the back ground was making it impossible for the person at the other end to hear me.

So I ended up not being able to report the progress of the lead walker and even had the indignity of hearing my name being blared over the pa system for a report. I suppose I had expected too much in thinking that when I had reported my radio being down it would have been passed on to the appropriate person!

There is a problem in monitoring the lead walkers in such an overcrowded situation however for while we are watching the person in the lead, dishonest people can run and catch up and pretend to be walkers when they get near the finish line. I suspect that happened with the person who actually came first but of course have no proof. For I had started out monitoring the first six fastest then as one person drew away I stayed with him. I was therefore very surprised when a new guy that I had not seen anywhere emerged just around Half Way Tree and took the lead from then on. Michael who monitored the lead female walker also recognizes this problem and has said he will recommended that marshals be used to monitor up to three or four lead walker. There were wheel chair races too, but of course they gave no problem that I heard of.

The highlight of the the morning was when we gathered after the race, Pat felt someone playing with her back and thinking it was one of us she turned round only to discover it was a mad man. If someone could jump out of their skin, it would have been today.

Afterwards we rode back to base and as the sun was really blaring down, everyone drove up to Coy for breakfast and were joined by David and Kim. It was great as usual and the grand finale was when Michelle provided her famous bread pudding for dessert.

Overall it was another great day for F&T.

Why Not Portia?

I just heard on the Gleaner/Power 106 news report that Finance Minister Audley shaw is offering to debate either Dr. Omar Davies or Dr. Peter Phillips on the economy.

Since he seems unsure as to who is the opposition shadow minister of finance and since the long promised Progressive Agenda which should tell us the alternatives being offered, is invisible, shouldn't he be inviting the party leader to outline the PNP's economic policies via a debate?

Or is he is dis-respecting the lady?

UWI Changing Course?

THE University of the West Indies (UWI) will aid students in developing 200 businesses annually via a new development unit aimed at transforming the university into a wealth creation centre.

"We (at UWI) want to make millionaires instead of only boasting about producing prime ministers," stated Dr K'adamawe K'nife, lecturer in the UWI's Department of Management Studies.

I was blown over by this story in Today's Observer. For that would indicate a revolutionary change at UWI which has over the years mostly only produced politicians dedicated to the impoverishment of their respective islands.

Government Workers

When last have you had to go to a government office? Avoid it like the plague!

Let me however thank the tax department for introducing the efficient on-line payment service. What a pity they can't offer that service for everything. Let me say up front though, I never have to worry when I have to go to the tax office at Constant Spring for no matter how long the lines are, you get through quickly, despite the run down printers that they use. And the staff there tends to be very pleasant.

So why does the tax department send out the lazy, unpleasant and lethargic cashiers to the other agencies?

Before today my only experience was at the Swallowfield examination depot where the examiners are out early, but guess what? The cashier seemed accustomed to coming when she feels like. Anyway that was my experience.......... having to wait for the cashier to show up long after the her opening time. That's when I learnt that these cashiers work for the ministry of finance and are not under the supervision of the management at Swallowfield.

Well I thought that was bad but that's because I never had never been to the Survey department before. Today, just the day when I was in a hurry, ( but had still made the usual time allowance for slow service since its a government department)the cashier could not be found at 9.30 am. After an impatient wait, I started to ask around for her. No luck. When I asked if there was no supervisor around, that is when I learnt that she too worked for the Ministry of Finance not the agency where she was operating!

Fortunately I encountered a helpful employee at the Survey office who told me I could go next door and pay at the Titles office. Problem is, there was no security guard at the back gate so I would have to circle around to get next door. So off I went. But guess what, the young man over there could not even find $350 change (at 9.45am) so I would have to got back to the Survey office! (I immediately assumed he too works with the Ministry of Finance!)

I guess he saw that I was about to burst a blood vessel so he called over there and was told the cashier had returned. So back to the Survey office to finalize a transaction that should have taken me five minutes, in over half hour, thanks to the quality of cashiers and the level of preparedness of the civil servants that the tax department farms out to other agencies.

I wonder if masseurs (not the sex workers) shouldn't be looking at setting up spas next door to government offices for you surely need to go through a de-stressing session after dealing with most of them.....and they have the nerve to ask for pay increases!

If ever anyone needed convincing that the policy of giving pay increase across the board and not a on merit basis is counter productive, they should try getting things done at most government departments .

Who Salt?

There was a time we used to hear how salt Bruce was for everything he touched turned to dust, bringing the very opposite returns to what had been announced/expected.. (Bruce of course is the prime minister of Jamaica and leader of the Jamaica Labour Party JLP) .

I am however beginning to wonder if the same could not be said about the PNP since their expectations and revelations are also turning to nothing but dust.

Right after the 2007 elections when the JLP won by a very small margin, the PNP saw an opportunity to try to regain power through the back door via the "Dual citizenship affair". so they brought a number of suits in the courts trying to unseat JLP members of parliament on the basis that their tenure in parliament was unconstitutional because they had sworn allegiance to another country (the USA).

But guess what, the courts turned the tables on them so instead of getting the seats, they were required to fight by- elections all of which they lost!

Then to add insut to injury the enrtire country soon learnt that their mortives were not at all honourable (they had claimed they brought these cases to make sure the constitution was upheld) FOR THEY TOO HAD MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT WHO WERE DUAL CITIZENS!

Now its the Mannat,Phelps and Philips Affair. This had to do with the JLP hiring a US law firm to make sure that their don Dudus, was not extradited for drug smuggling and gun running.

The PNP and especially former minister of Security Peter Phillips, milked the matter for all it was worth until the government capitulated and established a Commission of Inquiry. But guess what has now been revealed? Dr. Phillips, when he was minister of security, signed a secret MOU with the USA which in fact breaches the rights of the Jamaican people to freedom of expression! Now who has eggs on their faces? We cant wait for more to be revealed.

Fact is though, wi all salt by virtue of having these two crime families, the PNP and JLP, having the power to alternate in government for what seems to be forever.

Wi salt fi true..

Political Front Organizations

For years, it has been known that a number of so-called professional organisations are nothing but fronts for the opposition Peoples National Party. Apparently this came out of a direct strategy developed from the 50's when organisations like the Jamaica Welfare , the Jamaica Agricultural society (JAS) and the Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) were formed to supposedly, look after the interest of those falling within their realm of activity.

As a result, many naive voters have been consistently fooled into thinking that when these organisations speak or act, it is in the interest of their members, when indeed most times, it is in the interest of their party.

One was reminded of this ruse recently as the JTA sent out a new release to condemn the government for auditing the accounts of a school at which the current principal was a past president of the JTA. However, just before they made their feelings known, the opposition PNP had claimed the same school had been audited, because the principal was their party activist!

Now how about that..... presidents of the JTA and PNP party activists must be synonymous for just before the last election,. the president of that association was at a conference telling the teachers to vote for the PNP! No pretense anymore.

I think it is well accepted that politicians and educators do not have the same goals, for politicians prefer to keep the people ignorant so they can be easily manipulated. Is it any wonder therefore that education in Jamaica is in such a terrible state despite the billions thrown into that bottomless pit?

Political Sycophants and Petty Bureaucrats

You know, sometimes the actions of political sycophants and petty bureaucrats do more damage to those who they are trying to suck up to than help them.

Take the situation we ran into at the Jamaica Jazz and Blues festival held at the Trelawny Stadium last week. On Saturday night, the festival had a long interruption because the rains came and came and came. After sitting under plastics on the soggy field for quite a while, we decided to join the smarter members of the audience who had sought refuge under the covered stands. However, by the time we got up there, we found that that the covered section of the first floor was full, so we headed to the stairs only to be stopped by a man who pointed to a sign saying Prime minister's floor or suite or something to that effect.

However we were not impressed since we had seen about 100 empty chairs in that section and we reminded him that after all the prime minister is just one man. Further we had bought our tickets and chances are, if he was there at all, his ticket would have most likely been bought by taxpayers! So we told the man that we did not think it was right for him to be preventing us from using the seats as there were empty. He however remained unmoved as the numbers of upset music fans grew and the mumbles and criticism of the prime minister and indeed all politicians, grew louder.

In the meantime, a lady with an id appeared, but she too was no help. However it seems that after hearing about 15 minutes of non-stop angry mumbling about the wickedness of politicians, good sense prevailed and she instructed him to open up the stairs. The funny thing is the reserve, restricted or secure area was the second floor which we were told to bypass, while no one at all was on the third floor.

Now do these bureaucrats/security or whatever, really think they enhance the image and endear their political leaders to the general public when they keep rubbing the "more equal " philosophy into the faces of the populace?

Maybe our petty bureaucrats need to start paying attention to what is happening in places like Tunisia and Egypt where the people have finally decided that they are no longer prepared to be treated as lesser mortals than those who '"rule " them.