Poor Management, No Sanctions

One of the reasons why Jamaica has become one of  the (if not the most) most indebted countries in the world is because there are absolutely no sanctions for poor management/performance or policy making  in the public sector.  But why should there be when our taxpayers don't care that they are always being forced to bear the full brunt of the fallout?

One does not have to look far to find recent, stark and recurring examples of this being rubbed in our faces.... the Public Defender Earl Witter,  winner of the poorest performer award for the years 2011, 2012 and possibly 2013 and look at the destructive performance of the National Water Commission (NWC) over the years.

 The NWC has developed the expertise in destroying infrastructure and undoing all good road work and replacing same with totally unacceptable work.

 Oh yes, each time, the NWC is broke, it can always run to the taxpayers and get a bailout, whether we like it or not, but  are the policy makers /management or anyone there ever sanctioned for throwing money down the drain?

Never heard of it.  Latest examples of their destructive and money wasting practices will soon be visible on the new airport road and are already in evidence in Portmore where some roads were recently rehabilitated.

I think the Jamaican taxpayers deserve awards for being the most complacent, compliant and long suffering in the world.

A Democracy of Dons?

The front page story in Sunday's Gleaner, should make those who think we live in a  decent country  and a  real democracy, cringe.

According to the story entitled "Zeeks' Money Muddle - Did The PNP Bail Out Its Former Strongman?"it is alleged that whereas under the former JLP government , alleged PNP Don, Zeeks, withdrew his application to get back the $24 million in cash that had been  seized from his home, when he was asked to prove how he had come by it.  Now that the PNP has been returned to power, the money is being returned without question from the Attorney General's office.

I myself had wondered about this when I first heard on the news some time ago, that the court had ruled that the money should be returned. 

According to the gleaner story, When asked about this development, Patrick Atkinson, Attorney General is quoted as saying  "We don't just take people's money without a legal basis."  

I wonder what happened to the "Proceeds of Crime Act" where persons who (do not make tax returns?) cannot show how they got the money have it seized? 

As I read the story  it hit me again what a terrible dilemma this country faces. On one hand we have an alternative government which was prepared to use the full power of government and destroy the country's reputation to protect one of its Dons from extradition and now this blatant case. 

There was a time when  Gleaner Editorials used to,  correctly in my book, refer to the PNP and JLP as gangs of Gordon  house, but the Gleaner seems to have found some evidence to convince them that this is no longer so. Would the editor care to direct me where to find this evidence?

I wonder what our moral leaders in this so christian country have to say about this development or have they  been struck dumb on the road to Damascus in this Lenten season?

Riding and All That

Yesterday the ambitious F&T crew took on the challenge to do a 71 mile ride from  Mineral Heights in Clarendon to Chris Dalrimple's place just outside of Priory, St. Ann. Not being one of the ambitious ones, I decided to ride until I felt like quitting then taking off to enjoy the day at Chris' beach.

So off I went on an uneventful ride with Charles and Chuck from Mineral  Heights to Jucci in  Clarendon Park and after a short stop, Alrick and I rode off to take on Melrose Hill in Manchester.

Alrick humored me by staying with me until he sighted the first of the A team coming and took off like a light.

 I thought I was doing quite well until my derailler started to give problems as I ascended the hill , causing my chain to fall off and become entangled in the back spoke. Gary (Shawn's driver ) was close by and stopped to help me. He got the chain back on, but by then, I had lost the impetus to ride so jumped into the support vehicle that he was driving.

As we started to ascend the notorious Shooters Hill in Manchester (which I find has suddenly been rechristened Penn Hill,) we saw Bernadette who wanted some supplies from the van. As the hill did not look too daunting, I took our my bicycle and decided  to give it a try. I guess I rode about 1/8 of the hill before I decided that life was too short for such a struggle and after trying unsuccessfully to get the support
vehicle to pull me up hill by holding on to the stem of the side mirror, decided to still get some exercise by pushing the bike uphill instead. (Holding on to the stem of the side mirror as the vehicle drove, felt like my arm would be pulled out of the socket! I had seen Shawn do it earlier but I guess he has an expertise that I don't!)  That too did not last too long so I returned to my favourite past time, driving  in the support vehicle and listening to good music and watching the others struggle in the sun.

I was really proud of Shawn for this was his first ride with us and he did quite well though. He  actually completed the entire 71 miles and told me he had a wonderful time. Incidentally, there is no doubt in my mind that Johann is by far the strongest and best  F&T rider.

By the time  got to the top of that infamous hill, I decided it was time to go to the beach  and thankfully Nicky allowed her vehicle which was being driven buy Ulette to be commandeered.

Chris'back yard.  ()A Samira Bowden photo.)

We were pleasantly surprised to see that the road from Spaldings to Cave valley in St. Ann was beautifully paved, really great surface and I regretted for a while that I did not have my bicycle to fly off the hill in that section..

We got to Chris' by 12.30pm . (we  had actually left Kingston at 5.30am although the scheduled departure time had been 4.30am.) Anyway as I got there the beach was very inviting and I saw "Ask Dr. Mary" swimming and joined her. It was then she revealed that she had been the first female to ride from Kingston to Negril. I knew she was an outdoor lover but would never have known she had that particular distinction.

Stewie, Pat and crew soon arrived and as usual Stewie had his  stash of vodka so we started out having a breathless afternoon. After the mannish water and curried goat I was hit by a severe case of niggeritis and had a wonderful sleep.

 I think the last masochist aka rider,( Aytollah) rode into Chris' place about 5pm. Most of the riders did not even seem to have the time to enjoy the wonderful beach but as they say, different strokes for different folks. 

 I drove back to Kingston with Charles 1st and needless to say, slept most of the way.. ....even now, I have no  clue where my bicycle , bicycle rack or helmet is.

What the heck, I know it is safe somewhere and I did indeed have an absolutely wonderful day with the crew, including Chris, who unfortunately returns to England in 3 weeks. Will really miss her as she had been  my Beverly Hills Saturday riding partner for quite a long while/.


Ps. Gary knows where Noisy River is. I thought it was in Manchester but it is in Trelawny near Troy. Hoping to go there soon,

An Amazing Police Force

I suspect the Jamaican Police Force is unique in many ways, unfortunately, very little of it is good!

One of the experiences I had with our beloved force  which I am positive no one in any other part of the world ever had, was some years  ago when my home was broken into and they came to the scene without fingerprinting equipment. When I asked about this, they told me there was a shortage of the equipment but they would call me when  one was available.

Well as promised, they did call to say they were coming to do the check for finger prints....that was 3 weeks later lol.

I guess I am lucky  though that my experiences with the madness that passes for policing here has  not been lethal.

Unfortunately Constable Ricardo McKenzie cannot say the same, for on Wednesday January 30th 2013, he was killed at the police academy, where live ammunition was used in a training  exercise at the firing range.

While constable McKenzie was the most unfortunate victim of that incident, he was  not the only victim as 5 other trainees were injured.

What was inexplicable too was that the senior officers at the Academy refused to cooperate with the commissioner of Police Owen Ellington when  he visited and tried to get information as to what exactly happened . This  led the commissioner to publicly speculate  that it did not look like an accident!

As a result  of the non-cooperation of senior officers, the commissioner interdicted six senior firearm instructors at the academy and set up an inquiry into what had led to the tragic death of the young constable and injuries of the others.

One month later, the constable has was buried, but guess what, nothing further has been heard about how such a tragic "accident" could have occurred.

I wonder if the Jamaican public will ever hear what actually happened on that fateful  day? I certainly am not holding my breath!

Mandeville Gone to the Dogs?

Has Mandeville, once the mecca in terms of Jamaican towns, gone to the dogs?

I am not asking the question simply because our car was broken into the night we spent there recently or the fact that when were going for a morning walk next day, we were warned by a nice cop on patrol that we should not venture too much into New Green because there have been a number of rapes there. For nowhere in Jamaica is safe these days.

I am only asking the question as our hosts advised us that a woman was held up nearby recently and HER GOLD TEETH STOLEN FROM HER MOUTH!!!! Seriously.

And all this  happened before the latest tax measures have started to bite!

We Have No Alternative?

According to Dr. Peter Phillips, Jamaica's Minister of finance, Jamaica has no alternative to the earth shattering  announcements made last week which are guaranteed to put the economy deeper into recession , virtually wipe out the middle class, devastate minimum wage earners and PAYE workers and send pensioners to the grave even earlier.

While the country has been crying out for decades for properly organised public service to serve the best interests of the people and cut down corruption, no government will take the necessary steps but instead always seek as a first option, socking it to taxpayers and pensioners.

As to this government God forbid that they should lead by example by cutting that over- sized whatnot  and operating with a small, efficient cabinet, ( at least fifty percent of the current ministers and ministers of state  are non performers anyway) getting rid of  some political hacks who have been rechristened as Consultants, fly economy or drive ordinary vehicles. As to the thought of relocating government ministries and agencies from expensive properties  in posh New Kingston while thousands of square feet of government owned property lie idle in downtown. Yes everyone  has talked about it for years, but because we have such a docile, compliant population which does not seem to be able to differentiate between performance and talk, no one really has to follow though with things that can bring about real savings in this  ever sinking country.

But apart from doing such basic housekeeping activities that can save billions of dollars and send a message that they are prepared to make sacrifices too,  there are changes to our current structure  that can allow us to operate  an efficient public service in a modern society and throw off the shackles of colonialism that politicians talk so much about when trying to rile up a crowd.

I am speaking about the army and local government  which as currently structured are nothing but expensive  "relics of colonialism" . For now what we need from an army is an efficient Engineering corp, a well equipped Coast Guard and a small Air Wing, not an over populated Infantry whose only utility is to occasionally assist the police, something they are not trained to do efficiently anyway. (ask the Green Bay victims and Keith Clark)

As to the huge, expensive Local government  system which was established when communities were isolated and communication difficult, hundreds of years ago. You know how much could be saved from just these two agencies alone if they were restructered to meet the needs of a modern society?

Then there are of agencies and statutory bodies that have outgrown their usefulness or have never performed . The ones that come immediately to mind are the Office of Political Ombudsman which works only one in five years, the Office of Public Defender which does not seem to work at all and three anti corruption agencies when only one delivers and I am sure there are many others that we can do without. But why bother to strive for small efficient government when the ever complacent taxpayer is always here to jook it to?

Jamaica's Crocodile Dundee

For years I have been hearing about Charles Swaby. He is quite a legend  in St. Elizabeth  (and probably the rest of Jamaica) although when St. Elizabethians  sing his praises, we usually dilute them with the regret that he is really not from the parish but neighbouring Manchester!

 I got the opportunity to meet him yesterday at his Black River safari locale by the bridge, where  he ,was yesterday a guest at NEPA's (our environmental agency) publicly aired programme to celebrate International Wetleands day and I did the outside broadcast for Power 106.

He was actually much younger than I expected because for the number of years I had been hearing about him I figured he had to be close to 90,  but he looked just over 70 and replied to my surprise by telling me he has been interacting with  crocs since he was 12 years old. Can you imagine the trauma a mother went through seeing her son messing around with crocodiles at 12? Man I would have had a heart attack.

Apart from expecting him to be older, I expected to see someone with lots of scars caused by crocodile attacks but during the interview he told me he had never been bitten and only got one scratch on his hand over the years.

What is amazing too is the fact that he started out as a crocodile hunter and developed into the one person who has done more to preserve our fiercest wild animals over the years, nursing some back to health , operating a hatchery to increase the number for his safari (and for others who also run safaris down the Black River)  and going all over the island to bring in crocodiles found elsewhere that  are in danger of being killed by humans.

It is no wonder his Black River safari is Jamaica's best attraction. I have done it several times and would not hesitate to do it over and over again for while I don't like croaking lizards, I am fascinated with crocodiles  And apart from the crocs, the safari gives one a sense of peace and tranquility as you go down the huge river and watch the myriad of birds nesting and enjoying themselves knowing that they are safe from human predators.

Although I have been fascinated by crocs, I am deathly scared of them but according to Mr  Swaby, in his many years of gathering data, more people have been killed by cows, dogs and even pigs in Jamaica than crocs

 That's a comforting  piece of information but I think I will still continue to admire them from a distance~!