“Mi nuh come fi count cow, mi come fi drink milk.”
That is a popular proverb in Jamaica and I swear it’s
the motto of most of our politicians.
While the majority will not admit that it is their motto though, I
once heard a politician who was a deacon in a church, saying it quite unabashedly!
He clearly realized that we Jamaicans do
not really take public corruption seriously, as we refuse to connect the dots.
Our poor country has suffered immensely and unnecessarily
as a result of our tolerance of political corruption though.
Sadly, the corruption in Jamaica has become so
entrenched that this story published in the Gleaner of December 5th,
2021 entitled “US$100-million gap, Financial review
uncovers missing funds CAP paid to Jamalco” barely elicited
a collective yawn.
That
is not millions, but billions!
This latest revelation has made the other recent
scandals at Petrojam, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Airports Authority
and on and on, seem almost insignifican. But when they are all added up, we begin to see
the extent to which this country is being ravaged by the few politically
attached, who are rarely ever brought to justice.
For the benefit of the uninformed, CAP a publicly-owned a bauxite producer and alumina refinery which is flush with money. And when you consider the terrible unmitigated damage that the bauxite mining industry has done to our environment over the years, this revelation is even more devastating.
What is sad is that while the majority seem happy to
accept the theft/misappropriation of the country’s resources, (the refrain
often is “di other side do it to”) they fail to understand how this endemic
corruption is causing the violent crime about
which everyone is bawling.
Let me put it simply.
I am old enough to remember the days when violent
crime was the exception not the rule, as every community had organized activities
for the youth. This was facilitated in community centres which were properly
equipped with cricket fields, football fields and all sorts of other sporting/domestic
science activities, to keep young people fully engaged while they learnt
competitiveness and even new skills after school.
Due to the perennial ‘lack of funds’ since the 90’s however, these
facilities were scrapped so it’s the gangs and the guns that the young people now
have available to keep them occupied and socialized in the wrong areas.
Don’t believe me. Just go into the archives and read
the myriad of reports that have been done on how to reduce violent crime and
you will see the most common recommendation is; social intervention at the
community level, not States of Emergency.
Even if we must use States of Emergency occasionally
to deal with special situations, do we have adequately trained and
renumerated police for this to be successful?
Absolutely not.
Our police force is notoriously corrupt and
ineffective. Could it be because we are only able to recruit mostly from the
bottom of the barrel because of the poor renumeration and working conditions?
I certainly think this is the major problem.
Yes, there is a direct connection between our resources
constantly being stolen and misappropriated, whether through central government,
local government or the myriad of uncontrolled government boards, many of
which exist simply as feeding trees for the political elites and their
henchmen.
Oh yes, we are sometimes appeased by announcements of steps
to be taken to minimize corruption, but don’t hold your collective breaths. For
Jamaica does not suffer from a lack of laws and regulations but from the
absence of enforcement.
So, while it is required that public bodies all
present audited returns annually, some are even decades in arrears. In the meantime,
the horses have long bolted with our resources and there are never any consequences,
while the people perish.
And we will continue to perish and be held hostage by
violent criminals, until we the populace, connect the dots between the massive
corruption in government and violent crime and rise up, determined to bring
it to an end.
