Absolute madness

It appears that most Jamaicans are upset over the government voting itself hefty increases in salaries ranging from 100-200% and more.

 The reaction can be understood as there are no means of accountability or performance assessment for politicians, except of course through elections. 

However, with almost 25% of our constituencies being garrisons, you see our dilemma!

The timing of the announcement of the salary increases is interesting and significant!

For it came after the public servant unions had signed off on increases of approximately 20% for their members, (teachers government servants, nurses, etc.) in light of the claim from the government that they couldn’t pay more, based on the economic realities in the country.

Apparently, the Minister of Finance Dr. Nigel Clarke thought he was being smart with the timing. But the unions are not stupid, so are already decrying their measly increases in comparison to what politicians have given themselves.

In a country where pensioners haven’t received an increase in years and the minimum wage cannot even cover the minimum standard of living for any individual much less his/her family, the unconscionable increases in one fell swoop for politicians, is therefore not only absolute madness but totally unacceptable.

I suspect there will be prolonged upset and maybe even turmoil, over the anomalies during the ensuing weeks.

  

The Governor General's insignia shows an angel with his foot on the neck of a black man!

 The salary increase which hit me for six though, is the increase in the salary of the Governor General from $12 million to $34 million.

 According to the government, this is because the salary of the governor-general is tied to that of the Chief Justice.

 I cannot believe we have been living with this nonsense for decades, considering the important role and duties of the judiciary when compared to that of someone representing a foreign monarchy, with few and insignificant duties to boot!

This really explains the significance of the Governor General’s insignia; for it shows a white angel with his foot on the neck of a black man!😡

For decades I have felt somewhat lonely in raising the issue of the over $400 million we pay annually to keep that inconsequential office going!

But let's look ahead now.

Since we now have a Constitutional Committee in place, it’s time everyone pays close attention to the type of head of state we replace the monarchy with. (hopefully, it will happen in my lifetime!) 

For we simply cannot replace a virtually useless governor general with a useless ceremonial president.

If we do, the entire process will have been a colossal waste of time. 

So, while they are at it, hopefully, the new president will have useful oversight and real responsibilities.

And wouldn’t it be great if we, the voters, could choose the president, rather than having some political hack imposed on us, compliments of collusion between the PNP and JLP?

Not holding my breath at all.

 

 

 Link: https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2023/05/winning-lottery.html?m=1

 

 

HERE WE GO AGAIN?

For in excess of forty years, Jamaica has been knocking around with the troubling issue of whether we should sever relations with the British Monarch as our head of state.

For years too, I have been a voice in the wilderness calling for us to do it before Queen Elizabeth died, for whereas I considered her quite harmless, the thought of having her son Charles as our head of state has always been for me, very repulsive. Not least because I consider that, the non-executive head of state should at the very least, be a good role model and neither Charles nor his “Queen Consort” can fill that bill.

Well, the inevitable is on us and instead of running full speed ahead to get rid of them and appoint a local person as our head, the political nonsense which has always stymied our progress, is evident again.

The more things change the more they remain the same.

In the initial stages, the sticking point between our alternating governments led by the Peoples National Party (PNP) and the Jamaican Labor Party (JLP), has always been the kind of republic we should replace our monarchial system with. For the PNP has always wanted an executive presidency and the JLP a ceremonial one.

I have no idea if that issue has been ironed out yet, but because little England (Barbados) took the step to get rid of the British monarchy in 2022, the ruling JLP, to tek shame outta dem eye, said they would follow suit and even appointed a minister of Constitution Affairs, to lead the process.

There is good reason why we should never cheer too early, for it appears now that those two idiotic institutions (JLP and PNP) are again going to stymie the country’s progress.

For the PNP has now refused to appoint members to the Constitutional Committee to discuss the extent of the constitutional reforms to take place, as getting rid of the monarchy requires serious reform and a referendum.

This time, the distraction is that the PNP wants the country to adopt the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to replace the British Privy Council as our final court of appeal, and will have no discussions unless this is agreed up front.

Omg. But shouldn’t the idea of a Constitutional Committee be that they negotiate these issues, not lay down hard lines?

I will be honest, when the CCJ was first established in 2005, I opposed it totally. For in my book, the interest of the Jamaican people was not properly represented by the Patterson regime (which led the PNP Government at the time) and it had all the appearances of being just another attempt to foist elements of a ‘federation’ though the back door.

For readers will recall that the PNP had supported the West Indies Federation but in 1961, when a referendum was called to sanction our membership, the Jamaican people said no way.

In the initial stages, the CCJ was a lopsided agreement between Jamaica and the other former British colonies. My main grouse was that although Jamaica contributed almost US$29 million of the $100 million fund established to fund the court, NOT ONE MEMBER OF THE JAMAICAN JUDICIARY WAS APOINTEFD TO SERVE ON THE COURT!

On the other hand, Guyana which contributed less than $9 million, had two judges, including the Chairman of that prestigious body.

That to me was a disgraceful insult to our judges, for by no measure could Guyanese judges be said to be twice as competent as Jamaicans.

That was my major turnoff, but over the years that situation has been rectified and the court has handed down some solid judgements and have proven themselves just as good or better than the UK privy council in terms of its competence.

So now I have no argument against us getting rid of the privy council as our final court of appeal.

But if the CCJ has to wait a while, so be it.

The refusal of the PNP to participate in the talks could mean we will be stuck in the monarchial rut again because our politicians seem incapable of sitting down together and ironing out simple issues.

In my book however, if it comes to that, the JLP needs to realize that it is the government and therefore has the responsibility to move full speed ahead with a referendum to get rid of the monarchy, with or without the PNP.

We really can’t allow political squabbles to cause this matter to drag on for another 40 or so years!

 

 

Common-Wealth!

I have given this title to the blog since it is clear that we are the common people and they, the royalty, control the wealth!

The Commonwealth, established in 1949, is deemed to be a political association of independent countries which were former colonies of the British empire. 

Up to September 2022, the head of the commonwealth was Queen Elizabeth 11.

There are around fifty-six countries currently involved. Interestingly, many of these countries, especially in Africa, were savagely exploited during the reign of the British. And in addition to all their natural resources and artifacts being looted, their people were kidnapped, taken overseas and worked to death as slaves, so Britain could build its country on free labour.

The British Empire was the largest of its kind in history, once controlling about a quarter of all the land on Earth. Britain began colonizing the world back in the 16th century, but when Queen Elizabeth 11 took the throne, only around 70 colonies still existed overseas.

Today Britain still maintains total control of the following countries; Anguilla, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, the Pitcairn Islands, St Helena and its Dependencies, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the Turks & Caicos Islands.

However, while a number of other countries have supposedly declared their independence from Britain, they decided not to pursue republican status but instead keep the Queen as their head of State. 

This is strictly ceremonial as the monarchy does not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of those countries. Interestingly though, although the British monarch is their head of state, most citizens of these countries need to obtain visas to travel to Britain!

The countries outside of the UK include Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Australia, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.

They along with many that opted for their own head of state, became members of the Commonwealth of which Queen Elizabeth was head up to her death in September 2022.

However, over the years many citizens and some leaders in countries including Australia and Jamaica, have been expressing disquiet at maintaining the British Monarchy as their head. Some citizens have also angrily pointed to the racist and savage past of the British which got rich by stealing the resources of its protectorates while torturing, raping and enslaving their people.

They have been not only demanding an apology from the Monarchy but also calling for reparations and even the return of stolen artifacts.

These demands have been ignored by the British Monarchy.

Now that the elaborate funeral of the queen is over, the big question is not only whether most of the countries that have retained the monarchy as their head will continue to so, but will Charles 111 be accepted as leader of the Commonwealth and can he even keep it intact?

For if for no other reason, Charles was confirmed by his son Harry and daughter-in law Megan as being a racist. Now he confirmed it in the news clip recorded by CNN.

This shocking clip nearly broke Twitter, for it clearly shows Charles bypassing/snubbing a black man who tried to greet him as he made his way down the line of mourners who had gathered to say goodbye to the Queen.

An interesting Twitter post can be viewed at ;

https://twitter.com/mrcyprians/status/1571832970918432769?s=12&t=tXI9P4V_C8z0BRcDCqQV3w. (Nb. On the 20th September, it was pointed out that this Twitter post was removed. However I checked and it's still there. You have to copy the entire thing and paste. The video is also available on You Tube at; https://youtu.be/FcNkXMtYhUk )

Yes, Queen Elizabeth 11 commanded international love and respect because she was a gracious monarch and had been reigning long before most of the people on this planet were born.

She was therefore accepted although the establishment she represented had been so reprehensible.

However, I am prepared to bet that Charles 111 just cannot cross it! (as we say in Ja!)

Wait for some interesting developments.

Governor General Allen

Since independence in 1962, Jamaica has had eight Governors' Generals, seven locals and one British.

These are the people who represent the British Monarchy which we, inexplicably, unlike some other of the former colonies, kept after getting our independence.

This office of Governor Generals which costs the taxpayers of Jamaica over $400 million per year, really has no useful role. In fact, from my observation, their main function has been cutting ribbons and making boring official speeches. 

Of course, civics teachers will tell you that their primary function is to declare the opening of annual budget debates and outline the government’s policies for the new financial year.

That’s just pomp and ceremony though, for the speech the Governor General delivers is given to him by the Prime minister's office.

The only real beneficiary of this colonial post are those who value British tiles and traditions and of course the incumbent who gets to live free in a splendiferous 16,000 square feet Georgian style great house with hundreds of acres of idle land and a huge wine cellar to boot.

In my book, this post has been nothing but a colossal waste of money which I used to get quite upset over, considering how many needy people and projects we have which could more effectively give the country value for the $400 million.

But since the average taxpayer has never had a problem with their money going down the drain, I have learnt to hold my tongue over the years.

However, while on radio in 2017, I just couldn’t hold back when the holder of the office, caused the Shaggy and Friends concert, which raised desperately needed funds for the Bustamante Hospital for Children, to have to be cancelled.

For according to Shaggy, “One of the problems we were having is getting the East Lawn of King’s House. Without the East Lawn it's chaos ... but we had a little bit of an issue with the now sitting Governor-General who didn’t want us to use the East Lawn. We went back and forth for years upon years and I had everybody, straight up to the former prime minister, everybody that I would think of to talk to him. Last year, with a lot of back and forth, him finally kinna cave and gave us the parking lot so we figured that we good now, we can stage another one again. He sent me a letter pretty much saying ‘don't ask mi bout dah parking lot deh again period’. The letter is here and i’m willing to give it to you,” Shaggy said.

Can you believe that the needy hospital that treats the children of the poor, was deprived of the funds raised when Jamaican artists lend their talents to the cause, because of a parochial thinking office holder who does not respect the fact that the propetrty belongs to the taxpayers of the country?

To add insult to injury, this action was taken by an office holder who is of no benefit to the nation! And of course, the property belongs to the taxpayers of the country not the useless incumbant or his wife!

That one really took the case so I concluded from then, that of all the holders of the office, the incumbent Patrick Allen had to be the worse. 

Very little has been heard out of him since then, not even the usual proliferation  of ribbon cutting, for this Governor General is an Adventist. So you know doing anything on a Saturday of off ther calendar although that had always been our favorite day for ceremonies.

You will see from my blogs over the years, (eg; Joan, my views: The case for republicanism (joan-myviews.blogspot.com)that  I have never failed to write articles encouraging the Jamaican government to amend the constitution so we can become a republic, but most Jamaicans only paid attention to the issue when our little sister Barbados made the move in 2022.

The government has now said they are going to work on it, (been hearing that from other governments for about thirty years) so I still wont my breath.

So why this topic today? Its because the disgraceful picture below has gone viral. It shows the wife of the Governor General sleeping at Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee Pagent!

If she was a busy person, I could easily forgive her as she could be tired. But since she and her husband have so little to do and are handsomely paid to do virtually nothing, couldn't she at least have organized herself so as not embarass us at such an auspicious world event?

 

Links; 

King Richard the 1V th?

We don’t seem too willing or able to get rid of Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, but we may soon get our own local king.

Ta da King Richard the 1V!

Chief Currie

Yup, for that’s probably where the new Accompong Maroon chief wants to go.

It’s no joking matter though, for the Maroons have been the only true revolutionaries in Jamaica. 

When the British chased out the Spaniards who had brought them from Africa as slaves, they refused to be re-enslaved, so fought for their freedom. For eighty years they fought guerilla warfare against the British and eventually, their leader Cudjo signed a peace treaty in 1739.

Among the conditions agreed to under that treaty were; the Maroons would end attacks on English settlements and they would be given their own lands and autonomy. But the part that still leaves the bitter taste in the mouths of most Jamaicans is that they also agreed to, and did return slaves who ran away from the British.

In 1865,  National Hero Paul Bogle suffered the ultimate price for this treachery.

However, since independence, they have been peaceful and productive citizens in Jamaica.

Now clearly, the new leader, Richard Currie has romantic ideas of being Cudjoe reincarnate, with all the revolutionary zeal that comes with that name.

Belatedly, he is claiming that the Maroons are the indigenous people of our island.

What happened when I wasn’t watching? Because it has long been established that it was the Tainos who were! The updated version of our history is based on the premise that some Tainos escaped to the hills, procreated with the Maroons, so their descendants are the indigenous people.

Should we therefore do DNA tests to see who from the diverse Maroons qualify on the grounds that they have Taino blood?

Next, according to Chief Currie, Accompong is a sovereign state!

 Even if the Maroons are the indigenous people, (using the new criterion) are there any other indigenous people anywhere in the world who have a sovereign state?

Last year August, assuming sovereignty I guess, a group of Maroons chased away members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force who were searching for marijuana fields on their communal lands. In a video clip following that incident, Chief Currie appeared with what was said to be a rifle slung across his shoulders. He described this as being a means of protecting his people. His ancestors, he said, had bows and arrows; modern times demanded modern weapons.

Ominous indeed!

Then in early January this year, leading up to the 284th anniversary of the Maroon Treaty, the police warned against the traditional big celebrations in Accompong because of COVID-19 protocols but they ignored the warnings. The event was held, violence broke out among patrons and one person was shot dead and several others were injured.

Is Currie’s new militancy a natural progression from events in September of 2020, when Accompong Maroons designated a new currency called the LUMI, as their official digital currency?

I visited the settlement in May 2021, and while I saw their new, beautiful Central Bank of Accompong, I couldn’t get a LUMI anywhere!

As they now move full speed to become a sovereign state, l guess the plan is to finance it as we do, begging other country for alms!

Or is it the smell of big bucks from the granting of a license to mine bauxite in a section of the Cockpit country, owned partly by the Maroons, which is driving this new thrust?

Things are changing fast among some Maroons I dare say.

I remember once travelling to beautiful Millbank, in Portland and meeting the Moore Town Maroon leader. I instantly fell in love with the entire area that they occupy in the Blue and John Crow mountains, where the lazy Rio Grande River meanders lazily through the cool, lush countryside.

I have also been fortunate enough to have already visited the Charles Town and Scotts Hall Maroon settlements. Fortunate I say, since no one who knows where this new revolutionary thrust will end up. 

Will the day soon come when we need visas to visit Maroon lands because Richard 1V managed to unite all the Maroons and become their king?

The abeng, once used by Maroons to communicate 

Today, that sounds like wild speculation, but these days, one can never write off erratic leaders or speculate exactly how they will change things. For, even the powerful USA, once considered a stable democracy, is now unrecognizable, thanks to an equally erratic leader.

So let's hope this situation does not deteriorate to the point where we hear the blowing of Abengs and the beating of Maroon drums, for we already have enough violence and turmoil in our beautiful tiny island.

You tube link; https://youtu.be/DIMwZo8vTHo

The case for republicanism

Jamaica used to be the most independent and progressive of what was known as the West Indies, but on the issue of becoming masters or mistresses of our own destiny, we are 
certainly falling behind. 

While we were the first of the former colonies in the Caribbean to declare independence from Britain, on the matter of totally breaking away from those who oppressed out ancestors for centuries, we are acting like morons. For the Queen of England remains our head of state although we have been independent for almost 60 years.

In the meantime Dominica, Trinidad, and Guyana have become republics and the prime minister of Barbados, announced that in November 2021 Barbados will also ditch the British monarchy as its head of state. 

Yes Barbados, which has always been considered more British than the British. 

The insignia given to black Governor's General by the Queen shows the Archangel trampling Satan who is black!

Even in white Australia, the topic has resurfaced, with ex-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, tweeting that in light of the very 'sad revelations' by  Megan and Harry in that famous interview with Oprah Winfrey, it should bolster the call to cut ties with the British monarchy.

In the meantime, Jamaica seems doomed to remain forever hanging on to the skirt tail of the British monarchy, even with a governor general representing the British Queen and wearing an insignia that depicts the archangel St. Michael trampling Satan, who is drawn with dark skin.

In light of the recent revelations where Megan and Harry confirmed what we should already have known, (that the British monarchy is a racist institution,) I again wondered out loud on facebook about when or if Jamaica will seek republican status.  The responses were many, swift and diverse. While most respondents rued the fact that we still maintain the royal family as the head of our country, one respondent declared that Jamaica will never change this situation as it is a racist country!

I had to disagree with that respondent, as I really don't believe that Jamaica is still a racist society although there is no doubt that we still have a number of racists among us. And we have a handful of monarchists too, (some of whom contend that such a move will spell economic disaster, although there is no evidence of this in the former west indies territories which ditched the monarchy.) who believe it would be a sin to remove the royal family😁 and replace the head of state with a local person.

Yes, mental slavery is still alive and well among a few.

 Let me make it clear that despite the fact that Queen Elizabeth is a descendent of those who committed the most serious atrocities against our ancestors, I have nothing against her personally. In fact, I dare say she has done her job with good grace, dignity and diplomacy. Even she however realizes that her type of character will no longer be displayed, once she steps down and her son, Charles takes up any role, including in the predominantly black commonwealth, so she is holding in for as long as possible. 

I am personally repulsed by even the thought that Charles, that despicable person, could become Jamaica's head of state and his wife Camelia, the first lady! For it is no secret that the cold fish Charles, drove Diana to her death.

In the famous interview, Prince Harry said that it was neither the queen nor her husband, who were upset that he and mixed race Megan may have a black child, but he refused to say who it was. In my book, such a petty concern, would fall right into Charles' character. Besides why else would he stop taking Harry's phone calls after he opted to stand up for his wife and child?

While I agree that the queen has been unobtrusive and diplomatic in her role, that second generation of hers, including Andrew, the alleged pedophile, have nothing to contribute to Jamaica!

You know, for around three or four decades, we have been debating this issue of republicanism, but both the JLP and PNP have been standing in the way of progress. For while both parties claim that they support replacing the monarchy, they cannot sit down and agree on the type of president we should have, executive or ceremonial. 

Good god, this is not rocket science. If the two parties were really in for of republicanism, they could take the gradual route Guyana did, or some variation. For Guyana first started with a ceremonial president to remove British, then moved on to the executive presidency.

It is totally disgraceful and demoralizing to majority of Jamaicans who do no to wish to have any further association with the despicable British royal family, the racist oppressors of our ancestors, that our politicians continue keep skirting around the issue.

https://youtu.be/oCqHflj4SNE

No Minister Farrakhan

I have always been mesmerized by Minister Louis Farrakhan who I consider one of the greatest orators./ debaters of our time, although I could never endorse his religion which treats women as second class citizens, but that is another matter.

Last weekend at the million man march, Minister  Farrakhan  did not disappoint despite  having reached  the grand old age of 81.

For  man of his depth however, I was disappointed how he allowed himself to be influenced by cheap local rhetoric regrading our maintaining the status quo as regards  the queen of England.

While I support the removal of the British queen and her expensive representative in Jamaica, we need to go much  further to make governance more relevant to our needs, now that we are supposedly independent.

 For to get rid of the queen while holding for dear life to the remnants of colonialism such as the Army, the British devised local government system, Caricom ( the Federation of the former British colonies by the back door ) and the allowing of members of parliament from the commonwealth while banning those who American citizens, can help this country, is in no way progressive or independent.

Take the Local government system as bequeathed by our former colonial masters when it took days to travel from one parish to the next and land phones and other means of communication were in the dark ages, is ridiculous. And who does it benefit? In my book, only the JLP and PNP who get the benefit of having their grass root campaigners financed by taxpayers to the tune of some $4 billion per year. 

Jamaica with its small population, certainly does not need 15 governments and 15 time wasting bureaucracies (14 Local government and one central government) thus using all our resources to pay politicians, consultants and bureaucrats, leaving no or very little resources to build communities. (Incidentally,  the parishes were demarcated in a manner thought best to facilitate the Anglican parishes in the colonies, it had nothing to do with the  the convenience or efficiency of serving the interests the people, as the Anglican church was the official church of the colonizers and the only thing more powerful than that church  then was the monarch).

We should have moved long ago to the concept of three County councils as proposed decades ago after intensitive study, plus local government agencies for the two cities. How much more practical would 6 governments be for a population of 2.7 million as opposed to the 15 we now have?

Then take the army. The British needed a full fledged army to protect their empire in the Caribbean  but where is our empire? (They successfully samfied some colonial minded politicians into accepting the concept of federation to keep the colonies together and we are still holding on to it for dear life via the body called CARICOM) !

We need to restructure the army to serve the interests of the Jamaican people, not to preserve an empire. So what we need is a good coast guard to protect our shores, an efficient engineering corp and an air wing and redirect the billions we are wasting on the infantry which will not even use a couple paint brushes and hammers to fix up the historical site at Newcastle that they occupy.

 Instead the members of the infantry should be invited to join the police force so they can be trained to serve and protect the people of  this nation, not treat us as enemies to be to be cut down, which is what soldiers taught to do.

Then there is his nonsense where members of the commonwealth  including Pakistani Muslims can serve in our parliament and even become prime ministers after residing here for a year while Jamaican who migrate to the US and have gained experience and valuable education are deterred, is absolute madness.

Yes Minister Farrakhan, by all means lets get rid to the Queen of England, her heirs and successors and all she represents, but we need far more than mere superficial tinkering if we are interested in becoming really independent and determined to build this great country into a place where we can live as a proud people.

And by the way, if we are going to remove all vestiges of colonialism, we need to do away with  the "cricket holidays" that bureaucrats still get to go watch that ever so colonial game, with its tea time breaks and all!.

-- 

We Don't Need The Caribbean Court of Justice

As we  in Jamaica celebrate our fiftieth year as an independent nation, why can't we get it right?

Here we are rightly moving full speed to get rid of the monarchy and all other vestiges of that system including the privy council, then what do we do? Opt to make another external entity, the CCJ our final court!!

I make no bones about the fact that I am no regionalist and I totally respect for the decision that the people made in 1961 and therefore object strongly to all the moves being made to establish federation through the back door. The plain truth however is that all the attempts over the years have not worked for look at how Jamaicans are treated when they go to the other islands.

Just this week too I heard someone from the private sector on radio saying that their organisation has just set about doing been a cost benefit analysis of our relationship with Caricom. I suppose if we did not have a trade deficit of close to a billion dollars, they would  never have seen this as a basic necessity.

The fact is, Caricom only benefits the politicians and bureaucrats who gather to have a whale of a time at the various talk shops as they make decisions that affect our lives adversely and make no attempt to explain the implications of these decisions.

As far as I am concerned it was nothing but the anti-Jamaican bias that is prevalent in the region which led to not even one Jamaican judge being selected to sit on the CCJ when it was first established although we had to pay the largest fraction of the initial costs.

Anyway, the fact is we have extremely qualified and competent jurists right here and if we are really interested in true independence, as we talk about divorce from the Privy council, we would not be looking at half steps but would move full speed ahead to deal with the matter properly and in the interest of the Jamaican people, as part of our 50th anniversary celebrations.

  Let us have our own final court of appeal right here and what the heck, we can hire judges from other territories if the need arises, as it does in other professions from time to time.

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