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!

 

 

KSAC a cesspool of corruption

I believe it was former US speaker, Tip O’Neil, who first publicly made the observation, “All politics is local.” That is certainly true and recently it appears that our PM Andrew Holness got the drift. For I heard in a newscast for 2022, where he said that, no matter how well the government is doing, what affects people most is that pothole at the front gate.

Well, I have literally and metaphorically had that pothole at my gate for decades and it’s is there because of the entrenched corruption at the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC).

While I could write a book about the potholes, I will bypass that today to deal with the rabid corruption which prevents the KSAC from enforcing the appropriate and severe laws concerning the building breaches in our city.

I was only reminded of our own years of frustration, on reading the comments by the judge involved in the case at 10 Roseberry Drive, where the development company, in full view of all, constructed 32 bedrooms on a property approved for just 12.

This exposure followed closely on similar breaches exposed at 17 Birdsucker Drive. These cases only came to public attention as a result of court action taken by private citizens.

In the Birdsucker case, the judge described the local government authority as a ‘sleeping watchdog’ and in the case of Roseberry, the judge intimated that she thought corruption was involved.

I certainly don’t consider the KSAC a sleeping watchdog, for I know that it is a cesspool of corruption, spanning many administrations and decades.

You will note that from the two addresses cited above, some degree of affluence by residents there can be assumed, which has enabled them to take these matters to the courts.

But that was not the case in places like Richmond Park, Eastwood Park and Bedford Park, where this so-called sleeping watchdog, allowed residential areas to be completely destroyed, despite the pleas of the citizens.

I can speak directly about Bedford Park, where one of the operators who illegally operated commercial businesses in the residential area, told members of the citizens association many years ago, “Mi hab money so oono caan move mi.”

Time has proven him perfectly correct, for despite the regular reports to the KSAC regarding the breaches, the number of illegal operators in the area simply increased and the roads destroyed, as they were not built to withstand commercial activity.

Every administration (PNP and JLP) at the KSAC received complaints from residents at Bedford Park over the decades, but as the problem only escalated, as the political operatives at this corrupt institution, just got richer before our very eyes.

In the latest case of the watchdog ‘sleeping’ while obvious building and operating breaches continued in full view, two employees have been sent on leave.

That will not solve the problem of corruption at the KSAC as that’s not the level where the problem is and certainly not where the buck stops.

The problem there is one of the inherent corruption and only the arrest and imprisonment of political operatives who are in charge, but who regard this institution as a private money tree, can deal with it.

 I wouldn’t hold my breath though, since politicians from both parties have demonstrated over the year what their only interest is, when they get elected to that lucrative institution.

Yes, it’s a new year, but very little will change in local governance in Kingston and probably around the entire island. As people become more disgusted with local governance, you will see even lower voter turnouts than the 37% in the last election for people have lost faith in the ability of politicians to play by the rules and serve the public interest, not only theirs.

Despite the recent court findings, that situation will never change and only bodes well only for those who support anarchy, badmanism and corruption.  

And no, I am no longer the eternal optimist.

 

 

Corruption killing Jamaica

“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 5^th, 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.

 https://youtu.be/OWfyPuF80cQ

Leadership Crisis

Jamaica has a serious leadership crisis which does not bode well for the future of this beleaguered country at all.

Things  have been made worse by the recent election of Andrew Holness, a Seaga protegee and apparently a follower of Machiavelli, to the leadership of the alternative government, the JLP.  For many people had hoped he being a young man who claimed to be transnational, would have brought some semblance of decently and integrity to the political process as the present government has long proven to be not only incompetent and corrupt but lacking in leadership. For while our first female Prime Minister Portia Simpson is a novelty, that is mainly what she is and in fact is an embarrassment to female leaders throughout the world, who until now, have been far better at governing and leading than their male counterparts.

So that was why all eyes and hope were on the young man, the representative of the new generation. Holness has however has proven to be far too vindictive, petty and totally dishonest to allow us to hold out any hope for this country, for since he won the election, his only mission seems to have been to go after not only those who openly came out in support of his opponent Audley Shaw but also to even punish those who remained silent, leaning neither towards him or Shaw!

Where he struck the nail in his coffin however was by his outright act of dishonesty towards his own colleagues and  party supporters,  showing what he has in store for all  detractors, independent thinkers and persons aligned to the PNP. 

When Holness was first selected JLP leader by the disgraced Bruce Golding in 2011, as per normal, he selected a group of senators to sit in the Upper House. What Jamaica did not know however is that these appointees had been required to demean themselves in exchange for the vaunted job, by giving Holness undated and open letters of resignations.

While it has been revealed that  the unsigned  letters did not state how or when they could be used. Holness had apparently given the senators verbal assurances that they would only be used if any of them opposed the party's stance on having the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) replacing the British Privy Council as Jamaica's Finial Court of Appeal. 

However when two senators Auther Williams and Dr. Chris Tufton refused to obey his unreasonable request for all senators to resign after he was elected Leader, he simply ignored his promise to the two to only use the letters for a specific purpose, dated them and sent them to the governor general!

If that is not a total breach of trust, I certainty do not know what is, but if Jamaicans do not understand by that act, he is totally without scruples, then we are as blind as lambs to the slaughter.

Of course the crisis of leadership in this country has not passed unnoticed by all around us, for, within days, Barbadian Minister of Industry and International Business Domville Innis,  in castigating the Gleaner for an editorial criticising his government, told them to mind their own business and instead pay attention to the  "...rot going on in Jamaica."

Jamaica is indeed the sick man of the Caribbean. 

Trafigura Again

A few days ago, I made the observation that the PNP and JLP were criminal organizations, based upon the fact that between them they had violently converted 25% of the constituencies in Jamaica into garrisons. For those who do not understand or have forgotten let me remind you.

The process of garrison formation is a type of political cleansing which involves using murder, arson, rape or terrorism to drive out the supporters of the other party and make the constituency or division into a homogeneous unit.

The latest example of this took place in St. Catherine in August this year when when some fifteen to twenty heavily armed members of the PNP aligned Clansman gang, invaded a community and killed ten persons in one night including an 11 year old child. This is the same Clansman gang whose leader Bulbie the PNP chose over their own Member of parliament Heather Robinson in 1995, when she told parliament how he was trying to take over her constituency but her colleagues refused to offer her any support. So she was forced to leave the constituency and the rest is history.

During the conversation referred to above, I maintained that there could be no redemption for Jamaica as long as those two parties alternate in government. I was asked by a caller if the younger politicians wouldn't make a difference and asked him if the Mafia started a university what would he expect the graduates to be?

I didn’t have to wait long for proof that this observation was spot on, for within a day I heard on the news that the President of the PNP youth organization was saying there was nothing wrong with Trafigura giving his party $31 million just before the 2007 election.

For the benefit of those who have no idea what the Trafigura issue is, let me enlighten to you. Trafigura is a company registered in the Netherlands and it collects, transports and sells Nigerian oil for Jamaica. For as a fraternal gesture many decades ago, the government of Nigeria started to give Jamaica oil at US$5 per barrel less than the market price.

During the 90's, in a sweetheart deal the PNP government passed on this concession to Trafigura for them to lift the oil and sell it on the open market and give us something. Guess how much they give Jamaica from this deal? 12 cents per barrel !

Since an election was on the horizon in 2007 and the oil lifting deal was soon to come up for renewal, when the news of the surreptitious "gift" leaked, most Jamaicans assumed that it was a straight bribe for them to get back the contract without competition, a corrupt act in any part of the world. However, Trafigura insisted that it was not a gift but a payment on a contract and they claimed to have a written document to prove it. Problem is however, up to today, no one outside of the PNP and Trafigura have seen this contract and we have no idea what the party which formed the government was tying us into.

To understand the possible implications, one must understand what Trafigura is and how it operates.

This is the company which in 2006, paid treacherous Ivoirians, (natives of the Ivory Coast in Africa) a small amount of money, (less than $31 million) to contaminate their land and people by dumping dump toxic waste in their country. As a result of this poison being dumped there, a number of Ivoirians died and thousands more had to be hospitalized. The million dollar questions therefore still stands, was the $31 million given to the PNP as a bribe or was it a down payment on a contract to dump toxic waste in Jamaica thus destroying lives and the environment ?

Having gone to the mafia college however, the young politician can see nothing criminal nor wrong with taking a bribe from or getting involved in a contract with such a disreputable company!

You know, the late Michael Manley, former head of the PNP was known to be a very unprincipled man, but I prefer to think his expressed love for Africa and things African could have been genuine.

 Therefore I am prepared to put my neck on the block that he would never have had any kind of association with a company which had so brutally destroyed the lives of poor black Africans. But the young graduates of the present mafia institution do not see a problem here

What a set!

Erasing the corruption stain

Over the weekend Gary Spaulding had an interesting article entitled Erasing the corruption stain in which he outlined the task that Burchell Whiteman and others have in trying to clean up the PNP's tarnished image.

I hail this thrust by the PNP for the reality of Jamaican politics is that its either they or the JLP that will form the government and the JLP having lost all moral authority, they recognise that the apple is within their grasp.

Apparently too, they seem to understand that in order not to be swept to power only by their tribalists and thus having to face a very rocky road to get support or consensus from the rest of us, they must give the thinking public a reason to trust them, hence this sudden interest in integrity and weeding out corruption.

However, if this new body is not to be only a face card, before they even do anything else, they must demand answers to the Trafigura affair and share those answers with the public. For in the same way that the public will not be appeased until all is told about Mannat, Phelps & Phillips , neither will they be until all the gory details about the underhand deal with Trafigura are told. For while it is well known that Trafigura gave the PNP $30 million and were given a contract that the then ruling party would do something for them, what we can't find out is exactly what was promised to them. Was it that they would be allowed to dump their toxic waste in Jamaica? Was it that the contract to pull Nigerian oil would be renewed without competitive tender? Or did it have something to do with the destruction of the cockpit country in an effort to find more bauxite?

These both international scandals in which the ruling parties which formed the government at the time have been involved have only reinforced in the eyes of the world, the perception that Jamaica is nothing but a corrupt banana republic.

Also, if this integrity body is to be credible, they must do a better job than previous bodies in selecting who will be allowed to represent the party in an election. For since the 2007 election, the police has been showing great interest in two of their candidates for involvement in gangs. What would have happened had these two candidates been elected to parliament6 to make laws to affect the rest of us? This matter simply cannot be swept under the table.

Then there is the issue of MP Sharon Hay Webster brazenly remaining in parliament while admitting to being a dual citizen, a direct breach of the constitution.

What is this integrity committee going to do about this grave breach and insult to the integrity of Parliament?

Unless this commission is really serious about dealing with such issues, it will turn out to be nothing but a face card and once again voters will be left with a choice between a corrupt black dog and a corrupt monkey.

DEMOCRACY BEING THREATENED?

One thing we can not say about Jamaican politics is that it is dull. Also, Jamaican politicians are exceptional hypocrites. 

The latest example of their penchant for dishonesty was displayed by PNP vice president Angella Brown-Burke (daughter of the PNP enforcer Tony Brown who in the 70.s was wanted for the murder of Ted Ogilvie but who was sneaked out of the island for Cuba by the party’s hierarchy?) who led the PNP’s campaign in the recent by-election in North Eastern St. Catherine. 

Ms. Brown -Burke sought to make a federal case on spurious grounds that the incumbent was being helped by government’s largesse in his constituency. 

 Did we hear right? Did such a charge come out of the mouth of the vice president of the same party of former Minister of Finance Omar Davies ?Readers will recall how after the 2007 elections, Davies publicly boasted how he “run with it’ in terms of excessive expenditure leading up the general election.

 Readers will also recall that this partisan waste of taxpayers money cost us some thirteen billion dollars in additional taxes the following year to “carrect it.”

Anyway the use of government funds to try and bribe electors to vote for the incumbent, does not necessarily work as demonstrated by Sheeny Robinson is in St. Ann, for Jamaican voters are extremely sharp and aware of the wiles of politicians and many have adopted the motto”nyam dem out and vote dem out.” 

 The dismal showing of the PNPO in the by-election did support their candidate’s boast that he would create history, since the margin of defeat was indeed historical! Not only has this embarrassing defeat (JLP 6329 to Valentine’s 3672, an increase in the JLP’s margin from 959 to 2657) a resounding continuation rejection of the quality of leadership being offered by party’s president Portia Simpson Miller and the incompetence of the general Secretary Peter Bunting, but also a rejection of the obvious arrogance of the candidate Granville Valentine. 

Very few of us had heard about Valentine before a few months ago when he started an aggressive and vocally intimidating campaign against the Jamaican people, constantly screaming threats on radio, to close down essential services like the National Water Commission and Air Jamaica.. 

One immediately got the impression that he was using his position at the National Worker’s Union to carry out Portia’s threatened nightmare for the country. It therefore came as little surprise when shortly after his strategy was uncovered when he was elected a chairman in one of the party’s regional organizations. Then despite the fact that the PNP’s commissioned polls showed the former candidate Phyllis Mitchell would have been a better candidate for the by-election, he was arbitrarily foisted on the constituency, because, it is said, he supported Portia Simpson Miller while Mitchell supported Peter Phillips in the party’s recent leadership struggle.

 Regardless of the second embarrassing loss in the what is being dubbed at the “dual citizenship affair’ because despite the fact that the PNP has members of parliament who are sitting in the House contrary to the requirements of the Constitution, they had the gall to take to court, those JLP members who are also delinquent, in the hope that the seats in the house would be automatically have been handed to them by the courts, contrary to the wishes of the electorate. 

 No country can have good government when there is no credible opposition to act as a watchdog for the people and double as an alternative government. The democratic system in Jamaica therefore faces a serious threat as the PNP’s present leadership does not offer a credible alternative and the stench of corruption which overtook that party while they formed the government, still reeks to high heaven.

Politics in Jamaica

As we in Jamaica prepare to waste another $40 million on another unnecessary by-election, the question remains, why on earth can't the PNP and JLP politicians stop the hemorrhaging of our resources by doing the right thing? What's the right thing you ask.

Simple.

 If someone wants to be a legislator in Jamaica, the main criteria has to be that the person owes all allegiance to Jamaica and no other country. So all Green Card holders should be out of the running as well as Commonwealth citizens. Argument done. Further the Electoral Office should be mandated to require that all would-be legislators sign a declaration to the effect that they owe allegiance only to Jamaica. If anyone is found to have lied on the declaration,the penalty should be an automatic five year prison sentence. 

 Ha ha. Yes, I live in Utopia for only there do liars come up with legislation that would put them in jail! 

 Who was it again who said that if criminals made the laws the jails would be empty?

DO THEY DESERVE A PENSION?

According to a recent report in the Jamaica Observer, a number of former politicians are living in virtual poverty as sickness and poor pensions make it impossible for them to meet their very basic obligations. 

 If that article was meant to cause us to feel sorry for our politicians, it hasn’t. For the simple fact is, we have too many reasons not to think very highly of politicians. The first has to do with their actions over the many of our indsependence, which have contributed to Jamaica becoming a murder capital in the world, if not the first in terms of the per capita murders committed, certainly among the top three. 

This is a direct spin-off from the actions of those politicians who in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and probably to some extent even now, armed poor, uneducated, inner city young men with guns to kill and intimidate their political opponents. Naturally, we have concluded that if politicians are willing to commit murder and arson and indeed ANYTHING (as the chairman of the Peoples National Party (PNP) said) to gain power, then the prize must indeed be great. 

The ANYTHING was again demonstrated recently with what has come to be known as the dual-citizenship issue. The amazing thing about Jamaican politicians also is their brazenness. This was so crassly demonstrated in parliament last week by Jamaica’s first female prime and current Leader do the Opposition Portia Simpson Miller. According to reports, Ms. Miller went to Parliament and declared "I have said to the country over and over that this side will not take power unless it is by way of the ballot.” This statement was made in reply to the Prime Minister’s accusation that the PNP was taking Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) members to court to try and get seats in parliament on the basis that some of those elected had dual citizenships with countries not allowed under the Constitution. (The strange thing is that while the PNP is challenging the illegibility of some JLP MP’s, they too have at least two members of parliament on their benches who would be disqualified on the same grounds!) However, while denying that the PNP was using the courts to foist person’s rejected by electors on them, Mrs. Simpson told a blatant lie. For that is what the case by the PNP via Abe Dabdoud had been all about.

 For readers will recall that in the first instance, the Chief Justice had ruled that Vaz was ineligible based on his dual citizenship but the seat should not be automatically turned over to the PNP but a by-election should be called. DABDOUD THEN WENT TO THE COURT OF APPEAL CONTENDING THAT THE SEAT SHOULD BE AWARDED TO HIM (THE PNP ) WITHOUT A BY-ELECTION!

How then could less than a week after the by-election, a big “Christian”, a former prime minister and current Leader Of the Opposition, have the gall to declare in parliament, "I have said to the country over and over that this side will not take power unless it is by way of the ballot?” I suppose I am being naive in expecting better since at her inauguration Portia said she would work to eliminate corruption, but less than 2 years later the party that she leads accepted $30 million from Trafigura, a company which was trying to have its contract renewed to lift oil from Nigeria, without being able to give a plausible explanation why Trafigura gave their party the $30 million in the period leading up to the general election of 2007!)

 Anyway we do not only get bad impressions about our politicians from how we see them operate as a lot of what happens in Jamaican politics is done under cover. However,their own colleagues fill the gaps, for when you listen to things they say on and off the platforms about their opponents, you would not be incorrect in concluding that there is no such thing as a decent Jamaican politician! Importantly too, it is because of the devious, corrupt and incompetent activities of our politicians why this well endowed paradise has become one of the most impoverished nations in the former West Indies, only being outdone by Guyana. Yes, I guess there have been honest, hardworking decent politicians. The problem is, we have no way of knowing which of the politicians that have actually been in office over the years were “decent" for the legacy they have left us since independence is so rotten. So forgive me if I can’t feel sorry for politicians and am even cynical about the report that some are living in poverty. In fact, in my mind,the real question is, do they deserve a pension at all?