Political bankruptcy

 Sometimes politicians seem so overwhelmed by the problems they face that their solutions make no sense at all. 

Or maybe they just say things when they are drunk.😫.

I am not implying that Prime Minister Andrew Holness is a drunkard. Not at all, I don't even know if he drinks, but I couldn't help wondering what part of his brain conjured up the idea of establishing a new ministry in his government! 

 This he threw out at the recent JLP conference as a possible solution to the increasing violence in the country!

 When did increased bureaucracy ever solve a problem in the world Mr. Prime Minister?

 In my book, more bureaucracy only opens up other avenues for more corruption. 

Poor Auditor General. Poor Jamaica!

 Already this little country of under three million souls has some sixteen ministries plus a bag of junior ministers without portfolios operating out of the Prime Minister's office. 

Only God knows what they all do!

 At a recent function in Mobay, the highly respected Chief Justice had to reiterate a well known fact.

 Harsh punishment cannot solve crime if people are not being caught and convicted.

For if people know their chances of being caught and convicted are zero, what's the deterrent?

That's when he exposed the shocking fact that Jamaica has the LOWEST CONVICTION RATE IN THE REGION. 

LESS THAN A 30%! 

We already have large, expensive Justice and Security ministries, so shouldn't he be concentrating on  how to get the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution and the Police  within these two ministries, to become more effective, rather than piling up another bureaucracy?

If we head into 2024 with this type of bankrupt thinking, we are really in serious trouble! 

Another nine-day wonder?

 I wonder if that excellent investigation by the Integrity Commission which unearthed the alleged corruption at KSACMC and the top executive at NWC, will cause the Holness administration and its minions to stop harassing/maligning that institution and allow it to do its work in peace!

Or if the spotlight now turned on the corruption at the Building Department of the double-dealing KSACMC will be just a talking point or will something be finally done about that institution that has caused nothing but grief for many struggling homeowners in the corporate area?

Me, hold my breath?

No way.

I am of course referring to the Integrity Commission’s exposure which caused NWC top boss Mark Barnett to be sent on leave by the NWC and now face prosecution.

The 'delinquency' of the Building Department is not new. And it has cost the Municipality, homeowners, and taxpayers, dearly over the decades.

Right now, the spotlight on that department has to do with new developments in upscale areas but the headaches the department caused over the years, have long been visible in places like Richmond Park, Eastwood Park, and Bedford Park.

I resided in Bedford Park for decades, and their refusal to prosecute businesses that operate there illegally caused nothing but frustration for us forever, despite the fact that the breaches were reported ad nauseam. 

Not to mention the unnecessary cost to taxpayers in general. For, the commercialization of residential areas causes the rapid deterioration of the roads which were never built to the standard necessary to withstand commercial activity. So, on the rare occasions when the authorities repair these roads, it’s the general public that has to foot the bill.

Why?  Because “Money talk and bull#&@%** walk!”

That is what the first operator to breach our covenant told residents when he turned his home into a heavy-duty commercial operation and a delegation approached him. And yes, the KSACMC refused to do anything about it, so more and more illegal operators followed suit until the road became almost undrivable. The entire area deteriorated and life became miserable for homeowners despite regular reports to the so-called regulators, the KSACMC.

“Money talk and bull#&@%*...walk.”

As a victim of that corrupt municipality, I know them well. Yup,  and there have been many successive administrations at that sewer pit.

I couldn’t believe it when I recently heard an apologist saying the problem at KSAMC was that they didn’t have the funds to employ enough building inspectors!

Do you know what the penalty for operating businesses in residential areas is? If my memory serves me correctly, it is in the range of $25,000 per day once the infractions continue. And they were always reported and totally visible!

But while the violations continued for all to see, the KSACMC happily gave up that revenue because individuals at the monitoring and enforcing institution were being paid millions not to enforce the laws. So, as the neighborhoods became run down, people who had worked long and hard to own a home had to move out of sheer exasperation.

The unprosecuted violations over the decades elicited an occasional report in instigative journals, but successive administrations would do nothing about the disgraceful and outright corruption at that municipality, so one can only assume they are all complicit!

Now it continues, not only with the commercialization of residential areas but also with rampant building violations in apartment development in areas with large lots.

That’s what the much-maligned Integrity Commission has brought to the fore by the exposing of the NWC boss and “delinquency” at the Municipality.

Will the exposure lead to any cleansing of the stables at KSACMC?

 I doubt it, for we are notorious for our love of nine-day wonders followed by a “bagga mout,” but no action is usually taken.

Many decades ago, it was reported that the late Sir Alexander Bustamante had once disbanded the KSAC because of the entrenched corruption there. After my experience with that institution, as far as I am concerned, the time has long passed for another cleansing there.

If the latest Integrity Commission's Report leads to that action, they will be more than well worth their existence, despite the determination by senior politicians to destroy them.

The strike that fizzled

 Today, March 20th was the day when South Africa should have been closed by a national strike called by the EFF (Economic Freedom Party) which is supposed to be the 3rd largest party in the country. 

Hanging out at Table Top Mountain 

This is as far up the mountain as we could go

The national strike was called to pressure the ANC government led by Cyril Ramaphosa, to resign. 

Since Mandela resigned as president of the African National Congress and Prime Minister of the country, the party has been riddled with charges of corruption, cronyism and mismanagement.

In fact, just yesterday a man who was investigating corruption was assassinated along with his son, in  Johannesburg.

I would therefore have thought that the strike would attract a lot of support, but what do I know about South African politics?

Maybe it did in other provinces but although we spent the day In Town, having been warned not to make any plans, things appear fairly normal and I did not see any visible signs of political action. 

This informal settlement is home to some 30,000 black South Africans.

This however could be because Cape Town is controlled by the Democratic Alliance which is the second largest parry in the nation and maybe they told their people not to support it.

Asian slaves were mostly Muslims and were settled in Bo-Kaap. The different color homes identify the part of Asia they came from.

We did see slightly less vehicular traffic and some businesses were closed but most workers were out. This is because, I suspect, if they want to keep their jobs, with 18% unemployment, they can’t join any strike!

Of course these considerations don’t affect the wealthy and the business owners. Tomorrow is a public holiday (human rights day!) and they just took a very long holiday.

Curious, I asked an employee at a supermarket if she would be working tomorrow and she said yes. When I enquired if she would be getting extra pay to work on the holiday, she said no. 

This is a country where the gap between the rich and poor rivals Haiti, from what I am seeing and learning.

For here, blacks still live in terrible conditions in informal settlements and on the streets, Asians in better areas and the whites in total opulence ! SMH.

A beautiful Zulu hat

Anyway as it was anticipated that the strike would be effective, we were warned not to stray too far from home. So we hung around the city.

Since we never got the opportunity to go to nearby Table Top Mountain and take the cable car to the peak, we decided to do it. Because of the heavy cloud cover however, the cable car station was closed but we got a good view of the city from where we went.

Sections of the mountain 

Section of the business destrict near convention center. Some of the developments are on dumped up land.

I have found South Africans to be among the most careful and polite drivers but we did see an accident downtown today and a lot of police at the scene.

One of the many stately churches downtown. Apartheid had the full support of most Christians.

A reasonably quiet day today for us but I got to see a lot more of downtown and even learnt about the upcoming ganja convention😊.

Other memories

This huge conference center was constructed after apartheid was abolished and is constantly in use by international organizations. It has also attracted numerous 5 star hotels.

The lobby of the fabulous Sky hotel opposite Conference Center. The robot welcomes you as you enter.
Just passing through!😊

Scratching each others back!

 

There are two popular concepts that come to mind, whenever I think of Jamaican politics.

They are; you scratch my back and I will scratch yours and the other is honor among thieves. While it was William Shakespeare who popularized the latter in the end of the 1500s in his play Henry IV, Jamaican PNP and JLP politicians have adopted it whole heartedly and been applying it religiously since we got independence sixty years ago.

Yup, we will be celebrating that great event with much fanfare in a few weeks!

In the meantime, the country continues to be impoverished by corruption which is estimated to cost us in excess of $100 billion per year.

Don’t be taken in by what the politicians say about each other from the platforms or in parliament! That is just for show, for when it comes to what most politicians want, ie. the spoils of office, it’s a different ballgame.

In fact, if a being came from Mars, it could be excused for thinking that Jamaica is the least corrupt country in the world, since all over the world it sees reports of politicians being jailed for corruption, but never Jamaica, no matter what the Auditor General finds or how many spots we slide down on the Transparency International Perception of Corruption Index.

I know, people like to point to the late JAG Smith, a former JLP Minister of Labor who was imprisoned in 1990, supposedly for stealing Farm Worker’s money.

BUT HE WAS NOT JAILED FOR CORRUPTION but for being rude and abusive to an influential member of the PNP which then formed the government!

For in true “honor among thieves’ style, the powerful late trade unionist, former prime minister Hugh Lawson Shearer and his bosom friend, the late Michael Manley who was then prime minister, had arranged that it would be swept under the carpet. Unfortunately, Smith’s legendary arrogance caused him to be abusive to the final arbiter on the matter in the PNP government and that is why it was pursued and Smith imprisoned!

In the meantime, our neighbors take corruption so seriously, that on the 8 July 2022, our own Jamaica Observer carried this item on how a former prime minister of Trinidad, allegedly involved in corruption there, is being treated in his country. It says in part “September 2 (2022) the court is to give a ruling to an application by the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) George Busby, who has requested an adjournment into the restart of a decades-old preliminary inquiry into corruption charges against former prime minister Basdeo Panday and three others, including his wife, Oma.”

Since there is no penalty in our political system for corruption despite the numerous cases that have been cited publicly over the years, the politicians do as they like and remain untouchable. 

Our legendary corruption is not only widely known in Jamaica but in the neighboring islands, for look at this headline in the St. Kitts and Nevis Observer in 2019; “Jamaica Losing $J100 Billion Annually from Crime, Corruption.”

And yes, we do have a so-called Integrity Commission, but guess what, it is being gagged and deterred from doing its job by guess who? The Jamaican parliamentarians JLP and PNP alike of course. (You scratch my back and I will scratch yours).

This recently led our Financial Investigation Division to say in frustration that ‘the work of agencies of Government in the fight against corruption was being hamstrung by the need to seek ministerial approval before they can exchange information on investigations. The FID said where the Integrity Commission needs to exchange information with designated competent authorities or foreign entities for legitimate investigations, it should not be hindered, and that the Act needs to be amended to remove this stumbling block in the fight against corruption”.

Also, according to reports coming out of parliament last week, when the Integrity Commission Bill was being considered, there was consensus between the Government and the Opposition to curtail the ability of the commission to speak about its investigations until probes were completed and reports tabled in Parliament.

This, despite Justice Panton and numerous other pointing out that;

“The Commission is firmly of the view that this is a serious impediment to good governance.” “... It is clearly ridiculous that whereas the police, quite rightly, can say that they are investigating a criminal matter, the Integrity Commission is not allowed to say it is.”

The politicians remain firmly determined to keep secret whether any of the numerous allegations of corruption, are being investigated, thus preventing members of the public or even whistleblowers from coming forward with information.

So, whereas, the public is often exhorted with these fine words in the interest of fighting crime; ‘If you know something say something,’ that only applies where the alleged criminals are mere plebs, not politicians.

So yes, politicians shout about the corruption from the rooftops, but you scratch my back and I will scratch yours, remains the dominant feature of the Jamaican parliamentary practice.

And the people perish.

 

 

Joan Williams, is a retired talk show host. She can be contacted at; gratestj@gmail.com or followed at; Joan my-views.blogspot.com

 

Of guns and conservatism

I find most members of the Republican Party in the USA (aka conservatives) very dangerous indeed. For if their philosophy is to be believed, when young children who are raped or been the victim incest, they must be reminded of the horror every day by being forced to carry an unwanted child for nine months.

On the other hand, if anyone wants an assault weapon to murder innocent children or anyone, they must be allowed to get it.

For why else would a civilian want an assault weapon except to commit mass murder?

I am not at all anti-gun, for in my book if someone wants to have a gun to protect themselves or their family, or to go hunting, they should by all means be allowed to do so.

However, there are guns for various types of activities. So, for example, some people tell me that assault weapons should be allowed for hunting. But my understanding of hunting is that it is a sport, so shouldn't the poor animal have some kind of a chance of survival?

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (in a 1994 debate,) "assault weapons are semiautomatic firearms with a large magazine of ammunition that were designed and configured for rapid fire and combat use."

I think the most relevant word above is combat, for that is really what they are designed for.

That means war.

Is it this love for weapons of war among a significant proportion of the Republicans in my book, which have caused America to start so many wars against far less armed nations too. For example, recent incursions into places like Iraq, and Libya.

It seems to me too, that American philosophy is really built on bullyism....... I have better weapons so I will kill you and take what you have.

Wasn’t that the entire foundation of the nation as they tried to wipe out the native Americans? And they have carried on that tradition over the years with non-whites being the targets under Jim Crow and ever since. (Heard of the Tulsa Massacre etc?)

According to the National Library of Medicine, assault weapons and other high-capacity semiautomatics appear to be used in a higher share of firearm mass murders (up to 57% in total)"

Would you believe the majority of decent Americans oppose having assault weapons in civilian hands?

 According to Gallup, between 57-61% of persons polled in the USA think assault weapons should be banned, but the legislators have consistently ignored these facts.

So why are most Republican legislators opposed to the banning of assault weapons when their constituents want them to be.

Corruption it would appear.

 In the USA, there is a well-entrenched method of bribing legislators called lobbying.

This is how Wikipedia begins its description of lobbying;

“In politics, lobbying, bribery, persuasion or 'special' interest representation is the act of a legally sanctioned attempt at influencing the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies.”

Among the richest organizations which use lobbyists in the USA; are gun manufacturers and the NRA (National Rifle Association). Why you may very well ask? The answer lies in the piece published by the Huffington Post in 2017 entitled "Assault Weapons Sales Boom Fuels Gun Industry Profits, And Tragedy." (It is interesting to learn via the History Newsletter, that the NRA opposed access and carrying of weapons in the 1960's when the Black Panters were the propoonents and whites were scared out of their pants by them!The NRA Supported Gun Control When the Black Panthers Had the Weapons - HISTORY)

 It is therefore my view that until the USA addresses the corrupt system of lobbying, they will forever be shedding tears and saying prayers for victims of mass murders, be they mere infants, Texas May 24th, black people two weeks before in Buffalo, or people in churches, cinemas, malls etc.

Yes, every country suffers from crime with which violence is often associated. For humans will forever reach for weapons with which to harm others, be they sticks, cars, guns etc.

 But must the USA continue to make it easy for anyone with a grudge to kill people by the dozens in the flash of an eye, simply because that is what the NRA and gun manufacturers want?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Maasai et al

 While Wikipedia claims there are forty-two tribes in Kenya, my very knowledgeable Kenyan acquaintance, said the real figure is actually is forty-seven.

Forty two or forty seven, tribal politics in Kenya is something that would take me many moons to understand. So, after a mere two weeks, I would not be prepared to say I know anything about it.

Red is a dominant color among the Maasai, as it is said to repel lions. Third left is a Kikuyu

However from the little I was able to glean, the Kikuyu is the dominant tribe. Not not only are they largest in number, but in the true spirit of 'divide and conquer,' when the British ruled Kenya with an iron hand, they gave 'special privileges' to that tribe.

Even  today therefore, they are still dominant in every area.

Lessons in changing a tire

.

Kenyans, I understand, tend to vote along tribal lines, and the Kikuyu have held the reins of power since independence. 

This has led to some resentment among other tribes, and between 2007-2008, serious violence erupted after the general elections.

Maasai approach to observe the tire-changing activity
Some Kikuyus contend that this stemmed from as an attempt to displace and even eradicate them. They insist they won the elections fair and square.

Ask just anyone in Kenya 'who controls the wealth in the country'  and they will most likely tell you its the Kikuyus.

Even some Kikuyus though, will admit that that the government led by Kenyatta is extremely corrupt.

 

However, many contend that they have to keep voting for them to protect themselves from the other tribes which would like to remove them from power and even eliminate them. '

Maasai herder at Ndong Mountain

I was invited by a Kikuyu informant who is an activist, to ask anyone from other tribes, what they thought of them and did try.

One opinion I did get was that that the Kikuyu are so power-hungry, that they are even trying to replace Swahili as the national language with their own! 

(Like in most of East Africa, Swahili is the dominant language but most people speak some English plus their tribal language.)

Another bit of information I garnered, was that, types of professions and employment usually follow tribal lines.

So while the Kikuyu dominate commerce, many professions and politics, some other tribes are predominantly laborers.

 The Luo tribe to which Obama's family belongs, is the fourth largest tribe in the country and they tend towards intellectual activities.  I was quite amused though, that when I enquired of my Kikuyu informant whether Kenyans celebrated the ascendency of Obama to the  presidency of the USA, I received the cryptic response "The Luo did.")😂

I was genuinely shocked as I had (wrongly) assumed that Kenyans all, would have been overjoyed to have a descendent of theirs, in the Oval Office. But the more I learnt about that county, the more I realized that most Kenyans did not care too hoots about America, what they said or did and most surely would even accept their money!.

The offending creek

That caused my curiosity about the tribal situation in Kenya to really peak!

One person even told me that she could tell what tribe someone belongs to by their body shape!

I can only tell who belongs to the Maasai tribe, and that is because of how they dress.

They are best known internationally as a result of their intimate knowledge of wildlife, which is the heart of Kenya's safari/tourism industry.

While Kenya has a population of some fifty million, the Maasai make up only around two million.  

Despite the massive changes taking place around them, they seem determined to stick to their traditional nomadic/herding ways.

Their wealth is determined, I was told, by the number of cattle they have and most of their land is community owed.  

You therefore see the herders with their flocks of sheep, cattle and goats, roaming lands which are not fenced off.

 I was told by Chief Johnathon from the village near to where we stayed, that individuals can purchase private property by applying to the government. How much land you are permitted to purchase, depends on the size of the family. Most however prefer to continue using community lands.

Chief Johnathon (minus his staff!)

My first encounter with Maasai people was when we were on the way to spend a few days at a safari camp.

We drove for around three hours from Nairobi on an excellent highway. To get to the camp in Maasai land however, we had to take a dirt tract which could only be accessed by a four wheel drive.

As we crossed a creek, there was a loud bang, followed by signs that we had a puncture.

Then it was as if from nowhere, that a small a group of mostly women,  appeared. 

And guess what, they were anxious to take photographs with us, as long as we paid them!

All the Maasai people I met over the next few days, turned out to be extremely curious but nice, helpful people.

Their village adjoins the conservancy where we were staying and in fact that land was leased to the operators by that village council.  Most of the workers therefore were from the  village.

I learned some interesting facts about their lifestyle.

A Massai compound

⚉ Most have Angelified first names but their surnames are their tribal name.

⚉ While the men are generally the herders, the women are housewives and even build the mud houses!

⚉ Maasai in general do not eat wildlife anymore.

⚉ You know who is the chief by how he holds his staff.

⚉ You know a Maasai's wealth by how many cattle he appears to have, but never ask a         Massai how many cows he owns!

⚉ To have respectability a Maasai man should have at least two wives.

The Kenyan tribal situation appears fascinating and even contradictory at times, and it is is something I would certainly love to learn a lot more about.

However, AS TO THE MAASAI, I MAKE NO JUDGEMENTS. AS I GET IT I REPORT IT!😒😒 

(169) Joan Williams, author - YouTube

Poor James Forbes

I think most Jamaicans are saddened that Senior Sup. James Forbes has been found guilty in what is loosely being called the Bicknell bribery affair, as for years Senior Sup. Forbes has represented all that we wished for in a police force, by giving it a warmer, human face and an air of professionalism. 

What I have found lacking in the press reports of the trial is what was made of the fact that it was a former Commissioner of Police and current adviser to the Ministry of Security, Lucius Thomas who dragged Forbes into the who messy affair. 

For according to the Gleaner report of the 22nd August 2012, which stated under the heading "Thomas Offered Advice" "When Police Sergeant Jubert Llewellyn met with former Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas at his home, the younger police officer was reportedly advised by the retired police chief to ensure that he takes care of his family.

The police sergeant had reportedly gone to Thomas' home on the advice of a friend, after pressure was allegedly brought to bear on him to drop the bribery charge against businessman Bruce Bicknell.

It is understood that when the sergeant solicited the retired policeman's advice, Thomas sought an assurance from Llewellyn whether he was convinced that Bicknell was actually seeking to bribe him.

The former police commissioner reportedly told the sergeant that he had done the "correct thing", based on what was happening but urged him to think about his family.

It was then that the former Police Commissioner proposed that mediation would best serve to resolve the issue, which brought Senior Superintendent of Police James Forbes into the mix."

It seems therefore it is the former commissioner who brought the Senior Sup. Forbes into the mix to "mediate"! So what weight was given to this and was Thomas called at all to testify at this trial? The report seems to have left out this very important aspect of the affair.

And what did former and present security adviser Commissioner Thomas mean when he reportedly advised  the complainant Jubert Llewelyn to "Think about his family?" 

There is too much left murky in the report of the trial of Senior Superintendent Forbes,  leaving me with a funny feeling that the other half has never been told! 

UPDATE

It took almost nine years, but justice was finally done, hence the Gleaner Headline of February 26, 2021; 

James Forbes freed of corruption charge.

In his famous ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote that “justice too long delayed is justice denied”. 

That being the case, can we ever say that most people in Jamaica who are drawn before the courts, ever achieve justice?

 Sad.

SLOW PACE OF CHANGE

One of the most wasteful and stupid practices of successive Jamaican governments is to establish a new agency to deal with every new problem.

So taxpayers are forever saddled with several agencies overlapping each other and despite the fact that the country is now scraping the proverbial barrel to try and ward off insolvency, the logic of amalgamating agencies continues to evade us.

So it is with this in mind that I overwhelmingly welcome the move to finally amalgamate the JCF and ISCF (blue stripe and red stripe police) 20 years after it was recommended by the Wolfe Task force on crime! Is this a sign that we are finally coming to our senses?

I doubt it very much, for no where have I heard that anyone wants to restructure that expensive relic of colonialism, the army, to serve the best interests of the Jamaican people, so I suppose that we will continue to waste billions on  that deadly institution  for centuries to come, although we have no empire to protect. (Could they protect us from an invasion from Cayman anyway? I doubt it!)

What purpose does a fully fledged army serve? Sure we need a coast guard, an air wing and an engineering corp but shouldn't the thousands who make up the infantry be offered the opportunity to be retrained to serve and protect the people of Jamaica via the police force? Right now, these men have very little to do except act as bat men  for the  officer corp and occasionally, although they are not trained to do police work, they are sent in to terrorize people in the inner-cities.

 It is  pathetic to see these healthy young men being trained at Newcastle and no one would even think of giving them some paint and lumber to fix up their quarters there which is slowly but surely crumbling.  Then after they are trained, they are wasted at camp. Such blatant under-utilization of human capital.

While we waste money and peoples lives on a redundant army, Costa Rica, situated in the midst of turmoil in Centrral America, abolished theirs in 1947 and diverted the resources to education. No wonder their per capita income is almost twice ours and the last time I visited there about two years ago, a friend was able to boast that they do not do manual labour but import Nicaraguans to do all their "dirty work."

Oh how thousands of our Jamaicans would love to  get an opportunity to go there and do their "dirty work" while our governments continue to operate as a "one eye men in blind man country."

Tessane Chin to the world

Once again a great Jamaican, this time Tessanne Chin, has shone on the world stage and demonstrated once  more that Jamaicans are world beaters.

And now, once again, we will see the politicians jumping over each other to get on her bandwagon to try and benefit from her personal achievements, something in which they played no part.

Tessaane's success has again exposed for the world to see that it is only the poor leadership which has plagued this country since independence, that has brought us to where we are. For it is poor leadership that has put us on the top of the corruption and murder pile, destroying the potential of so many of our super talented people, while the cultist followers would have us honour those who have been the architects of our destruction.

For it is the garrison politicians and their willing collaborators in the two major parties, who have brought Jamaica to the criminal level that the country has sunk to, as the  garrisons are the crime incubators in which slavery is even being practiced today with the blessings of some of our so called leaders, present and past.

Tessane's success, did not come about only because of her natural talents, but because her talents were nurtured and most importantly, because Jamaicans at home and abroad, found something to rally around.

This is where leadership comes in, for with proper leadership, we at home and abroad can bond together and become world leaders in every possible area of life.

This is why I find this determination by some politicians to limit our potential, stifle our self respect, confidence and faith in ourselves by insisting that we have to hang on to the colonial  and parochial concept of Federation, now called Caricom, to succeed in this world, so counter-productive.

For if little Singapore without a tenth of our natural and human resources can become a world leader, whats stopping us?

The answer, poor leadership, has been clear for decades but are we really prepared to shake off the shackles of lethargy and continue to accept the leadership of those who limit us, as we go into the new year?

Despite the magnificent performance of the Tessanes, Shellies, Bolts and the unexposed talents of the thousands of young Jamaicans here, plus the obvious willingness of those in the diaspora to work with us to help us succeed,  I would not hold my breath, since there is real truth in the popular saying, "without vision the people will perish."