Welcome 2021

2020 has been such a stressful year that I appreciate those who tried to make light of it with witty maxims. My personal favorite is "I did not enjoy 2020 so I am not adding it to my age." Wishing I didn't have to.

 In  truth however it is not the year that was bad but the pestilence of having a global pandemic which no one was prepared for. It took months before scientists could even begin to understand the make up of the beast, and during the interim they did send some conflicting messages to the public, many of which have created some confusion, even now.

In the interim, the death toll from the virus climbed astronomically and many hospitals worldwide became so overwhelmed that persons suffering from other chronic illnesses, had to be turned away as the virus became the main focus. 

If a group of professionals deserve the Nobel prize for science this year, it's the scientists worldwide, from Cuba and China to the USA and United Kingdom, who have developed several vaccines in under a year. This has never been done before in the history of the world, for the norm for such developments have been in excess of a decade. In fact, even now there are no vaccines for the Aids and Ebola diseases, so this tells you something.

But I stray.

Despite the fact that several vaccines are now available, even if we all get a share,  the world will not return to normalcy for probably years to come. For in interim,  the economic devastation worldwide will continue to wreak havoc on, especially the poor. That is the terrible load we have to find a way of coping with over the next few months.

According to ONE, a global movement which campaigns to end poverty worldwide "COVID-19 has presented many new social and economic challenges, and is exacerbating already existing ones. One such challenge is global poverty. Right now over 700 million people live in extreme poverty worldwide, which is defined as living on less than US$1.90 per person per day. Right now, the pandemic is threatening to push up to 115 million people (my emphasis) into poverty in 2020 alone." And I might add, even in the rich USA, food bank operators have been crying out for assistance as they have never had to cope with the demand for food as they have seen in recent months. 

If people in the USA are feeling it, what about people living in really poor countries? 

I feel it especially sad for the children, millions of whom today are not been able to get one solid hot meal each day and who if their brains are not being damaged, their ability to learn is certainly being stymied. For whereas children in the first world have computers and universal internet connection, our realities in Jamaica are no where close to that. Children also need inter-personal stimulation even more than adults and having to remain cooped up at home with adults, some of whom are abusive, has only added to the misery of many.

Another group of youngsters who have suffered substantially are those who have sacrificed greatly, putting in years of training to represent their countries at the Olympics, only to have their dreams disintegrate in the face of this terrible virus. Hopefully, even the mutation of this virus will not cause another postponement from July this year in Japan. 

Generally, right at home here in Jamaica, the economic clouds are gathering for there was already a 10% decrease in GDP in the last quarter. The greatest contributor to that has been of course the rapid and immediate decline in tourism industry. The reality therefore is that even with the vaccines (which we are grateful for) there will be no normal life for most of the people on this planet in the short run as governments cannot deliver on social services and infrastructure, due to empty coffers.

Of course, I am not at all proposing that we lie down and die, only that we recognize what we have to face in the new year and probably many years to come.

To add to the general misery people faced last year due to the virus was the fact that hundreds of thousands of families lost close friends and relatives, forever. I am grateful that I lost no one close to me this year, although two deaths really shook me to the core. The first was the untimely death of Chad Boseman, the star of Black Panther, a film that brought so much pride to people of color. He was so young, hard-working, talented and devoted to his profession. For although he must have been suffering terribly in the last few months, no one knew as he went about his work with courage and dedication. He also brought joy and comfort to children suffering from cancer, without even letting on about his own struggles. I really mourn his death.

The other passing that I personally felt, was that of Alex Trebek, who for decades, entertained and educated us as the host of Jeopardy. I will certainly miss his wit, knowledge and charm.

If there was any good news coming out of 2020, it was the fact that Americans came to their senses as they voted out Donald Trump. While I still consider it a mystery how they voted for him in the first place in 2016, the greater mystery is how come he increased his support in four years after such an erratic, hate-filled  and counterproductive  term. Yes, the man is clearly unstable, but what on earth would you call those millions who continue to support him.?

The fact is though, although those erratic hands no longer remain on a nuclear button, some seventy million racists still remain in the USA and many are heavily armed. That does not bode well for non- white citizens and visitors to the USA.

 Only time will tell how that will develop in the long run.

The poor will be the real victims

As one watches the developments, discussions, and  debates taking place since the scourge of coronavirus attacked the world, it is not difficult to remember the words of Walter Bagehot, the late British journalist that 'Poverty is  such an anomaly to rich people, that it is very difficult for them to figure out why people who want dinner do not ring the bell.'

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the world's people who are going bear the brunt of this virus, are the poor and they, in reality, are close to being the majority of the world's population.

It may appear simplistic, but I have such difficulty watching the thousands of people in high-end air-conditioned vehicles, lining up all over the USA to collect food from the food banks. For these people who are claiming to be needy, have no reason to be so for they live in a country with lots of security blankets that most in the world can only dream of. 

And if those people are really having difficulty finding food, what must be the plight of the really poor people all over the world, for this virus is affecting everyone.

It seems the choices facing the really poor, therefore, may probably even boil down to slowly dying from starvation/malnutrition or taking a chance that the virus will not get to them. 

Take my own home Jamaica where under 10% of adults were up to recently said to be unemployed. But at the same time, we must recall that approximately a fifth of those who are registered as employed, include small farmers whose existence is determined by the elements. Worse off are those who hustle day by day, driving route taxis or selling anything from sweets to a few fruits to earn enough to buy food daily. 

The day these people do not do that, is the day they may not have food for their children.

Recently, a Business Process Outsourcing company, (BPO) in Jamaica was found to have a significant number of persons suffering from the coronavirus. These companies in Jamaica have been a major source of employment, providing jobs for some 40,000 people, mainly women. According to the reports, one of the main companies involved in that industry had not been practicing hygienic practices and that is where the virus spread exponentially, causing Jamaica's contagion rate to double overnight.

What bothers me though was the panic reaction from some influential quarters calling for the BPO industry to be locked down and some are even urging the government to lock down the country entirely!!

Those proposing that solution in my humble opinion, are either complete idiots, people who think what happens in the USA must be emulated regardless of other circumstances or fall into Bagehot's description of the rich as quoted above. 

For the question arises, if these establishments are closed, what will happen to the  40,000  people who depend on the paycheck earned in these establishments if they are closed?  (It is estimated that every working head of household, supports a family of 5 others in Jamaica).

Yes the rich USA and European countries can afford to lock down indefinitely,  but very few third world countries can afford to.

In Jamaica, already our tourism industry has been devastated, there is little demand for bauxite and even remittances have dried up.

As far as I am concerned, the government has been making the right moves by closing the schools,  testing as many people as they can, tracing those who they have come in touch with, quarantining selected areas where many are affected and instituting a nightly curfew.

However I don't know if closing down the parish of St. Catherine was necessary.

Yes, the problem occurred in Portmore and that is a structured community so a lockdown may work. 

But the rest of St. Catherine is not like that but more like  Kingston, where 'hustling' is predominant. 

I think the better move is to intensify the testing, quarantining and blanketing the airwaves with public education about washing hands, wearing masks and social distancing and of course the nightly curfew. 

This is the successful template South Korea followed, balancing economic concerns with the public health realities, and they are receiving condemnation from all over the world for the success of their practical strategies.

Happily, a number of entertainers have rallied to the cause, making music to encourage their fans to do what's right and that will have a great impact and we have an added advantage. This is based on studies by scientists all over the world, who are now concluding that the BCG vaccine against TB that children in many third world countries were forced to take before entering the primary school from the '50s, seems to have strengthened our immune system against this particular virus.

Walking the thin line between economic devastation and public health has to be the strategy, for cutting off the majority poor from their daily bread can only spell disaster, in both the long and short run.

I have always maintained that the worse thing that could ever happen to an individual is to be poor and sick. Right now,  the 'sick' part will not apply as far as this virus is concerned, for the vast majority of us will not be adversely affected by it.

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?