Useless Parish Councils

There are many institutions in the Jamaican governmental structure which are nothing but a colossal waste of money.

None more so than local government though.

I can't recall the number of times, while moderating my talk show program, when after hearing bitter complaints about lack of service, I would query the caller about the name of their parish Councilor, only to be met with the perennial "I don’t know."

I dare say that was the reply more than 95% of the time!

This is because Councilors know that they do not have to perform, as their election normally only depends on the popularity of their party.

In fact, the job of parish councilor requires so little effort or accountability, that most holders of the job do so on an ad hoc basis while working full time elsewhere or operating a business that benefits from getting contacts with their Parish Council!

It’s the runnings.

This problem of underperformance at Parish Councils is not new though. for I recall more than four decades ago, a huge study was done on Local government and its relevance.

The conclusion was that as our population is so small, we would be better served having three County Councils with specific functions rather than the 13 parish councils which were doing virtually nothing.

I thought those findings and the recommendations for reform were spot on, but because the two political parties love having a slew of activists at the local level being paid for by the hapless taxpayer, the reforms were never implemented.

Almost a half century later and what do we get?

Insult to injury, whereby these mainly useless politicians have had their salaries increased to FIVE MILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR. (Remind me what we are paying teachers, nurses, police please😡).

Worse one does not even have to be able to read properly to hold this post, as demonstrated in the viral video of JLP Councilor Steve Graham attempting to read a document at an Old Harbor School graduation; https://youtu.be/LMVMSbLRHh8?si=GQQnZmnaz_339f5N.

It was downright painful to watch.

I have only returned to the topic of the uselessness local government on hearing the report that the Westmorland Parish council is going to establish a pound to take stray off the roads.

So what, they never knew that they had a duty to do so until three motorists were killed in accidents with stray cows in Little London and several other persons critically injured, in a two-week period?

This declaration by the useless Westmorland Parish Council, sent me to research an article published in August 2015 entitled; “Police want parish councils to establish animal pounds.”

It begun; DSP Francis, speaking at the latest RJR Group News Forum, on Friday,  explained that, when animals are recovered from thieves, or found without owners, there are no facilities to safely keep the animals until they are claimed.

He wants the parish councils to take the lead in this regard, given the fact that "the Pound Act clearly speaks to the Parish Council in every parish having responsibility to effectively operate a pound within that jurisdiction." (My emphasis). 
He further stated; “the parish councils have failed to assume that responsibility.”

This he said in 2015 and that was not to prevent death on the roads but to deal with stealing.  

 This is only one area of their responsibilities where parish councils are not performing but this is more lethal than most, as stray animals on our roads is almost normal now.

 Pity we do not live in a county where individual councilors can be sued for dereliction when they fail to do their duties and cause death or Injury.

 Multi million-dollar salary increases for councilors indeed.😡

 

 

 

 

The exploiters contender

 The story of Africa has been one of brutality, racism and exploitation. This by rich countries which have vied over the centuries, to steal the wealth of this resource rich continent.

Not much has changed over the centuries except maybe the modus operandi of the vipers and an increase in the number of those who may wish to join the rape.

The most recent entrant into the band of potential pillagers is of course China.

They have not come with the violence of the previous exploiters though, but with apparent kindness.

I only hope African leaders have learnt from the experience of  others though and most recently, the Sri Lankan experience with China. 

They also need to pay close attention to the extreme racism Africans and other blacks are often subjected to in China! (During the pandemic, it was widely reported that several African ambassadors had to write to China’s foreign minister, calling for the “cessation of forceful testing, quarantine and other inhuman treatments meted out to Africans” and Uganda even expelled some Chinese from their country in retaliation!)

Interestingly, Zambia only recently discovered huge emerald reserves. 

That’s why I find this you tube discussion I just got, so interesting: https://youtu.be/EvW18HDsFyw.

It sure stirred up bad vibes!

Hopefully the Zambians have a similar wise warning proverb like ours in Jamaica which is :’tek sleep mark death’.

Jamaican Culture

Jamaican culture is so exotic, contagious and endearing, that the world just doesn’t seem able to get enough of it.

This includes our language, so now many typical Jamaican words like irie, dem, nevva etc are now in dictionaries on line.

Our language also sports many other expressive and catchy words which successive iidiat Jamaican governments have continued to censor and fine persons for using them.

This is a hangover from the actions of oppressive British colonialists, who had banned their use, as they thought they were being used to curse them. 

They probably were but we have been independent for 60 years and have seen these words become part of our normal language, not to curse but because they are so descriptive.

Parsons use them, police use them, judges use them etc. But they remain banned in our law books.

You can journey to Guyana, Antigua etc. where every second adjective you hear being used is the harmless Raass. Yet in your own country you can still be dragged off to court and fined by a judge for saying it.😡

The same applies to my favorite word to express surprise. That is bumbo.

Many years ago, when my grandson was in prep school I heard him saying bumbo. Horrified, I inquired how he learnt the word only to have him present me with his school book entitled; “ Bumbo the Elephant.”

We have always known the elephant to be Dumbo in kid’s books, so I immediately realized it was probably a misprint. I therefore went to his teacher the next day to point out that if a police heard him talking about Bumbo, he could be in trouble. 

She however informed me that all their books were sanctioned by the Ministry of Education so she could do nothing.

This was over twenty years ago, yet Bumbo still remains a tool of oppression by police.

In fact, it was probably twenty years before that incident that the late, great Peter Tosh (singer/musician,) recorded the classic chant; ‘Oh bumbo claat, oh raass claat.’ (Listen to it on you tube at; https://youtu.be/tYDfqIhPxCw.) 

He however probably suffered the most oppression in Jamaica under what he appropriately described as the shitstem!

Now, while aspects of our precious language are designated bad and censored by iidiat governments, the rest of the world embraces and profits from them.

How stupid can that be?

So, now if you want a shirt to explain the meaning of bumboclaat, you have to enrich the foreign-owned Amazon, while poor people in my bumboclaat country are being oppressed for using it.

Tell me I am dreaming!

 

 

College? Not for me

 A few years ago, speaking to a young American, I was shocked when he declared that he was sorry he had gone to college. When I asked him why, he explained that he had wasted four years of his life getting a degree, cum laude too, only to find that the job market for graduates was no good. He told me that all around he heard of the thousands of young people who did not graduate with anything but were making huge sums of money on things like gaming and You Tube.

Interestingly, he did not mention criminal activity though.

I was a bit puzzled as where I come from, Jamaica, higher education had long been considered the route to upward mobility, including financial success.

I guess I am out of step though for I am only realizing that the type of youth that I knew who hungered for higher education, now seem obsolete, especially among young men.

It came home starkly when I was advised recently that two well-advertised scholarships valued at $2.4 million, to our own University of the West Indies, was commanding little interest.

These scholarships were being sponsored by Violet Edwards, a Jamaican, who is one of five people in the world that got a university degree while in their 90’s. (Joan, my views: Reflections on aging (joan-myviews.blogspot.com)

Even then I didn’t want to believe there was a serious trend until a friend sent me this recent news item from TVJ. (https://youtu.be/Y9WiSxpcc7I.)

 In the news clip, you see and hear Minister of Agriculture Pernell Charles Jr, bemoaning the fact that there are dozens of scholarships available for which there are no takers.

And to think that for years I have been living under the illusion that just enough scholarships are available for poor students! 😞                                                                    I really shouldn’t be surprised you know but I am genuinely dismayed.

I say I shouldn’t be surprised, for I have known for years that Jamaica is a country where crime definitely pays. 

So if you can get rich quickly and easily through crime, why study?

Even when our criminals are as high profile as Dudus was, the law does not touch them as our security force is super corrupt.

One of the homes alledgedly owned by Dudus

And, there are so many easy ways to make money and openly enjoy the flashy lifestyle in Jamaica without ever being deterred (unless the Americans step in), that those who don’t choose that route could be considered either cowardly or stupid!

Among the easy ways the youth see people making lots of money and living large without studying are; scamming, extortion, drugs, religion and politics.

On the other hand, most who choose the long tedious route involving years of study, after graduation, they end up in jobs which don’t even give them the ability to pay rent in relatively safe neighborhoods, if they don’t get the opportunity to migrate.

Of course, there are exceptions to this general trend, but clearly not enough to give most young people the impetus to pursue the straight and narrow.

Till we tackle this drift, college and higher education will continue to be unattractive to many in the younger generation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Censored!

 You Tube is really taking this censorship thing too far you know. Can you believe they deleted the latest video in the Talk Jamaican series!

According to them, it contains 'medical misinformation!'

When did they become the authority on science anyway? In this video, I was merely explaining that what I suffered from recently, was a mere attack of the flu, not covid.

I also said when people have the flu in Jamaica, the natural remedies are ganja tea or the white rum concoction with honey and lime.

Then I mentioned that recently, some universities found that that hemp tea (ganja)/minimized the effects of the virus. So, when they took down the original with the title "It's the flu," I edited it to emphasize the ganja aspect and resubmitted it, but they censored me again!

You tube is becoming a real pain in the ass.

Jamaica an English-speaking country?

Every time I hear someone say Jamaica is an English-speaking country, I have a good laugh.  Not only because the last survey (2007) done on the topic showed that less than 18% of  us speak it, but because of the hilarious experiences I know about.

The first was when relatives from Nicaragua, Bluefields to be exact, sent their children here to learn English.

For the benefit of those who don’t know of our close connection to that part of the world, let me explain our links.

As you probably know, in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, thousands of Caribbean people including Jamaicans, went to Panama to seek work on the canal project. That was a dangerous project and thousands died, but when it was completed in 1914, some persons returned home. However, many others decided to seek opportunities in the region and those who did not remain in Panama, moved up to Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and even over to the San Andres Island among other places.

Interestingly, it was the Jamaicans who named an area on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua where they settled, Bluefileds, after our own Bluefields in Westmorland.

This is where some of my relatives settled and it was some grandchildren of one of my cousins there, who were sent to Jamaica to learn English. They went to live in Clarendon with another relative who operated a bakery there. While there, they attended elementary school nearby.

Well, that project failed badly, so after a few weeks the parents had to come and retrieve their children, for not only did they not learn a word of English, but also every second word out of the mouth of the babes was a bad word.

I heard an even more amusing story from a young lady I met in Florida where she was studying psychology. She told me she was born in East Asia, Myanmar to be exact and her parents who were doctors, wanted herself and her young brother to learn English. They found on the internet, this beautiful island in the Caribbean where it was revealed that English was spoken. Excitedly, they wrote to the government to enquire if there was any demand for doctors and were quickly recruited.

When they arrived here, they were posted to a quite large, supposedly progressive district in St. Thomas, where, she then nine, and her brother then seven, were enrolled into a local elementary school.

She enjoyed her time there and better yet, how quickly she was becoming proficient at  ‘English!’

Three years later, she was sent to a prestigious high school in Kingston and from the first day, every time she opened her mouth to speak, her colleagues in class laughed uproariously!

At first, she couldn’t understand why, then someone drew her aside to tell her she was speaking patois they were not allowed to do so in class!

Long story short, she eventually learnt English there and was happy to report that she is now tri-lingual, speaking her native language, patois and English!

I don’t how common it is for foreigners to move here to learn English only to learn that we are not really an English-speaking Country. Unfortunately, the problem does not only lie with school kids and some parents but teachers as well. For how well I remember how often I had to go in to see the English Teacher at a Spanish Town high school when I lived there, because she was marking things wrong in my children’s English homework book, when they were right!

I love patois to the point where I now have a you tube channel teaching whoever wishes, to speak Jamaican patois. I, however, love learning other languages for I totally agree with the Canadian, Yama Mubtaker, that “If people had the right skills and intention to communicate well, there would be no conflict. The better we are at communicating, the better our lives will be.”

You know, we have many young ambitious Jamaicans all over the globe teaching English. By not ensuring that all our own citizens master this international language, we are really stymieing their progress in the midst of the myriad of opportunities worldwide in so many different areas.

Why don’t we use some of these specially trained young people  who are teaching foreigners all over the globe, to teach English in those sections of Jamaica where people’s progress is being impeded because of their inability to communicate in this important international language?

Let’s start living in the real world instead of the land of make believe.

English speaking indeed!

 

https://youtu.be/EG_UIhU0uac

(268) JAMAICAN PATWAH - YouTube

 

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