Cutting Down on Government

Hearing the Minister of state in charge of local government on Power106 news this morning, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. For according to him, the local government reform programme had been set back another year and the consultants would stay in place.

Just last week there was a loud outcry about the level of fees being paid to divest the sugar factories, but does anyone have any idea how much we have spent so far on consultants for this so-called local Government reform programme which seems to have been going for over a decade? It must be costing us a pretty penny but we have nothing to show for it. I am amazed that the government can be continuing this nonsense at a time when the prime minister is talking about cutting back on government. Isn’t it obvious to them that so-called local government is just another useless layer of government? How many of us even know our councilors aka local government representatives? How many communities have ever made representation to the councils to have something done and actually had them respond with action (not a bagga mout!)? When do we hear anything about most of the mayors and other officials apart from when they are going off on junkets to the Bahamas or Switzerland?

To get government expenditure back under control and give taxpayers some value for money, what we need to do is cut out parish councils and replace them with County Councils. This is not a novel idea for it was set out (after much study) in a well laid out document over a decade ago. That consolidation would require no more than around 80 representatives as opposed to the some 280 parish councilors that we now have. What on earth do we need 14 mayors and 14 bureaucratic structures for when we have only two cities, Kingston and Montego Bay? So three mayors, one for each county would be more than enough.

As I understand it, the main functions of the parish councils are; public health; some water supplies, fire service, poor relief, some level of town planning, local government roads, markets, street lights and parochial matters like bushing open land and community facilities such as playfields.

Almost all these functions are all overlapping with other agencies. Just recently the government instituted a road maintenance fund based on a levy on gas. Shouldn’t all roads be therefore centralized under the National Works Agency instead of being splintered all over the place for when you approach to your councilor to fix the parish counsel or farm roads anyway, all you get is the “…..there is no money " excuse.

Poor relief. Why can’t that not are simply taken over by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security which has Path and other such programmes as well as the bureaucracy that can oversee the poor houses.

Street lighting? Ah come on, when the street lights don’t work, you simply call the JPS and they deal with it and if we adopt the County council model, they can deal with the parochial issues, such as drawing up schedules for new areas to be lit.

Water supply? Don’t we have a National Water Commission with so much money that they can spend over half billion on billing system, so why should they have a problem dealing with a few extra local water supplies!

Markets used to be handled quite well by the Metropolitan Parks and Markets which was changed its name to NSWMA so why can’t they take back the function? With a fully blown Ministry of Health we certainly don’t need a different bureaucracy at the local level to deal with public health and the bushing and upkeep of playfields etc can be done by the Social Development Commission while the fire service remains the responsibility of the County Councils. All other parochial issues like zoning can be handled by the County Councils too. So what on earth do we need 14 bureaucracies for?

Right now the entire discussion about the cuts is swirling around which ministries to eliminate but apart from Sports which should be combined with Education and information which should go back under the prime minister’s office with a minister of State.

I really don’t see what great savings are to be made by cutting ministries. Instead, the ministers should be put to work to justify the existence of the over 200 statutory bodies, government companies and executive agencies that are under their portfolio for many of these were simply established to provide "jobs for the boys and girls” and have never given taxpayers any value for money.

But we are not serious about cutting governmental expenditure are we?

Laws Should Be Obeyed By all

Why should only poor people obey the law?

That seemed to be the question that a former Minister of Security was trying to ask this morning during a very interesting and comprehensive discussion on crime on the Breakfast Club.

After touching on a number of different areas, the question arose, should Dons be allowed to be the beneficiary of government contracts? Naturally, there was an overwhelming "no" and it was even conceded that the National Contracts Commissions had made some progress in this area but at the level of sub-contractors, there remained a problem. Then Dr. Phillips asked the bombshell question, shouldn't the issue of law breakers benefiting from government contracts not extend to business persons who illegally operate in residential areas?

You could have hit me down with a straw when I heard that coming from Dr. Phillips of all people, for his constituency is the epitome of this form of illegality.

Thank God for conversions because for years Dr. Phillips has been in a position to deal with blatant breaking of the law in that area, yet he failed to do do.

Of course the chief enforcing agency for this problem in the corporate area is the KSAC, but for decades the KSAC has preferred to send its officers to chase down starving people selling a few cigarettes, guineps and other small items to prevent their children from starving, while ignoring the blatant lawlessness of well heeled business people.

Who was it again who said that in Jamaica "Money talks and b...s... walks?"
Lets us see if it is possible to deal with crime in a country where that is the mantra!

Back to Maryland

Surprise , surprise. It was back to Maryland on Sunday 11th October.

I say surprise, since our concious leaders had determined that we need to do long rides on Sundays in preparation to the long haul to Negril (some 140 miles) on Sunday 18th. Well it could be because we were having some newcomers and they did not want to stress them out. For this Sunday we were joined by Chris and Naomi. Well Naomi was a newcomer to Maryland but certainly not a newcomer to strenuous cycling, since her first ride with us was up to Long Mountain on a Wednesday night and after about three rides she was able to do that entire hill without stopping. So Maryland was nothing to her.

To Chris is it was a bit more challenging but she managed all right. Grace who had wanted to let it defeat her some Sundays ago, also completed it with virtual ease this time.

All went well. No spills. I guess it was because Heather did not come so she and I could crash again! Neither was Barry there. He is our star crasher!

Our swimming pool was still fairly intact though a bit low and therefore not as cold. It was great to get our water massage under the waterfall too. Naomi had sworn that she was not going into the cold water, but finally jumped in when she saw that everyone else was having great fun.

Chris was the only one who resisted the appeal of the cool, inviting water. As usual, Coy did not disappoint and we had a wonderful breakfast of mackerel, ackee and codfish and callaloo. Lazy Charles did not ride up but drove up with Fatman and Mitchum for the delicious Sunday morning repast.

Thumbs up to Maryland, the river, the people and the food.

For more photos, go to ;http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=150495&id=763366822

Unadulterated Racism

I am a great supporter of strong opposition parties for good opposition parties keep governments on their toes.

The Republican party in the USA is however confusing opposition with personal hatred and have brought politics to a new low. For the shrill attacks that they have been launching at President Barak Obama since his election, are displaying nothing but raw, unadulterated hatred based on their belief that a black man should never ascend to the high office of Presidency in the USA. Even former President Jimmy Carter has recognised it for what it is.

At first these attacks came under the guise that they were opposed to his programme for health care reform, but when one sees the placards that are displayed at the staged demonstrations, the vitriol comes blazing through and the demonstrations are exposed for what they are.

Even when the citizens of the USA stand to benefit greatly from initiatives taken by Obama, the republicans cheer wildly when they go awry, note their recent cheering when Chicago failed in its bid to host the 2016 Olympics.

Actually I find it quite hilarious that their hatred of Obama has even led them to end up in bed with the Taliban since the announcement that Obama has been awarded the prestigious Nobel peace prize. For according to the reports, both the Taliban and the republicans have violently condemned his selection! Maybe to be fair to them, the Republicans cannot see what Obama has done for world peace for as they say "nearer to church further from God". The fact is however, the rest of the peace loving world was glad to see the departure of the warlord Bush and his entourage, for as long as they remained, armed conflict anywhere and everywhere, was only a step away. We need only be reminded that North Korea, Iran as well as Venezuela had been threatened with violence just before Bush's departure. In other words we have all found comfort in the change of attitude to conflict for, as the Nobel Judges said, they found his promise of disarmament and diplomacy too good to ignore.

Neither should we ever forget the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians including women and children who have been killed or displaced because of Bush's senseless incursion into Iraq.

Yes the USA had a real problem with security after 9/11, but the threat never came from Iraq. In fact, most political watchers remain convinced that Bush only went into Iraq to get even with Saddam Hussein whom it is reported, had threatened the life of his father. What a price the Iraqi people have had to pay for a personal vendetta……as did many innocent Panamanian people when his father was president and invaded that country to get at Noriega, with whom he had fallen out

The election of Barack Obama with the promise of ending the current wars quickly and dealing with other troublesome matters using diplomacy rather than weapons of mass destruction, has therefore been met around the world with a huge sigh of relief, a sigh of relief that has obviously been heard by the committee awarding the Peace Prize.

Obama is therefore more than deserving of this great award as every human being except Republican war mongers, prefer peaceful negotiations to cowboy style destructive tactics..

Riding to Hermitage Dam

What a bangarang, Howie nearly lost a sexy leg! This happened on Sunday October 4th, 2009, when on our way to Hermitage Dam, we stopped in Norbrook for Stefan, Penny and Zori to join us. Well whenever we see an open gate, it is a sign that we are welcome to enter.So our brave leaders Michael and Howie tried to do just that, but alas, they were stopped in their tracks by the baying of two huge , fierce looking, black dogs rushing towards them with teeth bared.

While Michael had the presence of mind to close his side of the gate, Howie stood transfixed, his skinny, quivering leg saved only by the commanding voice of the master who with one word, stopped the vicious canines, Castro and Nax in their tracks. It was with a sigh of relief that we had a good laugh before we started the challenging ride up Long Lane.

At Red Gal Ring, Barry demonstrated to us how easy it had been for Eve to lead Adam astray, thus condemning all generations to eternal damnation. (I hope you do not believe that myth!) Anyway, religion aside, being the slowest rider I had moseyed along when Damit got a flat and the others stopped to help him. I had seen Heather ahead of me but as usual was unable to catch up with her. I was however surprised to see Barry cotching on a fence up at Red Gal Ring when I got there, as I never knew the Bolt of "Fun and Thrills" had been way ahead.

In the meantime, Heather had continued riding up towards Stony hill Square apparently not realising that we would not be taking that route. On confirming that she was going astray, Barry said he would go and get her and bring her back. I was surprised to see him catch her up, yet they continued riding! For about 15 minutes I neither saw nor heard anything of either of them. Then Heather came riding back down the hill all by herself! On inquiring what had happened to Barry, she laughingly confessed that she had convinced him that she had been on the right path. However after a while, on asking directions, she realized that she should indeed have turned at Red Gal Ring and turned back, but Barry had continued riding. It was probably another 5 minutes before a red faced Barry came back admitting that once again, he had been led down the garden path by a woman.

After Red Gal Ring, it was serious up hill riding but it was cool and scenic as that road is abandoned and the trees create a beautiful covering all the way up. By the time we approached the last third of the journey I was starving and contemplating whether I would live long enough to get breakfast since the plan had been to go to Stony Hill on the return journey, to have breakfast there. Then Stefan had the brilliant and life saving idea that we should send Chris, who was driving the support vehicle, to buy breakfast and meet us at the dam.Quite frankly, in all my years of riding that is probably the best suggestion I have ever heard.

The road to Hermitage Dam is no longer paved. It is narrow and full of pot holes but the saving grace is that it is level so we had no more hills to contend with. The area is sparsely populated but we did find a small shop where a Rasta man had some cane leaning up. Happily we bought one and he peeled it for us and we reasoned with him for a while. Hermitage Dam was just around the corner from there and was it ever a welcome sight.

I learnt a lot on Sunday. First, Hermitage Dam is much smaller than Mona Dam but according to Michael, the two dams are joined by a pipeline so when one runs short of water, it can be fed by the other.

Secondly, the dam is fed by the Wag Water River which comes out of the Blue Mountain range. The height of the dam is a scary 150 feet and it has a very deep overflow so when it is full, the water runs back into the Wag Water.

Interestingly too, people actually do commercial fishing in the dam. While we were there, a fisherman by the name of Emroy along with his young companion, jumped on one of two rafts that were in the dam and poled their way over to where their net was set. They later came back with a good amount of black perch. According to Emory, sometimes they even catch a fish called Grass Carp which can grow up to 15 pounds and which is quite tasty.

The area is absolutely lush and beautiful but just as our breakfast arrived the rain started to pour. However there is a caretaker's cottage there and we got shelter and had a wonderful meal of delicious liver, ackee and codfish and run dung.

On the way back there was separation of the MTR's and the STR's.

Zori and I fell into the latter category since we were not about to ride back in the rain and mud so while she slept in the back, I watched my MTR colleagues getting wet and soggy as they made their way gingerly between the potholes full of water barely seeing in front of them because of the thick fog.

At Red Gal Ring, they told me how wonderful the ride had been but I certainly felt no jealousy,only anticipation at the thought of speeding off the hill that had given me such problems during the ascent earlier. I got my bicycle out of the pickup and was not disappointed.

According to Barry and his fancy equipment, we rode 27.80 miles (not me but the MTR's!) at an average speed of 8.6 mph.

Anyway, as usual it was a great day of riding and camaraderie as we prepare for the real long haul to Negril on Sunday 18th October.

See more photographs at; http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/album.php?aid=148674&id=763366822

That Hollywood Group is Wrong

It seems to me, all well thinking women worldwide and especially mothers, should immediately start boycotting anything that Hollywood big wigs such as Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Pedro Almodovar , Adrien Brody, Sigourney Weaver, Harvey Weinstein and any other actor or studio official as well as Zurich Film Festival Jury President Debra Winger have an input in.

For these are among the main leaders who have jumped to the defense of Roman Polanski and see him walk away from the drugging, rape and sodomizing of a 13 year old child over thirty years ago.

We have no way of finding out why the US authorities took so long to seek the extradition of Polanski, but justice must be served, even thirty years later. For there is no question of Polanski's guilt, since he did plead guilty at the time of his prosecution, but later escaped imprisonment by going to live in Europe.

Are these so-called famous Hollywood personalities and movie icons who would have him excused saying that they approve of the drugging, raping and sodomizing of young girls by perverts, simply because they are talented? Are they saying that only the untalented of the world should be punished for perversions? I wonder what they would be saying if this terrible crime had been committed against their own child or sister?

Let the world tell all these perverts that we disapprove of their stance by boycotting their works, no matter how "talented" they appear to be.

Silver Sands Beach

This weekend, I learnt something about most muggers. That is, they are really cowards who when not having the element of surprise to jump the defenseless, are mere wimps.

Here I was at Silver Sands resort in Duncans, Trelawny, when on Sunday, for my exercise I decided to walk up to the town. I had my earphones in my ears as usual. On the way back, I saw a man appear behind me and heard him calling out to me as I walked down the hill. I ignored him. He followed me the entire journey down, crossing the road when I did and saying things that I could not hear because of the music.

As we got to the lonely spot where there is a gravel turnoff to Duncan's Bay, I decided that I did not want this man following me further as that section was quite bushy and less trafficked. So I walked on to the gravel track, pretended to be heading to Duncan’s Bay. I then picked a large stone and quickly turned around to confront him with my hand with the stone in it, raised right in his face and shouted "Weh yu a fallaw mi fah?" 

I suppose he had thought I was just another defenseless woman whom he could intimidate, mug or whatever. What he did not anticipate was my reaction so he jumped out his boots when he saw my upraised hand and the large rock. He certainly had no time to get to any weapon if he had one.

 Although he had followed me on to the path to Duncan’s Bay he protested rather weakly in a very shaky voice that he had not been following me. I told him was he was a dirty liar for he had crossed the road each time I did and was calling out things to me. It was really quite funny to see him cower but I did not press my luck, instead, pushed him aside and went back on to the main road. I then stopped to see what he would do but he walked off into the bushes, so I continued my exercise. 

I suppose he will be more careful who he chooses to mess with in the future.

Apart from that incident , it was an absolutely wonderful weekend. We got down there around 7 pm Friday night and after drinks with Bernie (my brother) his wife and friends, turned in.

On Saturday morning at 6am., we went out fishing in a 28 foot Boston Whaler with experienced fisherman Errol. Thank God for that for if we hadn’t, we would probably have all ended upon in hospital. This is because Joan the great fisherwoman, caught the largest fish....about a 3/4 pound fish called a "stinging grouper"(aka Scorpion Fish. Thanks to Valerie Charles' suggestion on Facebook, I looked it up and found the info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpaenidae ).

 None of us knew anything about these fish at the time, but Errol quickly cut it off the line and threw it back explaining that if any of the bones touched our skin, it was instantly poisonous and some people even became swollen and had to be hospitalized. 

He further told us that for years there was a doctor in Falmouth by the name of Dr. Foote and for years that fish was called "Dr. Foote" for that is where those who caught it and tried to release it from the line in the normal manner, ended up!

I was extremely sorry to see my fish go back in the water (dead of course) since it was the biggest fish I had ever caught! Would you also believe that there is a fish called Nayga fish? Apparently the colonial masters gave it that name because it is jet black and our people have just continued to use that name. It resembles a doctor fish and but is full black. Bernie caught one.

As usual the beach was absolutely beautiful, warm and calm. At about 11am the visitors started to arrive for the domino session. My very first set with Stewie as my partner, we got six love. 

But wait for it, we then dropped 17 love before ending the last of three sets with 6/1! At that point I thought I should retire lest I ruined my reputation. So I went to play scrabble and won two of three games.

However it was the draw of the dominoes slamming down that I could not resist. So back I went to one of the tables after a wonderful buffet dinner (there were about 35 guests) only to get two six loves. Temporary retirement from dominoes for me after that, just drinks, animated conversation and listening to great music for the rest of the session.

On Sunday it was back to the beach and later to the pool, until it was time to come back to miserable Kingston. 

Oh for more weekends like this.