Violence in Jamaica

Violence in Jamaica has become so entrenched over the years that sometimes new acts just go over our heads, as a means of self preservation I guess. For  really, if we allowed ourselves to react to every  new atrocity,  isn't it possible that this country would have nothing but mad people roaming around?

This latest incident is just too wicked, cold blooded and vicious to not elicit some reaction however (even from a stolid prime minister who seems to  think that if she condemns evil in the society or expresses outrage about anything, she could lose that valuable thing called power!)

I am here referring to the chopping to death of Donovan Hazley of Zion Hill in Trelawny and the injury to his 18 year old daughter. This apparently arose from the unfortunate drowning of 7 year old Alex Brown and 10 year old Javani Brown. These young fellows, from all reports, drowned in the Martha Brae river but for some strange reason the residents have convinced themselves that they were killed after allegedly being buggered by a relative of of Mr. Hazley. Even if this were true, why attack the step father and his daughter?

As severe as the loss of the children was, even if they did not die by accident as the reports indicate, murdering innocent people just cannot be accepted.

I hope the authorities will leave no stone unturned (Why does that phrase sound so hollow in this one of the top 5 murder capitals of the world?) to bring to justice those who murdered Mr. Hazley, destroyed the family's home and put his 18 year old daughter in the hospital. And if by chance the two young children were indeed murdered, every step should be taken to bring their assailants to justice.

Politics and Education

Jamaican politics never ceases to keep us entertained for nothing is really as it appears.
Take the latest brouhaha which has led to dreadlocked Member of Parliament Damion Crawford almost being crowned  a national hero by all us us (me included) because we saw him as young David fighting against the Goliath of corrupt old time politics.

This is because we have been led to believe that the contention in his constituency has been caused solely by his decision to use his Constituency Developement Fund ($15 million) to educate children in his constituency which has the 2nd lowest literacy rate in the country.

Now that true research has been done (congrats to the Gleaner newspaper) it turns out that he is not even spending half of his allocation on education!

So the big question now is, where is the rest of the money going? He needs not only to tell his councillors but us his former supporters as well!!

For his constituency has some of the most treacherous and badly maintained roads in  the island and he certainly needs to dedicate some of the almost $10 million left  to deal with this problem.

Come young Crawford, now that the scales have been removed from our eyes, we need to get a full accounting of how the CDF is being spent in  East Rural St. Andrew. In fact, lets not keep it within narrow boundaries, for all Members of parliamentary should tell the hard pressed taxpayer where each $15 million goes each year, lest we have to agree with the Gleaner that there is indeed a huge pork barrel hidden under the propaganda.

Working Behind the Scenes

I don't know what "working behind the scenes" means in other countries, but in Jamaica it is a cover for doing nothing. Check this.

On the 3rd April, the Gleaner carried a front page story about the Mayor of Kingston  and St. Andrew (KSAC) Angella Brown Burke being sworn in and it begun "Promises to tackle rats as first order of business...........

Anastasia Cunningham, News Coordinator

"As her first order of business, newly elected mayor of Kingston, Angela Brown-Burke says she would be working with the relevant agencies to undertake an intensive clean up campaign in the municipality, as well as implement a permanent solution to the problem of rodent infestation. " However, on the 12th September on page 2, the same Gleaner carried a story about the Supreme Court of Jamaica  which is located in the heart of downtown being overtaken by rats!!!

On the 23rd August, Arthur Hall of the Gleaner, wanting to find out why the KSAC was so silent, interviewed the mayor and guess what she said?

"I'm one of those persons who likes to talk about things when they are almost done because there has been so much talk and so many announcements that people have become cynical," said Brown Burke.

"So part of what I want to do is the behind-the-scenes work and talk with our partners ... to have the kind of discussions that get us somewhere," she added.

Another politician who likes to tell us that her silence is due to them fact that she is also working behind the scenes,  is  Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller. 

I wonder what her exposure will be about?

Chacka Chacka Mandeville

I hate bureaucracy. In fact, if  I had the power, I would  install large billboards all over Jamaica, saying "Bureaucracy is hazardous to your health". For if you take bureaucrats seriously, you must end up with high blood pressure!

Check this. On Sunday I was in Mandeville, capital city of the parish of  Manchester and as it was lunch time, I decided to stick to the evil I know and head to Jucci Beef for lunch. Thank god they did not serve lunch at that branch for as I was leaving I went to the rest room. Biggest mistake of my life for outside of a pit toilet,  have never smelt anything so foul and the floor was covered with water.

On Monday I decided to call the public health authorities in Mandeville for them to send an inspector there. Guess what they told me? They could not take a report over the phone as I must come in person to make the report!!!

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Now understand this, it is the job of public health authorities to ensure that all public places are hygienic and I imagine, even more so, those serving food. Now they are always complaining about shortage of staff, so shouldn't they be happy to get information that could assist them to target particular places since they cant cover all?

Oh no, such thinking is just too logical for bureaucrats I guess,  so if I do not wish to travel some 60 miles to make a report, this restaurant will most likely continue to operate in an insanitary manner. As I related this to a friend she laughed and said  I was lucky they did not tell me that in addition to coming in personally, I would have to fill in  six copies of  the complaint forms!

Oh poor Jamaica. If this country does not sink under the burden of unnecessary bureaucracies, we will be lucky.

On another  note, I had not been into that  town for probably 15 years, but my memory of  it was that it was a clean and ascetically pleasing place . Not any more for  it seems over the years it has been developing in a most chacka chacka manner and everything looks run down and disjointed.

I am no fan of the parish council system which I consider redundant, but every time I express that concern, I am told that  "Town Planning' is their major function. Well if what is happening to Mandeville and has happened to St. Andrew, Montego Bay,  Port Antonio, Ocho Rios and Port Maria,  are examples of effective town planning, dawg nyam wi suppa.

We Don't Need The Caribbean Court of Justice

As we  in Jamaica celebrate our fiftieth year as an independent nation, why can't we get it right?

Here we are rightly moving full speed to get rid of the monarchy and all other vestiges of that system including the privy council, then what do we do? Opt to make another external entity, the CCJ our final court!!

I make no bones about the fact that I am no regionalist and I totally respect for the decision that the people made in 1961 and therefore object strongly to all the moves being made to establish federation through the back door. The plain truth however is that all the attempts over the years have not worked for look at how Jamaicans are treated when they go to the other islands.

Just this week too I heard someone from the private sector on radio saying that their organisation has just set about doing been a cost benefit analysis of our relationship with Caricom. I suppose if we did not have a trade deficit of close to a billion dollars, they would  never have seen this as a basic necessity.

The fact is, Caricom only benefits the politicians and bureaucrats who gather to have a whale of a time at the various talk shops as they make decisions that affect our lives adversely and make no attempt to explain the implications of these decisions.

As far as I am concerned it was nothing but the anti-Jamaican bias that is prevalent in the region which led to not even one Jamaican judge being selected to sit on the CCJ when it was first established although we had to pay the largest fraction of the initial costs.

Anyway, the fact is we have extremely qualified and competent jurists right here and if we are really interested in true independence, as we talk about divorce from the Privy council, we would not be looking at half steps but would move full speed ahead to deal with the matter properly and in the interest of the Jamaican people, as part of our 50th anniversary celebrations.

  Let us have our own final court of appeal right here and what the heck, we can hire judges from other territories if the need arises, as it does in other professions from time to time.

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It's Not That I Am lazy!

Gosh, I really haven't don't a blog for a such long long time and people have been asking me why i have gotten so lazy. Its not that I have become lazy or am no longer inspired to write, but I have taken on this project and its killing me.

Oh yes it will pay massive dividends in the long run but I often despair about when I will finish. You see I have decided to turn my two best selling books Tour Jamaica and the Original Dancehall Dictionary into e-books and man it means transcribing them from Publisher to Word and of course editing and updating as I go along.

Of course the first great benefit is that I will say bye bye forever to printers, those unreliable and inefficient creatures and of course it will be so much easier to update the publications.

So back to the grindstone for as we say a Yard; If yu waan good yu nose haffi run.

Big Versus Small

As I get older, I have  come to understand how much Size Matters.
Got you didn't I?.

I am actually rt\referring to the size of countries for i have now become become addicted  to small countries. Not too small like Cayman or St. Kitts, but small like Jamaica.  You see, too small has its disadvantages, the worst being that everyone knows your business!

Jamaica is  just the perfect size for me. Its big enough and the city large enough that your business can remain your business and  if one wants to go anywhere at all in this beautiful island, maximum travel time?  4 hours. Imagine 4 hours from big city to a perfect hide away, or a wonderful white sand beach or a challenging mountain. And that is if you do not want to fly.

On the other hand, in big countries like Guyana, Brazil or the USof A, everywhere you want to go to takes a lot of planning, a lot of trouble and a lot of money. Sure you can fly, but who really wants the hassle of airports and security more than one has to?

Thank God for putting me in the most beautiful country in the world and the perfect size to boot.