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Seaga fails again
Henley Morgan
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Edward Seaga is having a tough time creating a legacy of which one could be proud. The last hit to his vaunted reputation as a leader and financial guru is the widely reported uncertainties surrounding the three-year $150-million Cash Plus sponsorship of the National Premier League (NPL) football competition.
The Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA), which Mr Seaga chairs, reportedly negotiated the arrangement that saw the exit of one of Jamaica's most venerable companies, Wray and Nephew, and entry of new sponsors Cash Plus, a company steeped in controversy almost from the start. Even more astounding are the comments attributed to Mr Seaga by one newspaper report. Like thousands of Jamaicans who invested money in Cash Plus expecting minimum annual returns of 120 per cent, the report goes, the PLCA reinvested sums from the sponsorship back into the investment club.
If true, the reports show Mr Seaga to be very human, not the messianic-like figure some would make him out to be. And, yes, it is human to err.
Sport-loving fans naturally hope that the sponsors will fulfil their commitment, and that the NPL will survive any cash-flow problems that may result from what could prove to be an error in judgement on the part of Mr Seaga and the association he leads. The error in judgement that gave us political garrisons will not be so easily reversed or overcome.
In a recent television interview, new commissioner of police Hardley Lewin reaffirmed his assessment of Tivoli as "the mother of all garrisons". In doing so, he continues to keep in the public's eyes an error of incalculable proportion by Mr Seaga. Generally credited with godfathering the transition of Back O' Wall to Tivoli and having represented the West Kingston constituency in parliament for 40 years, Mr Seaga's name has become synonymous with tribal politics and its stepchild, the garrison.
I am not here indulging in partisan political rhetoric. When Lewin singled out Tivoli as the big (original) monster that gave birth to many little monsters, I responded with a column in this newspaper, cynically pointing out that where offspring are produced there of necessity must be a father and not just a mother. To quote my words then, "If Tivoli Gardens (JLP) is the mother of all garrisons, then Trench Town/Arnett Gardens (PNP) is the father."
The reality of political garrisons and how they came to be is not in question. There is a difference of opinion, though, as to whether garrisons and the culture they breed are major causes of the orgy of murder, which is fast engulfing the entire island. On this subject, Lewin contradicts himself or at least is confusing in what he says.
Going back to that television interview on January 2, 2008, the commissioner of police did a reasonable job of putting his statement about Tivoli being the mother of all garrisons into context. He should have stopped there. He went on to question the wisdom of talking about degarrisonisation. How do you dismantle a political garrison? What does it matter if 70 per cent of the people living in an area are of a similar political leaning? What's a garrison if there is no crime?
Inferred from Commissioner Lewin's open-ended questions to which he offered no answers, is a view that crime is what causes garrisons and not the other way around. The conclusion to be drawn from this line of thinking is that a generalised approach to crime-fighting will stop the killings and end the problem of garrisons.
If this is Comissioner Lewin's position, let me be the first to openly rain on his parade. Sir, you are talking nonsense. Do the mathematics. From the crime statistics, subtract the murders that were committed in the approximately 140 communities in some 12 to 16 political constituencies with strong garrison features. I guarantee you that instead of the over 1570 murders committed in 2007 we would be looking at a figure of maybe 350 tops.
Any short- to medium-term effort towards winning back Jamaica from the criminals must have as its centrepiece what in policing is termed a selective (targeted) incapacitation strategy, with the objective of destroying the capacity of the criminal network located mainly in garrison communities to continue the murderous acts. Hard policing must be supported by a massive social reintegration programme for the communities and the people who live there. The two-pronged approach, supported by truth and reconciliation and a number of symbolic actions done on a scale reminiscent of the Marshall Plan which was used to rebuild Europe following World War Two, is what I call "degarrisonisation".
Commissioner Leawin has invited the public to do a critique of what he says and does. I shall comply with the request in the hope that he will not become another in a long line of commissioners of police who leave the country with a higher homicide rate at the end of their term of office than they inherited at the start.
hmorgan@cwjamaica.com
Henley Morgan
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Edward Seaga is having a tough time creating a legacy of which one could be proud. The last hit to his vaunted reputation as a leader and financial guru is the widely reported uncertainties surrounding the three-year $150-million Cash Plus sponsorship of the National Premier League (NPL) football competition.
The Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA), which Mr Seaga chairs, reportedly negotiated the arrangement that saw the exit of one of Jamaica's most venerable companies, Wray and Nephew, and entry of new sponsors Cash Plus, a company steeped in controversy almost from the start. Even more astounding are the comments attributed to Mr Seaga by one newspaper report. Like thousands of Jamaicans who invested money in Cash Plus expecting minimum annual returns of 120 per cent, the report goes, the PLCA reinvested sums from the sponsorship back into the investment club.
If true, the reports show Mr Seaga to be very human, not the messianic-like figure some would make him out to be. And, yes, it is human to err.
Sport-loving fans naturally hope that the sponsors will fulfil their commitment, and that the NPL will survive any cash-flow problems that may result from what could prove to be an error in judgement on the part of Mr Seaga and the association he leads. The error in judgement that gave us political garrisons will not be so easily reversed or overcome.
In a recent television interview, new commissioner of police Hardley Lewin reaffirmed his assessment of Tivoli as "the mother of all garrisons". In doing so, he continues to keep in the public's eyes an error of incalculable proportion by Mr Seaga. Generally credited with godfathering the transition of Back O' Wall to Tivoli and having represented the West Kingston constituency in parliament for 40 years, Mr Seaga's name has become synonymous with tribal politics and its stepchild, the garrison.
I am not here indulging in partisan political rhetoric. When Lewin singled out Tivoli as the big (original) monster that gave birth to many little monsters, I responded with a column in this newspaper, cynically pointing out that where offspring are produced there of necessity must be a father and not just a mother. To quote my words then, "If Tivoli Gardens (JLP) is the mother of all garrisons, then Trench Town/Arnett Gardens (PNP) is the father."
The reality of political garrisons and how they came to be is not in question. There is a difference of opinion, though, as to whether garrisons and the culture they breed are major causes of the orgy of murder, which is fast engulfing the entire island. On this subject, Lewin contradicts himself or at least is confusing in what he says.
Going back to that television interview on January 2, 2008, the commissioner of police did a reasonable job of putting his statement about Tivoli being the mother of all garrisons into context. He should have stopped there. He went on to question the wisdom of talking about degarrisonisation. How do you dismantle a political garrison? What does it matter if 70 per cent of the people living in an area are of a similar political leaning? What's a garrison if there is no crime?
Inferred from Commissioner Lewin's open-ended questions to which he offered no answers, is a view that crime is what causes garrisons and not the other way around. The conclusion to be drawn from this line of thinking is that a generalised approach to crime-fighting will stop the killings and end the problem of garrisons.
If this is Comissioner Lewin's position, let me be the first to openly rain on his parade. Sir, you are talking nonsense. Do the mathematics. From the crime statistics, subtract the murders that were committed in the approximately 140 communities in some 12 to 16 political constituencies with strong garrison features. I guarantee you that instead of the over 1570 murders committed in 2007 we would be looking at a figure of maybe 350 tops.
Any short- to medium-term effort towards winning back Jamaica from the criminals must have as its centrepiece what in policing is termed a selective (targeted) incapacitation strategy, with the objective of destroying the capacity of the criminal network located mainly in garrison communities to continue the murderous acts. Hard policing must be supported by a massive social reintegration programme for the communities and the people who live there. The two-pronged approach, supported by truth and reconciliation and a number of symbolic actions done on a scale reminiscent of the Marshall Plan which was used to rebuild Europe following World War Two, is what I call "degarrisonisation".
Commissioner Leawin has invited the public to do a critique of what he says and does. I shall comply with the request in the hope that he will not become another in a long line of commissioners of police who leave the country with a higher homicide rate at the end of their term of office than they inherited at the start.
hmorgan@cwjamaica.com