Seaga defends Tivoli

[Lazie]

You know the entire story was not told? It was not merely that people were killed but...you do know evidence of criminal activity was found in Tivoli by the security forces!

Suh that justify killing innocent people? A whey unuh come from?

[Karl]

Suh that justify killing innocent people?

That is the height of silliness!

Here is a rational response -

Serving notice on Jamaica
JEAN LOWRIE-CHIN
Monday, January 21, 2008


How can one write about God, prayer and morality without sounding preachy? That is our challenge as we reflect on the past week when there was an operation that left five dead in Tivoli, an Auditor General's Report on overspending to the tune of over $180 million, and a stirring message from Rev Dr Roy Notice at the National Leadership Prayer Breakfast.

There we were, wearing our Sunday best last Thursday morning, leaping to our feet to applaud a young preacher after he had roundly berated us. It must be true that virtually every human being hungers for virtue. I have read those response cards left at the tables after the Breakfast, people saying, "I feel like I have had a refreshing bath", "please visit and pray with me" and hundreds of simple "thank you's".

Under those tailored suits and silk blouses beat courageous hearts, because it is only a brave man or woman who would strive for leadership in this hard-to-please country. We would have damned our leaders if they had not turned up to pray, and some are damning them because they did. Among the loudest critics are those with selective memories who will quote from Genesis to Revelation but will forget the words of Jesus, "Let him that is without sin, cast the first stone."

We could not help thinking of the frightened women of Tivoli, as Notice reminded us that we did not really belong to uptown or downtown, but were all members of the Jamaican neighbourhood. "If one community is excluded from the neighbourhood, then the whole neighbourhood is under threat. 'I am because we are and since we are therefore I am'," said Notice, quoting African scholar John Mbiti.

More terrible than the cries of the women are the silent stares of the children. Their tender little lives should be lightened by nursery rhymes, not darkened by barking guns. These are not just the guns of the police, as we cannot deny that there have been frightening hauls of powerful weapons and ammunition during operations not just in Tivoli, but also in communities all across Jamaica.

None of us know enough of what transpired that Sunday morning, to pass judgement on police or citizen. What we do know is that too many of our Jamaican neighbours, both police and inner-city dwellers, are subject to criminal activity. This will not end until we start to "speak the truth and shame the devil". The illegal guns being recovered by police all over Jamaica, were not brought here to shoot birds. They were brought here to kill us - to paraphrase Mbiti - "he and she are us and therefore we are them." We Jamaicans have the unenviable distinction of having at least one close relative or friend heartlessly murdered. Our police force has the even more unenviable task of capturing the criminals before they kill more of us.

Can we Jamaica, help the police by preventing the spawning of more criminals? Up to last week, police officers and teachers were relating to me that they were really surrogate parents. Parents are ducking their responsibility, and were it not for the safety nets of a police youth club here and a caring teacher there, many more of our children would be easy pickings for the gangs.

A corporate donor was relating his experience at an inner-city Christmas treat last month: they had to feed two generations of children: yes, there were little ones, but the parents were actually children, many in their early teens. This is why Rev Notice was trying to shake us up last week, when he explained that "loving our neighbour also means renewing our commitment to exposing evil in the neighbourhood called Jamaica". The absent men who impregnated these young girls must be exposed and required to support their children. "We must all become whistle blowers," said Notice.

Here is the hard part: Notice warns us that "if we see the evil and excuse ourselves claiming that we are clean because we are not involved, we are only fooling ourselves". Then he quoted Buju: "Yes, you can hide from man, but not from your conscience."

Notice gave us one of the best reasons for entrepreneurship and philanthropy: "Loving neighbour means that we must all lead the process of rebuilding communities of justice and neighbourhood hospitality. The building of human capacity and the strengthening of Jamaica's spiritual and social capital must always be at the forefront of what we are about as leaders."

We could dismiss all of this as religious gobbledygook were it not for the fact that an important study emerging from the World Bank (recently quoted by PSOJ president, Chris Zacca) reveals that the primary wealth of a country lies not in its material, but in its human resource. The 2005 study entitled, "Where Is The Wealth of Nations?" states: "Most of a country's wealth is captured by what we called intangible capital residual... By construction, the intangible capital variable captures all those assets that are unaccounted for in the wealth estimates. These are often intangible assets such as the skills and know-how embodied in the labour force. It also includes social capital, that is, the trust among people in a society and their ability to work together for a common purpose.

"The residual also includes all those governance elements that boost the productivity of labour. So, for example, if an economy has a very efficient judicial system, clear property rights, and an effective government, the effects will be demonstrated by a higher total wealth and thus a higher intangible capital residual. The regression analysis . shows that human capital and rule of law account for the biggest share of the residual. Investments in education, the functioning of the justice system and policies aimed at attracting remittances are the most important means of increasing the intangible components of total wealth."

When the teachings of the Bible and the hard facts of economic study coincide, there is little room for argument. Whether we do so as Christians or out of enlightened self-interest, we must now work to revalue and enrich our most valuable resource, our Jamaican neighbour, the true wealth of our nation.

- lowriechin@aim.com

[Time]

He never said that. The killings by police snipers went too far. But the security forces did that reason to shoot. Snipers must have a sense of wrong and right. How does a sniper shoot a young boy by mistake?