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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>'The Trafigura Travesty'</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Betty Ann Blaine
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=350 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description></SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Dear Reader,<P class=StoryText align=justify>The tragedy of Jamaica is not the deep and entrenched systemic corruption that has engulfed us; it is that most of us have come to accept it as a way of life. In other words, corruption has become a culture. The reality is that corruption has contaminated the entire system - running and rippling through every level and facet of national life - government, private sector, civil society, down to each of us as individuals. The point is that it is hard to criticise when you yourself are complicit.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Actually, that's what the government is counting on. Our political leaders know full well that very few of us can question them, including the parlimentary Opposition. A friend of mine put it this way, "Betty Ann, there is a constituency of business people (I call them the "corporate cartel"), who have never made as much money as they are currently making under the PNP administration, including people from the other side of the political fence, so who is going to bell the cat?" Not only does the government have complete control of the commanding heights of the economy with its networks of clients and patrons, but it has been successful in relegating the masses to a state of complete unconsciousness and dependence. It is very much like the strategy of slavery. Ignorant people don't know what questions to ask, and oppressed people don't have the tools to respond or react.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The unbridled contempt and arrogance with which the contractor general, Greg Christie, was dealt with over the few weeks of the parliamentary proceedings, only goes to prove that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and four consecutive terms in office by one political party is tantamount to absolute power. One gets the feeling that the message being conveyed to the public is: "You just don't have the right to ask any questions of us." Implicit in the arrogance is the threat that if you dare to question us, we will not only bury you, we will expose and destroy your family members as well. It's an interesting game with potentially explosive outcomes.<P class=StoryText align=justify>But arrogance is not the only blatant behaviour trait being exhibited. Fundamentally, it is also an attitude and practice of "uncaringness" for the poor. It is not just that the PNP inappropriately accepted a $31m-gift from an entity doing business with the state, but that they could choose to spend that type of cash on a conference when the country is sinking deeper and deeper into economic and social decay, and the plight of the poor is so materially wretched. The very week that this very expensive party conference was being staged, the newspapers were carrying stories of the deplorable conditions of the major maternity hospital for the poor, and a litany of woes resulting from meagre financial resources. The number of children in our country who have started the school term with no books in their book bags is downright disgraceful, particularly in the face of this demonstration of extravagance.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It is one thing for private citizens to live lives of luxury and excess, oblivious to the day-to-day hardships of the masses, including small children who go hungry and are without hope. It is another matter when the state engages in waste and wrongdoing. There is absolutely no excuse for that. We need to let our leaders know that we expect t
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Betty Ann Blaine
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=350 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description></SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Dear Reader,<P class=StoryText align=justify>The tragedy of Jamaica is not the deep and entrenched systemic corruption that has engulfed us; it is that most of us have come to accept it as a way of life. In other words, corruption has become a culture. The reality is that corruption has contaminated the entire system - running and rippling through every level and facet of national life - government, private sector, civil society, down to each of us as individuals. The point is that it is hard to criticise when you yourself are complicit.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Actually, that's what the government is counting on. Our political leaders know full well that very few of us can question them, including the parlimentary Opposition. A friend of mine put it this way, "Betty Ann, there is a constituency of business people (I call them the "corporate cartel"), who have never made as much money as they are currently making under the PNP administration, including people from the other side of the political fence, so who is going to bell the cat?" Not only does the government have complete control of the commanding heights of the economy with its networks of clients and patrons, but it has been successful in relegating the masses to a state of complete unconsciousness and dependence. It is very much like the strategy of slavery. Ignorant people don't know what questions to ask, and oppressed people don't have the tools to respond or react.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The unbridled contempt and arrogance with which the contractor general, Greg Christie, was dealt with over the few weeks of the parliamentary proceedings, only goes to prove that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and four consecutive terms in office by one political party is tantamount to absolute power. One gets the feeling that the message being conveyed to the public is: "You just don't have the right to ask any questions of us." Implicit in the arrogance is the threat that if you dare to question us, we will not only bury you, we will expose and destroy your family members as well. It's an interesting game with potentially explosive outcomes.<P class=StoryText align=justify>But arrogance is not the only blatant behaviour trait being exhibited. Fundamentally, it is also an attitude and practice of "uncaringness" for the poor. It is not just that the PNP inappropriately accepted a $31m-gift from an entity doing business with the state, but that they could choose to spend that type of cash on a conference when the country is sinking deeper and deeper into economic and social decay, and the plight of the poor is so materially wretched. The very week that this very expensive party conference was being staged, the newspapers were carrying stories of the deplorable conditions of the major maternity hospital for the poor, and a litany of woes resulting from meagre financial resources. The number of children in our country who have started the school term with no books in their book bags is downright disgraceful, particularly in the face of this demonstration of extravagance.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It is one thing for private citizens to live lives of luxury and excess, oblivious to the day-to-day hardships of the masses, including small children who go hungry and are without hope. It is another matter when the state engages in waste and wrongdoing. There is absolutely no excuse for that. We need to let our leaders know that we expect t
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