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Liberate self from gangs of Gordon House
Should persons wish to appreciate the lack of confidence in Jamaica's political leadership and fear for the country's future, they need only review the results of a recent survey on people's attitudes towards Jamaican-style democracy.
It was a joint project between the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies and Vanderbilt University in the United States, as part of a wider analysis of democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean funded by the United States Agency for International Development.
The significant finding was not the 69.9 per cent of Jamaicans who declared support for democracy which, in any event, was 4.3 percentage points lower than two years ago.
The frightening statistic, in our view, is that a third of Jamaicans would support a military coup and that only 45.3 per cent of the people are satisfied with the state of the country's democracy, down from nearly 49 per cent two years ago.
These attitudes are framed against the approximately 82 per cent of Jamaicans who perceive the country to be corrupt, even though relatively few persons have direct experience with being shaken down for graft.
confidence crisis
This crisis of confidence, as we have argued in our series of columns this week, is the effect of the hijacking and sapping of the Jamaican polity by the gangs of Gordon House that presume to equate their partisan interests with the broad national good.
For more than half a century, the gangs, or political parties, have alternated control of the Jamaican state, with little that is positive to show for their efforts: a stagnant economy, increasing poverty, low educational outcomes, heavy migration and growing numbers of Jamaicans who would welcome a military putsch.
Of course, the misguided and inept political executive did not cause this collapse of the Jamaican society entirely on their own. A passive civil society afforded them space.
But more important, politicians were aided and abetted by a lazy, often incompetent, and mostly acquiescent public bureaucracy that facilitated its own usurpation by the executive. Having surrendered professional conduct and Westminster's line of demarcation between the political executive and permanent civil service, the bureaucracy found survival easier in its co-option to the partisan cause.
important capacities
But no country can be effectively managed and be globally competitive in the absence of an efficient and competent public bureaucracy, capacities Jamaica needs to rediscover if we are to have a chance at recovery. The Jamaican civil service, in this regard, has to liberate itself from domination by the political executive.
As a start, the leadership of the public bureaucracy, including its trade union, the Jamaica Civil Service Association, has to admit to the crisis and its role in that creation. Then civil-service leaders have to commit themselves to reform, resulting in a highly skilled, decently rewarded and accountable bureaucracy, with a clear demarcation between the jobs of a permanent civil service and political executive.
This will, among other things, probably mean a reduction of the bloated public sector to affordable levels, linking pay to performance and eliminating anachronistic compensation arrangements, such as non-contributory pensions and overly generous leave entitlement.
If the public bureaucracy doesn't act, it might not be able to save itself - or Jamaica.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
Should persons wish to appreciate the lack of confidence in Jamaica's political leadership and fear for the country's future, they need only review the results of a recent survey on people's attitudes towards Jamaican-style democracy.
It was a joint project between the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies and Vanderbilt University in the United States, as part of a wider analysis of democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean funded by the United States Agency for International Development.
The significant finding was not the 69.9 per cent of Jamaicans who declared support for democracy which, in any event, was 4.3 percentage points lower than two years ago.
The frightening statistic, in our view, is that a third of Jamaicans would support a military coup and that only 45.3 per cent of the people are satisfied with the state of the country's democracy, down from nearly 49 per cent two years ago.
These attitudes are framed against the approximately 82 per cent of Jamaicans who perceive the country to be corrupt, even though relatively few persons have direct experience with being shaken down for graft.
confidence crisis
This crisis of confidence, as we have argued in our series of columns this week, is the effect of the hijacking and sapping of the Jamaican polity by the gangs of Gordon House that presume to equate their partisan interests with the broad national good.
For more than half a century, the gangs, or political parties, have alternated control of the Jamaican state, with little that is positive to show for their efforts: a stagnant economy, increasing poverty, low educational outcomes, heavy migration and growing numbers of Jamaicans who would welcome a military putsch.
Of course, the misguided and inept political executive did not cause this collapse of the Jamaican society entirely on their own. A passive civil society afforded them space.
But more important, politicians were aided and abetted by a lazy, often incompetent, and mostly acquiescent public bureaucracy that facilitated its own usurpation by the executive. Having surrendered professional conduct and Westminster's line of demarcation between the political executive and permanent civil service, the bureaucracy found survival easier in its co-option to the partisan cause.
important capacities
But no country can be effectively managed and be globally competitive in the absence of an efficient and competent public bureaucracy, capacities Jamaica needs to rediscover if we are to have a chance at recovery. The Jamaican civil service, in this regard, has to liberate itself from domination by the political executive.
As a start, the leadership of the public bureaucracy, including its trade union, the Jamaica Civil Service Association, has to admit to the crisis and its role in that creation. Then civil-service leaders have to commit themselves to reform, resulting in a highly skilled, decently rewarded and accountable bureaucracy, with a clear demarcation between the jobs of a permanent civil service and political executive.
This will, among other things, probably mean a reduction of the bloated public sector to affordable levels, linking pay to performance and eliminating anachronistic compensation arrangements, such as non-contributory pensions and overly generous leave entitlement.
If the public bureaucracy doesn't act, it might not be able to save itself - or Jamaica.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
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