Tweet
Betty Ann Blaine
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Dear Reader,
Fly the gate" and "Let in the pirate" is the twist that Jamaicans with their incredible talent for cynicism mixed with humour have coined over the years in response to the PNP's electioneering slogan.
On the serious side, the phrase speaks to the recognition the people have for the deep levels of corruption that exist in the system, and perhaps a resignation that nothing can be done, and that nothing will ever change.
People looking from the outside in, must think that we are a set of jokers. They must be wondering how it is that we are getting ready to elect a government that has been riddled with one corruption scandal after another, including the one currently brewing (Universal Access Fund), during the electioneering period. What is even more incredible is that in spite of the scandals, the polls show the governing party ahead. It boggles my mind, but I have my own theories.
First of all, scandals like the National Solid Waste, Sandals Whitehouse, Trafigura, and now the questionable Universal Access Fund have not really touched the lives of the working class or the poor who make up the majority of the electorate.
By the way, this has nothing at all to do with the people's ability to understand the issues. It is that these issues can't put bread and butter on the table. Second, the country is now clothed in a wide garment of corruption that has now more or less become an accepted part of national life. It is every man for himself, and as one youngster puts it, "If the big man dem a do it, wha 'bout we? Why we can't do it to?"
Even if no law has been broken, the idea that one single human being could be paid $28 million for a little over a year-and-a half's work from public funds, while our children are being fed a steady diet of chicken back, cheese trix and bag juice, is as disgraceful as it is unjust, and this government should hang its head in shame.
Only last Friday, I interviewed a young mother leaving the gates of Mandeville Hospital with a look of hopelessness. Her young son had broken his arm and the pain was written all over the child's face. The little boy was leaving without a cast being put on because the hospital did not have the necessary materials. The mother had been given the prescription to go and buy the plaster of Paris. "I don't have any money, Miss," she said with the tears running down her face.
"I don't have a job, and I don't have anything," she whispered looking away from me seemingly in embarrassment and grief. This happening after the big announcement about free health care for children.
Where is the sense of moral outrage in this country? There is a set of young Turks in the current administration whose greed knows no end. It would be interesting to know what type of assets they have abroad and how much money they have stashed away in overseas tax havens.
The biggest contradiction of this government is its so-called love and concern for the poor. Not only are basic food items, health care and housing generally unattainable and inaccessible to the poor, the degree of moral poverty that has been foisted upon the land as a result of a lack of vision and moral leadership is unspeakable. Jamaica has never been this poor morally, spiritually, socially and economically, as it is under this current regime.
I don't think that there is another country in the region that has sunken the way Jamaica has over the past two decades, and our demise is becoming the talk of the town. The absence of our prime minister from a crucial Caricom Heads of Government Summit and the poor manner in which this was handled underscore the lack of integrity and credibility of this government that wishes to lead the country for another five years.
As far as I am concerned, the polls are irrelevant. In no way do they reflect the crisis of leadership and the "unelectability" or the current administration. To ask people which side they will support seems almost an insult given the state of corruption and the fact that what we have is a bankrupt political system that is steadily losing all moral authority.
There are many people in this country who have lost their appetites for this thing we have masquerading as democratic governance. One gentleman in an email writes, "I say to our leaders of both political parties and their henchmen: You proud leaders of garrison constituencies who profess love for the poor but give them salt to suck through a wooden spoon, enjoy your election campaign. Have fun dancing and singing on the political stages of the country; eat up all the curry goat you can stuff into your faces; party all night. Have fun. I promise you that the evil that your parties have perpetuated on the Jamaican people will come to haunt you."
With the prime minister "flying the gate" while the diehards and "fat cats" may not care what kind of garbage is piled up behind the gate, something tells me that soon and very soon the Jamaican people will know the full story.
With love,
bab2609@yahoo.com
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Dear Reader,
Fly the gate" and "Let in the pirate" is the twist that Jamaicans with their incredible talent for cynicism mixed with humour have coined over the years in response to the PNP's electioneering slogan.
On the serious side, the phrase speaks to the recognition the people have for the deep levels of corruption that exist in the system, and perhaps a resignation that nothing can be done, and that nothing will ever change.
People looking from the outside in, must think that we are a set of jokers. They must be wondering how it is that we are getting ready to elect a government that has been riddled with one corruption scandal after another, including the one currently brewing (Universal Access Fund), during the electioneering period. What is even more incredible is that in spite of the scandals, the polls show the governing party ahead. It boggles my mind, but I have my own theories.
First of all, scandals like the National Solid Waste, Sandals Whitehouse, Trafigura, and now the questionable Universal Access Fund have not really touched the lives of the working class or the poor who make up the majority of the electorate.
By the way, this has nothing at all to do with the people's ability to understand the issues. It is that these issues can't put bread and butter on the table. Second, the country is now clothed in a wide garment of corruption that has now more or less become an accepted part of national life. It is every man for himself, and as one youngster puts it, "If the big man dem a do it, wha 'bout we? Why we can't do it to?"
Even if no law has been broken, the idea that one single human being could be paid $28 million for a little over a year-and-a half's work from public funds, while our children are being fed a steady diet of chicken back, cheese trix and bag juice, is as disgraceful as it is unjust, and this government should hang its head in shame.
Only last Friday, I interviewed a young mother leaving the gates of Mandeville Hospital with a look of hopelessness. Her young son had broken his arm and the pain was written all over the child's face. The little boy was leaving without a cast being put on because the hospital did not have the necessary materials. The mother had been given the prescription to go and buy the plaster of Paris. "I don't have any money, Miss," she said with the tears running down her face.
"I don't have a job, and I don't have anything," she whispered looking away from me seemingly in embarrassment and grief. This happening after the big announcement about free health care for children.
Where is the sense of moral outrage in this country? There is a set of young Turks in the current administration whose greed knows no end. It would be interesting to know what type of assets they have abroad and how much money they have stashed away in overseas tax havens.
The biggest contradiction of this government is its so-called love and concern for the poor. Not only are basic food items, health care and housing generally unattainable and inaccessible to the poor, the degree of moral poverty that has been foisted upon the land as a result of a lack of vision and moral leadership is unspeakable. Jamaica has never been this poor morally, spiritually, socially and economically, as it is under this current regime.
I don't think that there is another country in the region that has sunken the way Jamaica has over the past two decades, and our demise is becoming the talk of the town. The absence of our prime minister from a crucial Caricom Heads of Government Summit and the poor manner in which this was handled underscore the lack of integrity and credibility of this government that wishes to lead the country for another five years.
As far as I am concerned, the polls are irrelevant. In no way do they reflect the crisis of leadership and the "unelectability" or the current administration. To ask people which side they will support seems almost an insult given the state of corruption and the fact that what we have is a bankrupt political system that is steadily losing all moral authority.
There are many people in this country who have lost their appetites for this thing we have masquerading as democratic governance. One gentleman in an email writes, "I say to our leaders of both political parties and their henchmen: You proud leaders of garrison constituencies who profess love for the poor but give them salt to suck through a wooden spoon, enjoy your election campaign. Have fun dancing and singing on the political stages of the country; eat up all the curry goat you can stuff into your faces; party all night. Have fun. I promise you that the evil that your parties have perpetuated on the Jamaican people will come to haunt you."
With the prime minister "flying the gate" while the diehards and "fat cats" may not care what kind of garbage is piled up behind the gate, something tells me that soon and very soon the Jamaican people will know the full story.
With love,
bab2609@yahoo.com
Comment