Every day we read of gruesome killings, no one is spared, not the old and indigent, not even babies. For the most part Jamaicans have blamed everyone for crime including the tooth fairy. Yet they fail to hold the people they place in power to make decisions on their behalf responsible. Don’t you dare challenge the conventional wisdom which defends the status-quo . They come at you from all angles accusing you of everything short of treason. Yet the crime statistic continues to climb and the cost continues to pile up. If a team does poorly you don’t fire the team, you change the leadership, later if necessary you make changes to the team. Yet Jamaicans continue to do the same thing over and over,expecting different results. The definition of insanity.
Of course they don’t need to hold their elected officials responsible for their incompetence, they create proxies to absorb the blame, so they blame the police. If you have credible Government , you get credible law-enforcement.The Governing party has occupied public office for the lion’s share of the last two decades. As such it is literally impossible for any person not brain-dead ‚to blame the political opposition for the country’s ills. When I criticize the Government I don’t do so because I am giving endorsement to the opposition. I do so because it is common sense to hold accountable those who are empowered to act.
The Governing party however has been particularly clever, in planting operatives in critical sectors of the society. They hold senior Civil service positions made possible by nepotism and handouts. This does not mean that all senior government workers are political hacks. Their plants in other sectors , including media and academia has taken a serious toll on our country. Some of their shills have taken flight yet others have stayed and are still affecting the debate. Today’s Jamaica Observer Editorial page was titled :
Returning to those dark days of brutal murders: The Editorial summed up the present situation thus: We don’t believe that the Administration is clueless about how to solve this problem. What we suspect is that our legislators are afraid to implement the tough measures necessary to significantly cut the crime rate, because they might be unpopular with certain sections of the society. Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/Returning-to-those-dark-days-of-brutal-murders_15337500#ixzz2j2pL7eTE.
You think?
The Editorial page is far more liberal with its assumptions than I could ever be . I am not so sure they know what to do. Granted that they do however why would they change anything? They have fancy SUV’s , palatial mansions, and all the perks of state power, including free access to the cookie-jar. Most of all they have the inept police department to take the fall for them. Don’t be fooled the PNP did not hold state power for 181⁄2 years because they are necessarily stupid. Yes a discordant opposition had a part to play. What has truly been behind their dominance however is their ability to fool the poor. According to the Editorial: The Caribbean Human Development Report 2012, prepared by the United Nations Development Programme, has told us that crime costs Jamaica more than $529 million a year in lost income. That’s over half a Billion American Dollars in direct loss revenue.The total cost in treasure to the country is incalculable. Yet the leaders have refused to take the steps necessary to bring the country into compliance with international norms. If the rather sharp indictment of the Editor’s comments are correct, then the Administration has once again chosen to put politics ahead of country. This lends credence to their adage that Jamaica is PNP country. As a Jamaican I will continue to say Jamaica does not belong to the PNP , neither does it belong to the JLP, our country belong to our people you and me. So to the hyper-partisans who feel obligated to defend incompetence , remove your blinders because our country is loosing out big time.