Chester BurgessIN A day that is to come books on Jamaica's history will be written which will embrace these troubled times, and they will inevitably make special reference to the political non-performance of the PNP across the 2000/2001 decade-century-millennium divide. If such books are small, reference may be confined to a single Chapter, but if tomes then the subject will require a Section or Part insufficient treatment in either case. However, irrespective of book-size, there will be need for an index, and the present purpose is to lay the foundation for such, hence presentation in alphabetic order.
Abundance of policies, plans, projects and agencies for dealing with the many situations that arise, these producing no results; all social services in decline owing to lack of resources because of non-availability of such resources due to the economic stagnation caused by misguided government policies; Accountant General's constant exposure of irresponsible government management of public funds.
Budgetary financing largely through borrowing leading to a conspicuous and alarming indebtedness; beggars on the streets, adult and juvenile, multiplying an outward and visible sign of increasing despair; bicycle riders subject to absolutely no form of regulation.
Corruption cited by one PNP party member as one reason for resigning from political activity; Contractor General expressing dissatisfaction with contract awards from time to time.
Double taxation through taxation of dividends this recognised but not corrected.
Education in a state of deterioration, this reflected by, inter alia, the highest levels of illiteracy in the English-speaking Caribbean, requiring remedial English at the tertiary level, this against the background of tension between Ministry and JTA over the planned dismissal of teachers; employment decline in the face of redundancy increase.
Fat-salary revelations with respect to officials in key government posts these bordering on the scandalous; Finsac's attitudes and activities not always comprehensible.
Government entities, reportedly numbering some thirteen, setting a very bad example through illegally using statutory deductions for financing their budgetary expenses and shortcomings such as indebtedness to the NWC.
Home-coming Jamaicans disappointed and disgusted with the Jamaica they see today compared with the Jamaica they left behind among other things they find it necessary to organise themselves for representation and protection.
Interest rates at unprecedented levels, suffocating private sector maintenance and growth; interminable industrial relations tension between Government and public sector employee elements.
Progress
Jamaica, largest of the English-speaking Caribbean islands, standing behind them all in terms of progress and prosperity; Jamaica now conspicuous in the Western Hemisphere narcotics traffic.
Killing by and of police at deplorable levels.
Law and order in a state of breakdown, the seeds sown in the seventies bearing fruit; law of the land designated as not being a shackle.
Manufacturing sector in serious trouble, primarily through high interest races; murder rate in Jamaica near highest in the world.
Normal personal security, at home or on the road, whether on foot or in vehicle, particularly at night, a thing of the past.
Overuse of the military in the maintenance of civil order.
Police not respected, not receiving support from the public, regarded by inner-city residents as being contemptuous of them - this against a background of intra-force distrust and phone-tapping and arrest of officers at home and abroad; praedial larceny proving a particular problem to farmers these days in a context of mounting fear about the future of Jamaica's agriculture, given WTO and all that.
Quantity of ministerial statements and speeches to the nation claiming that Jamaica is on the right track, and that even if things are not exactly bright these days there are signs of progress and under PNP guidance tomorrow is sure to be a better day this in carefully constructed eloquence designed to erase the realities of the present from listeners' and viewers' minds and delude them into the belief that all is well after all - but this lullaby strategy falling prey to the evidence of the dawn.
Road surface conditions worst in Jamaica's history, causing greatest grief to adults, children and vehicles, especially in rural areas.
Suspicion of cover-up with regard to such as the Montego Bay Street People incidents; squatting now institutionalised - squatters seen as entitled to relocation, without particular regard to relocation site.
Tourist industry uncomfortable in the face of the rising crime and violence which is noticed abroad; trade balance - exports vs. imports - progressively negative.
Unacceptable and alarmingly ineffective administrative performance with regard to the security, retention and recapture of arrested and convicted persons; unlicensed and licensed for-people transport cars and minibuses proving a nuisance and embarrassment, financial and otherwise, to the authorised public transport system, their driving habits a nuisance and menace to drivers in general.
Values and attitudes, the lofty PNP prescription of yesteryear that was to be maintained, surrendering to a frantic appeal for law and order and against savage slaughter of fellow-Jamaicans.
Wilful and contemptuous disregard for oppositional, professional and public elements pressing for a referendum regarding participation in the proposed Caribbean Court of Justice.
X-ray promises of transparency in governance repeated of necessity from time to time.
Youth and other emigration due to fear of the future as to career employment and the state of the society, political and otherwise, causing brain drain at a time when more than ever before their contribution should be available and exercised.
Zero record on promises of a just society, featured by transparency in government, fertilised by economic development in an atmosphere of law and order, all integrating into a surge of convincement that there should be an end to the current Youtopyan cruise into the void with the current PNP captain and crew.
Readers will express regret that the alphabet has but twenty-six letters, a number incapable of presenting all. Some will even suggest that there be a referendum as to whether that number ought to be increased. Well, given the Jamaica of today, plus the non-referendum-mindedness of the present government - No Way! However, March 8 will be a Mini-Referendum Day, and, who knows, it may mark the beginning of a well-earned end.
