THE EDITOR, Sir:
IT IS with frustration and great disappointment that I submit this letter. As a caring Jamaican living in the United States I have been very patriotic in trying to find ways to assist my former homeland. To this end I have furnished sound (professional/academic) ideas on local government reform as well as funds and educational-based materials for a number of local (Jamaican) schools.
My most recent attempt to send computers and textbooks to two prominent high schools in Montego Bay has so far been met with failure. After spending substantial funds and time to acquire and ship much needed resources to Cornwall College and Mount Alvernia I was informed recently (nearly a month after the items were kindly shipped with a minor discount from Air Jamaica) that the Custom Department, via Jamaica's Ministry of Finance directives, were not in a co-operative mood to release the said educational items to the schools in question without an exorbitant import cess and fee being paid.
What is even more disheartening is the fact that this administrative stance is being taken in light of a letter from the Ministry of Education requesting leniency on the part of the Customs Department given the public benefit to be derived from these educational items.
The bureaucratic insensitivity of central government is effectively deterring patriotic Jamaicans abroad from seriously contributing to our island's development: be that contribution one of an intellectual or financial/material nature.
I am etc,
GARFIELD WHITTAKER
garfield.whittaker@csun.edu
California State University
Northridge, California
Via Go-Jamaica
