Richard Hall
(In a letter to the Editor)
THE POLITICAL history of Jamaica has always greatly influenced our economy. Today is no different. An entire generation has been forced to forfeit its right to political leadership by a lopsided, misshapen political system, which seeks to retain its character by any means necessary. The few younger persons who have sought to enter this system have either been transformed by its systemic corruption, or have beaten hasty retreats from its jaws.
Over the last 20 years, many have thus decided instead to look myopically at self-preservation and aggrandisement. All sounds hopeless doesn't it? Well, thankfully, all is not lost! I am picking up new hope among the generation of thirty and forty some things. There is a new drive for excellence among different groups of young entrepreneurs. One group includes those who have studied the global market economy, have MBAs, and who seem to remember the times when education was not a bad word. They remember when youngsters were inspired to do well academically as this was the clearest path to self-actualisation.
ANOTHER GROUP
There is another group with members who just have a high school education but highly developed business savvy and an insatiable drive to succeed. These groups are willing to focus totally on Jamaica, and its development. They are buoyed by the recent return of the mega inspiration, Michael Lee Chin, his able lieutenant Aubyn Hill, the consistently excellent performance of the Issas and Butch Stewart in tourism, Casserly at eBusiness, Lukkee Chin at Juicy Patties, Donna Duncan at JMMB, to name a few.
The fortuitous successes, and the resulting expansions, of bauxite and alumina and tourism, are as stated by Casserly recently on Cliff Hughes' IMPACT. Strokes of luck or 'buck up', due more to external realities than the result of any forward planning? We must ensure that these lucky breaks are managed correctly, while focusing all our efforts at a carefully drafted 20-year plan for the nation. This plan must be broad-based, involve all Jamaican stakeholders, and must be achievable and be results-oriented.
Central to this 20-year plan must be the radical overhaul of education. I believe there is a critical mass of Jamaicans, albeit silent, who are willing to take the concrete steps to deal fundamentally with the issue of education. A new approach to education, with a focus on five to ten-year-olds over a 20-year period, will reap major long-term benefits to this country. Recent proposals by the Minister of Education regarding parental training will go a far way but must be part of the general education overhaul for it to be sustainable. Success in this area will result in a highly trainable, flexible work force and entrepreneurial class, able to take the global economy by storm.
THE FOCUS
The focus will be on the early acquisition of the basics, coupled with the ability to carry out the rapid formulation and dissemination of information via Information Technology. The Government must look to revamp its ideas about Information Technology and look at installing the most efficient infrastructure to allow for full exploitation of this tool for national development. Again, as Casserly indicated in his interview, "we are only as wealthy as the person next to us". How high will you build your fence? 20 ft? How many security guards? Unless we create wealth for the entire nation, our own wealth will always be discounted and unsustainable.
The key is to quickly build the alliance for the new Jamaica and thereby force those in the political system to either change their modus operandi to fit this new thrust or move aside. Let us continue to strengthen the debate and force quick, positive national response as we move Jamaica finally, toward the 21st century.
RICHARD HALL
rahall@n5.com
Kingston 10
Via Go-Jamaica
