THE EDITOR, Sir:THE PRIME minister has announced with pride that he will be spending some $13 million to celebrate Bob Marley's 60th birthday.
While I have the greatest admiration for Marley as a composer, arranger and performer, and for virtually putting Jamaica on the world map, I believe we must not lose sight of the following:
In present-day Jamaica, doctors and nurses are over-stretched, overtired and underpaid, and patients die in hospitals for want of medicines and properly functioning equipment.
Innocent citizens, even the very young and old, die at the hands of criminals, who are openly contemptuous of an ineffectual police force.
Students suffer because there are too few books, too few good teachers (all gone to better-paying jobs abroad), and many schools don't even have secure buildings with decent desks, basic teaching aids and proper sanitation.
Firemen have to work with defective hydrants, low or non-existent water pressure, faulty vehicles and equipment, and to add insult to injury, they can't even get oxygen masks.
A witness admits in court that he fears for his life, effectively freeing the person charged for lack of evidence. We urgently need a good witness protection programme, or justice will continue to be perverted at every corner.
These are just a few of the areas where $13 million could be put to much better use. Marley himself would have approved, because his whole message was the upliftment of the Jamaican people. Or is it more important to have a party?
Jamaicans are crying out for justice, safety and a chance to make their own way with their heads held high. It is up to you, prime minister, to see that they get the opportunity!
I am, etc.,
CINDI SCHOLEFIELD
Linstone Crescent, Kingston 10
