Martin Henry
DURING THE night of August 14, 1933, flood waters swept through Kingston and lower St. Andrew, killing 53 people and causing over £300,000 of property damage. The flooding followed weeks of heavy rainfall. Gullies overflowed their banks, sweeping away houses and drowning people who had been asleep in them.
One main reason for the reduction of flood impact on the Liguanea Plains was what Bustamante's 'Gully Govern-ment' did. The gullies of the Plain, crisscrossing the capital city, were paved and walled and brought under control in a massive public works programme. As far as the Opposition was concerned, that was money 'wasted', hence the label 'Gully Government'.
Today, trees are growing in many of those gullies as nature is left to reassert herself. It was, however, heartening to hear the Prime Minister from the party that was then in Opposition announcing in her Budget presentation on Tuesday, substantial allocations for road rehabilitation and other public works, and for job creation. The spokespersons from Bustamante's party, now long in Opposition, have been warning about any return to the wasteful, low-performance and corrupt Crash Programme of the '70s. And rightly so.
But sensible public works programmes have been strate-gically used by a variety of governments to achieve a bundle of positive objectives. Properly planned and executed public works can be used to create meaningful, productive work and ease unemployment. They, of course, expand and improve public infrastructure. Public works can be used to improve the environmental commons. And, very importantly, they inject public revenue into the economy in productive ways, providing a stimulus for growth.
STRATEGIC PUBLIC WORKS
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal has had its sound critics. And there are many who, with equal soundness, argue that the Great Depression, which the New Deal set out to fix, was the result of undue government interference with market forces. But New Deal public works programmes began the inter-state highway system, created the massive land authorities, and established many of the national parks, providing work and money which helped placed the United States back on its feet and propelled it into world power status.
Prime Minister Simpson Miller wants to re-energise Labour Day this year under the theme 'Jamaica's Beauty - Our Duty'. We won't get back to the energy of the 1970s. Times simply have changed. Labour Day can only be a nice symbolic gesture and starter, as it has always been even at its most energetic.
The ugliness of Jamaica must be vigorously tackled by sustained restorative public works on the built and natural environmental commons. As 'amazing' as the natural beauty of the country are the deterioration and uglification of the capital city and the towns of Jamaica. A couple of weeks ago Dr. Wendel Abel wrote about the amazing filth of Kingston. And even while PM was putting the final touches to her Budget speech, Mayor of Kingston, Desmond McKenzie, was bemoaning the stalling of the downtown redevelopment programme and requesting an emergency meeting with the Prime Minister. The honourable PM must not continue to rule in this capital mess.
It is precisely because money is scarce and times are hard and employment is high and we have so many degraded or undeveloped public facilities, why a massive and strategically-crafted and well-executed programme of public works is needed now.
Martin Henry is a communication specialist.
