Garth Rattray

I take great umbrage at the way that Jamaicans are being treated like second-class citizens right here in their own country. It's bad enough whenever this occurs overseas but it pains me to see such unfairness displayed here at home. It's utterly disgraceful that some of the health and sanitary planning being made are only under way because we are about to entertain visitors for the Cricket World Cup 2007 (CWC 2007).

I complained earlier that Jamaica desperately required well-equipped ambulances for years, but it's only fairly recently (since the upcoming CWC 2007) that this administration has somehow found the funds to purchase them. Why have funds only now been identified to provide several major hospitals with top-of-the-line, multi-slice computed tomography scanners when they have been needed for a very long time? I know that many Jamaicans have suffered immensely for want of these machines. And, showing scant regard for our feelings of self-worth, the government spokesman unabashedly announced that the scanning machines are coming in preparation for the CWC 2007.

Where were these concerns?

But the assault on our sensibilities didn't end there. We are now told that the health authorities are threatening to clamp down on some popular beaches in Kingston and St. Catherine (Hellshire, Gunboat and Lime Cay) because of the World Cup. The Sunday Gleaner of January 07, 2007, reported: "The authorities have concerns about the sanitary facilities that these beaches currently offer and are determined to close them if by the time World Cup 2007 begins in March, the situation is not improved."

Well, what about us? Where were these 'concerns' over the many years that our people have flocked to these places? Sure, the Gunboat Beach was declared polluted and closed since the 1980s but it's still accessible and used. Isn't the pollution there dangerous to our people's health and possibly lives? Didn't the lack of proper sanitary conveniences at Hellshire and Lime Cay pose a health risk to Jamaicans too? Didn't they also pose health risks to our families and friends visiting from abroad? Obviously, the authorities didn't exhibit due care from the start. If the conditions were so unacceptable, the authorities should have enforced the health regulations a long time ago. This last-minute rush and the threats of closure indicate that their only concern is for the visitors during the CWC 2007.

Many Jamaicans keep their feelings of belittlement to themselves but they're not idiots. Most people believe that politicians only care about power and money. If our well-being meant more to them than votes and money, if they respected and cared about us, then they would have moved Heaven and Earth to clean up our parks, acquire those ambulances and scanning machines and sort out those beaches long before this.

This new-found ability to remedy some of the chronic shortcomings within our health system and general surroundings for the upcoming CWC 2007 indicates that, given the right incentive, the authorities possess the wherewithal to improve the lives of our people.

Jamaicans deserve good emergency care, safe beaches, clean and safe cities and parks free of human excrement and urine - CWC 2007 or not. What's good for the goose (the CWC 2007 visitors) is good for the gander (the rest of us). Patriotism is not automatic. Love of country is greatly influenced by the care that a government demonstrates for its people. Health care, safety and clean surroundings are of prime importance. It's shameful that it took the CWC 2007 for us to start cleaning up our act.