THE EDITOR, Sir:

Ian Boyne's commentary is spot on. Still, incentives cannot cure Jamaica's ills.

It appears that far too many of us continue to overlook or simply ignore the most debilitating scourge that is now endemic and that prevents just about any good thing from happening in Jamaica: crime and corruption.

It is absolutely amazing to me that any commentary on Jamaica's dilemma and possible solutions to our problems can take place without a single mention of Vision 2030 Jamaica! Is this elaborate, impressively compiled plan just for show, as is so much else in Jamaica?

I am in the midst of a new book whose title, Sufferers' Manifesto, aptly exemplifies Jamaica's condition. Perhaps an excerpt from the book's introduction would help explain the reason for our unchanging circumstances:

"Given the fact that the plight of sufferers was recognised as real from as early as the mid-1960s, one must wonder how and why the numbers continued to grow and metastasise like a cancer to the point where, decades later, the vast majority of Jamaicans may be accurately classified as such.

"It would seem that this state of affairs is the most undeniably damning evidence of all that as a nation our leaders have failed the people. This evidence forces us to question the performance and choices made by successive governments and demands that we thoroughly examine the perpetual indifference of government, as well as the amazing resignation of sufferers themselves, to this alarming state of affairs.

"Could it be that in the end we are all sufferers to varying degrees so that, like Sisyphus, we are condemned to a condition of relentless futility?"

Solutions don't happen. Solutions are created or devised. We protest a lot, profile even more and do less in real terms to address our problems.

OWEN EVERARD JAMES

ojames41@gmail.com