Clarke's unoriginal ideas - Agri minister now embracing proposals he once rejected

MINISTER HINDSIGHT, I mean, minister Roger Clarke, has done it yet again. First, it was cassava, now it is microchip. At the rate at which the agriculture minister is going, we won't be surprised if he outperforms a green lizard when it comes to changing skin.

Following on his sudden embrace of cassava as a crop, which cultivation should be encouraged to assist the country's food security, Clarke turned up in the House of Representatives last Tuesday trumpeting the idea of using microchip in animals to help fight praedial larceny.

"We are working now with one of the phone providers. Technology will have to be brought to bear in a very significant way, and I am not ruling out the chip. Anything that can prevent it, I am into it," said Clarke, who was contributing to a debate on a motion moved by his opposition counterpart J.C. Hutchinson to deal with praedial larceny.

Off the bat, we commend the minister for his maturity. Not only should he look back and see how ridiculous his comments were on the issue of microchip, but he should use his newfound embrace of technology as the impetus to provide even better leadership to the sector.

Clarke has been almost scornful in his condemnation of the microchip idea. Hutchinson, in 2008, proffered the idea of installing microchips in cattle as part of the fight against praedial larceny.

"Di t'ief dem a get high-tech, so we a go get high-techer ... . We going to put chip in dem," Hutchinson told Parliament.

Clarke, however, in opposition, mocked Hutchinson and labelled his idea ill-conceived. Clarke said thieves could still butcher and sell animals without getting caught, as the entrails containing the chip might be left in the field.

But in the same way he has turned out to be lead singer in the cassava boy band, after opposing it, Clarke now realises that the microchip idea may not have been bad after all. The farmers are facing hell at the hands of the 'two-foot puss' and anything that can assist traceability of agricultural produce must be placed on the table.

And talking about traceability, we find it distressing that aspects of civil society and the parliamentary opposition are conjuring up reasons to blast North East St Elizabeth MP Raymond Pryce for his disclosure motion.

unmask donors

Like Pryce, we believe that our democracy is placed on a firmer footing when we unmask donors to political parties, political persons, interest groups and lobby groups. Accepting the maxim that he who pays the piper calls the tune, we feel it is necessary to unmask all donors.

The society has been fed this diet of falsehood that those who touch or are engaged in political work, should be viewed with scepticism and treated as leper.

And while this most unfortunate approach is being cemented in our psyche, many donor agencies with ill-intent seek to influence the nature of our democracy through the funding assistance they provide. We are not suggesting that any of our special interest or lobby group is being used in this regard; we are only saying they should open their books and remove all suspicion.

Like Pryce, we feel that a full disclosure regime for interest and lobby groups should come into effect at the same time as the law relating to political party financing is being promulgated.

We, however, have no confidence that the latter will be brought into force any time soon, especially since it is the political parties themselves, with their $8-million-a-piece representatives on the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), that are dictating the pace at which the legislation is enacted.

The Gavel would sing the praises of Pryce if he uses this week's sitting of the House, to move a motion for the reconstruction of the ECJ to remove the political representatives from the body.

We hope the flack he is getting for this funding disclosure does not cause him to go into his shell, or worse yet, to change skin like Roger Clarke.

thegavel@gleanerjm.com