Winston Barrett | Solutions for our country’s problems

I wish to express some of my observations, assessment and criticisms of life in Jamaica today, and to offer a few solutions that I fervently believe will help our country and government better to understand our predicament and show a pathway to sustainable living.

I am going to resist the temptation to delve into any historical underpinnings that have contributed to the high rate of poverty, crime and social degradation that have affected our society over time, and fast-forward to the current situation.

Not even the most ardent critic of the Holness administration can deny that it has made very good progress in expanding the economy, resulting in several quarters of consecutive growth. We can all see the robust construction activities across the island in new housing, roads, warehouses and corporate offices. Our stock market was rated as the best-performing market in the world for 2018 and 2019.

Notwithstanding the above, however, it begs the question: why has the administration not moved with alacrity to cauterise the rot and develop programmes to address the myriad social ills that, if allowed to continue, will surely derail, and even bring to a halt, the progress l have cited above?

Let us, for a moment, use the cities of Kingston and Montego Bay as examples. These cities represent the core of our economic activities in tourism, commerce and manufacturing, contributing a large percentage of our gross domestic product. Yet, we have allowed a morass of violence and lawlessness to fester, with our streets littered with garbage and illegal and unsightly vending in all areas, including, believe it or not, outside of the gates of the Canadian and Japanese ambassadors’ residences in the so-called Golden Triangle.

Our traffic lights are overrun with young men who often use intimidating tactics to obstruct motorists as we go about our lawful business; taxi and minibus drivers speed along our roads like they have just escaped Bellevue; homeless men and women roam the streets like zombies, sleeping wherever night catches them – one is outside my gate as I write this.

The solution, I believe, lies in our coming to a consensus of a new vision for the country that embraces the idea of inclusiveness and care. The leadership of the country, including civic, social, political, religious, business and government, must buy into this vision and work actively to promote it.

GIVE BACK DIGNITY

We are grateful for the new road infrastructure works just completed, but we must begin to address the debilitating and dangerous road conditions that exist in housing schemes across the island, some of which are NHT schemes that have been allowed to deteriorate.

Let us give people back their dignity. The next Budget must make provisions to address these glaring examples of neglect that also exist in inner-city communities.

I hate when I drive on certain roads and see people disappearing behind zinc fences into little hovels that are their homes. This makes me so sad, I often remark to myself that, imagine, after over 50 years of independence, this is all we can do for our people.

We need a real, comprehensive, anti-poverty programme, more than what the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and PATH Programme do, although these are useful.

I am recommending programmes on the scale of what Lula da Silva did in Brazil and Deng Xiaoping did in China after Mao died. Relieving poverty is the only sure way to stop the cycle of violence that is impacting us. Singapore did it. Why don’t we ask them how they did it (even though Lee Kuan Yew came here to learn from us before going back to Singapore to turn that country into the powerhouse it became).

Finally, if we don’t do anything from my recommendations above, can we at least try to rescue the upcoming generation of young people. Those who performed as young parliamentarians recently demonstrated that all is not lost, but we have to move fast.

We need to monitor what they listen to and watch on the vast array of media available today, to ensure that we control, as much as possible, their exposure to the corroding effects of negative images and lifestyles that will adversely affect the healthy development of their mind and spirit.

Winston Barrett is the CEO of Corporate Interiors International Ltd. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.