Editorial | Andre Barnaby’s inspiration

The reason for Jamaica’s developmental failures is not only that our policymakers are in the habit of making a hash of the big issues. They are just as likely to get the little things wrong, or do not recognise the importance of doing them right. That is why we acknowledge and hail the inspirational efforts of Andre Barnaby.

Mr Barnaby, 27, was highlighted in this newspaper on Saturday. He lives in the Eden Gardens area of Vineyard Town in eastern Kingston. He is very community-minded. And not, it seems, in a forced and contrived fashion.

For instance, as this newspaper reported, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the scientific evidence that frequent handwashing or sanitisation helps to keep the virus at bay, Mr Barnaby sourced, and installed, sanitisation stations at the Windward Road Primary School.

He is also involved in many other socially relevant projects. He volunteers on green initiatives and also helps children in his and nearby communities in developing their literacy and comprehension skills. But the undertaking that most commands this newspaper’s attention is Mr Barnaby’s distribution of decorated garbage disposal bins, made from oil drums, in his immediate community and beyond.

Among this newspaper’s great peeves is the gritty squalor of Jamaica’s decayed urban communities – many of them in east Kingston – and the Government’s slowness in articulating, and embarking on, a significant and coherent programme of urban renewal. We, nonetheless, look forward to the project that Prime Minister Andrew Holness recently promised to unveil shortly.

But as we have often noted, there are many little things that can be done to ameliorate the grime and squalor of the inner-cities. A simple one is the authorities ensuring that more public garbage receptacles are available in these communities, and that their garbage is collected more frequently. There is now no certainty about these things. Additionally, drains should be cleaned regularly and verges trimmed.

The cost of doing such things, if they are properly managed, is relatively cheap. They can be accomplished with unskilled labour, paid at not much above the minimum wage. However, Jamaica does not normally do these things efficiently, or at a reasonable cost. The extra layers of inefficiencies inherent in the politics of patronage add steroids to the costs of the simplest ventures.

Yet, clean communities project a sense of order, rather than social dysfunction. That, in turn, causes people to feel better about their communities and, ultimately, about themselves. In other words, a clean and ordered community is among the deterrents to crime that beset Jamaica’s inner-cities.

REPLICATE AND SCALE UP

That is part of the prism through which we view Mr Barnaby’s distribution of the garbage receptacles, as well as his other projects. And it is why we urge that they be replicated and scaled up. In addition to genuine do-gooders like Mr Barnaby, the central government and local authorities as well as political representatives should be involved.

Indeed, the authorities should make a big deal of clean communities and the efforts to achieve this goal. The best communities, and the people involved, should be celebrated. Competitions can be fostered around this idea.

For example, the central government, municipal authorities and parliamentary representatives could promote ‘best area’ competitions within a narrow geographic space. And this could be scaled up to competitions for best communities within the larger area. These might be extended to contests between districts, or even parishes.

Such a project should sit comfortably within the remit of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), with support from the environmental and similar regulatory agencies as well as the State’s housing institutions.

It might not be too late for the JCDC to consider the idea as one of its projects for this year’s celebration of Jamaica’s 60th anniversary of Independence.