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| Letter of the Day
July 12, 1999
One-sided human rights THE EDITOR, Madam: IN A matter of two weeks three young girls died horribly; one was 10 years old. To date, I have not heard any representation of the human rights body, lashing out against these heinous crimes neither have I heard of any visitations to the families. The strong, loud voice of the human rights organisation suddenly waxes silent when a criminal commits a crime, but when he is to be punished for the crime, the voice of this organisation takes on many proportions and become voices. What is wrong with this picture. It is too obviously one-sided for comfort and too lacking in conscience for safety and survival. I am now convinced that there must be some plot by these organisations to destroy countries or they are joined by persons for the United States dollars it can provide and the notoriety and novelty that comes with it. The Government cannot use it as an excuse for not exercising its will and the law, in the face of this one-sided look on human behaviour and rights. If the present Government offered itself up for providing governance, then why is it not governing? I am of the impression that this Government is impotent and without will. Its only stubbornness lies in selfishness; gluttony for power, wanting to take monies that are not theirs, and wanting to set up only friends and family members. This Government cannot even be capitalised and will go down in history as the worst ever, not only in Jamaica but in the Caribbean. I am, etc. |
| Cost of living hurting bargaining
process
THE EDITOR, Madam: FOR THE past few years Govern-ment has been caught with its pants down in trying to bargain with various public sector workers. This year however, one is scared to death as the various sectors have threatened hard lines at every turn. Government, I am sure, has used up all its options and it is now being said that all they can offer is 10 per cent for two years and some fringe benefits. Government must find new strategies to at least give public sector workers confidence that there will be no closures, lay-offs, neither any sense of victimisation of workers who take a hard line at the bargaining table. I have always thought that there should be one bargaining unit for public sector workers and an Anomalies Board to deal with discrepancies. Over a number of years, bargaining has been long and tedious with the Government pleading inability to pay. Worst of all this year there seems to be the added danger to the workers that if they hold out, there will be cuts in the labour force all around. Both employers in the private and the public sectors, the unions and the workers over the last 10 years have been barking up the wrong tree. The greatest difficulty with the workers is the high and ever rising cost-of-living. If workers get 15-20 per cent increase and the cost of living rises by 20-25 per cent the workers would be better off to freeze wages for 5 years. So long as the cost of living can go down by at least 50 per cent in that 5 years. Most of our trading partners either see the cost of living going down or inching upwards by 1-3 per cent each year in contrast to Jamaica where nearly all staples go up by several hundred per cent. The workers has his own responsibilities and obligations and he can't refuse to pay his utilities bill, rent, grocery bills etc. I am, etc., Poor service at tax office THE EDITOR, Madam: THE INLAND Revenue Office in Constant Spring is slated to open at 8:00 o'clock in the mornings. On the morning of July 5, I went to the tax office at 7:55 a.m. in order to carry out my business and reach my office on time for work. I entered the building at exactly 8:00 a.m. expecting to go into the office to wait in line. Unfortunately, this was not to be, because the doors did not open until 8:10 a.m. and when they did open, only two cashiers were working. One of the cashiers was at the express line (one transaction only) and the other was left to handle the other customers. At 8:30 a.m. another cashier joined the first two and at 8:45 a.m. another one came on stream. This is not the type of service that should be expected from a government agency whose mission statement states that it is there to provide "quality service". What these people do not realise is that if they continue to provide this poor level of service, they will never be able to work in any other organisation except for a government organisation. Just to tell you, I left the tax office at 9:08 a.m. I am, etc.,
Is there a future for the CPTC THE EDITOR, Madam: THIS IS an open letter to the Government of Jamaica (my mother) and to the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (my father). Dear Parents, For your information, The Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC) was established on February 2, 1984. The objectives of the CPTC are: * To provide high-quality educational, cultural and community-development programmes for broadcast and closed-circuit use; * To provide a wide variety of programmes for the Public Broadcasting Corporation Jamaica; * To develop a permanent training institution for upgrading the skills of media practitioners; * To earn foreign exchange by providing and marketing television and radio programmes abroad. The CPTC Limited is now 15 years old, and, as a statutory institution with national development as its main objective it has summarily been ignored by successive governments, and the private sector, to the detriment of themselves and the entire nation. A nation now drowning in the importation of cheap, immoral, North American television media effluent, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. What of the public service broadcasting? Does a social security system frighten those who wish to distance themselves from socialism? Hundreds of millions of taxpayers dollars have been spent by successive Governments of Jamaica in purchasing the media fare which has so demoralised the entire nation resulting in the creation of FINSAC (a fish tank in which the big fish gobbles up the little fish). Why can't the same amount be spent in reversing this Tom and Jerry psychosis? What of 'values and attitudes'? Which institution is responsible for disseminating this message to the nation? Where is the access? Is the Prime Minister making a mockery of the people by mouthing this catch phrase but doing nothing about it? Where are the informative, educational, entertainment programmes that are being disseminated to the nation? Have you both become so immorally enthralled with selfishness and rapacious greed that we have become your main source of sustenance for this type of parasitic capitalism you both so wantonly practise against us? I am, etc., CARICOM is ready THE EDITOR, Madam: Leaders of CARICOM and those responsible for enforcing the law seem quite unaware of the importance of having our own Caribbean Court of Appeal. Our pleas for our own court of appeal have been persistently ignored for too long by successive leaders and judges who have the ability to lobby on our behalf. Even our dear Edward Seaga does not see this goal as one that can be achieved. In saying that CARICOM is ready for a Caribbean Court of Appeal, I am not taking the ridiculous position of saying, we can have a court of appeal in the next 20 minutes, or with the snap of a finger. I am saying CARICOM is ready to commence the process of establishing a Caribbean Court of Appeal. We are ready for the necessary reforms. We are ready for the necessary referenda. We are ready to start doing whatever it takes to establish our court of appeal. Every ambitious and independent-minded people or nation, strives ultimately to be the masters of their own destinies. To this, the people of Jamaica, and indeed the Caribbean, are unapologetically no exception. It is with this zeal that we have established regional institutions - CARICOM, UWI, CXC, West Indies Cricket Board. All these have had their difficult times, but in spite of that, they have all stood tall and proud. Notwithstanding this, we have always had, and will always have our doubting Thomases. History will tell us that, in the 19th century, many felt that we were not ready for the abolition of slavery, slavery was abolished. In the 1930s, there were those who felt that the masses were not ready for the right to vote. Not to be daunted, this same mentality questioned our readiness for Independence. In fact, some people in Jamaica vowed not to give up their British passport because no one would recognise a Jamaican passport. They claimed we were not ready for own own university expressing grave concerns about the authenticity of the qualification of doctors, lawyers and other professionals. Today, we have all been made better by the existence of this organisation. I would like to declare to the Caribbean people that for all practical purposes the countries in CARICOM have their final appeal court. This conclusion can easily be drawn when one considers that the vast majority of cases tried in our courts never reach the Privy Council. If we can do without the Privy Council in so many of our cases, the Caribbean can do without them in all. In fact, there are basically two types of appellants to the Privy Council: * Those who are rich enough to afford the legal cost, and * Those death row prisoners lucky enough to attract the attention of local human rights activists who can access free legal representatives from their counterparts in England. What is the point, what is the logic, what is the justification of having a final appeal court at a place where most of us cannot reach, with people who hardly know about what goes on in our backyard to make decisions for us? CARICOM is ready for its court of appeal because we have all the necessary infrastructure; we have sound legal systems; guaranteed constitutional rights; stable political environment; transparency in our justice system; and vibrant human rights organisations. Our region has provided judges who are qualified to serve on the English Privy Council: Sir Hugh Wooding, Sir William Douglas and Justice Edward Zacca. If we can produce judges for the Privy Council, we can produce judges for our own court of appeal. Moreover, the cost of taking a case to the Privy Council has denied many Caribbean people the right of a final appeal. Granted the judges of the Privy Council are not paid. But other fees can easily cost a person seeking justice $500,000. A Caribbean Court of Appeal would eliminate such excessive cost, thus giving more people the justice they seek. I would not be naive to suggest, or imply that a Caribbean Court of Appeal would not have teething problems. There will be uncertainties - there will also be anxious moments, but we cannot allow ourselves to be at a point where we are caught up in the vicious cycle of self-doubt, self-contempt and colonial dependency syndrome.
I am, etc. St. Andrew Blame the Christians THE EDITOR, Madam: How many of us blame the Government for what is happening in Jamaica, Land We Love, economically, socially, politically, and every "ally"? How many of us blame God? How many of us blame the devil? I'm sure most of us blame somebody; but the truth is, Christians are to be blamed! If you went out one day and left your house open, and it was vandalised and all valuables stolen, whom would you blame? The Government? God? The devil? No, you would blame yourself. We Christians have "gone out" and left Jamaica open to vandals and thieves. As Christians we are..."the gate of the Lord through which righteouness may enter" (Psalm 118 v 20). Therefore, if evil is entering Jamaica it means that we are not being the gates we have been called to be. Remember, a gate is a point of ENTRY AND EXIT. As Christians we have to be at that point where God's righteousness enters and that point where evil MUST exit! Second Chronicles verses 14 and 15 say: "If My people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My Face and turn from THEIR wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place."
I am, etc. CECILLE CHIN
Compromising the Government? THE EDITOR, Madam: Although I left Jamaica many years ago, I still follow the happenings of my beautiful country very closely. I note, with interest, the announcement by Minister Omar Davies of the sale of three more hotels by FINSAC. I further noticed that two of these hotels were sold to 'Butch' Stewart of the Sandals group for a total of US$9 million. This marks the third hotel sold to Mr. Stewart by FINSAC. Are there no other buyers in the market? It seems as if Mr. Stewart is being given our country's assets yet again. First our airline, now our hotels. We must be careful that we do not create a monster. We need to ensure that the Govern-ment does not become too dependent on any one person. If a private person, in a small country such as Jamaica, controls those businesses upon which the Government depends for foreign exchange, then the Government may compromise its position when dealing with said person. In other words, Air Jamaica, despite being privatised, has called on the Government for additional funds to the tune of hundreds of millions of United States dollars. Despite providing these funds, the Government has not required Air Jamaica to relinquish additional shares in the airline in exchange for the funds. In no other well-run business would this be possible. The Government needs to make decisions based on what is best for Jamaica and not because they are afraid of upsetting anyone.
I am, etc. THOMAS PERALTO
A sense of hopelessness THE EDITOR, Madam: My family has been travelling to Jamaica for six years and we have seen a good portion of the island, including Kingston, Port Antonio, the north coast, south coast and Negril. We have purchased time shares in Negril. We are considering investing in a business and buying property. We have some concerns, however, about the long-term prospects and the move beyond the current financial crisis. In short, there is a nagging sense of helplessness expressed by too many people. Everyone seems to be waiting for the Government to step in and take care of the problems. I cannot understand why more Jamaicans do not have a take charge attitude. Let us take, for example, the major pothole that sits outside of the Sweet Spice restaurant in Negril. That same pothole, which brings all traffic to a crawl, has been there for over five years. If we had a business sitting on that road, we would find a way to fill that pothole even if we had to haul crushed stone in ourselves using a hand wheel barrel. Is there a programme that involves the local communities and empowers them to levy taxes and to use some of the govenment tax base to raise money and do some of their own capital improvements? When we arrived in Montego Bay on June 19, 1999, we were anxious to see how much of the new road was completed to Negril. The progress has been painfully slow. By 11:30 a.m., we had passed three construction areas with heavy equipment and only one road crew was working. The other two crews were sitting around just socializing, while the heavy front loaders and tractors were sitting idle. The road was originally projected to be done by 2001. 2001 will have come and gone. The Japanese investment money will be used up and the road signs will have to say, "Progress, soon come." The craft market shop owners who are in a semi quasi legal status are saying, "Soon they will tear down our shops and we will be forced to move. They say we can move into new shops, but we know that we cannot afford it. The rents will be too high." There is a hopelessness, an attittude that says what I do will not count. Someone else will have to do it. So the question arises; what has to be done on a fundamental level to restore hope and release the natural creativity, confidence, and ambition of the Jamaican people? What do you see as a solution?
I am, etc. TOM BURKE Treat them right THE EDITOR, Madam, Jail should be a huge deterrent to crime. To think of being confined to small quarters for months or years, eating what is given to you, having to use the toilet in front of other people, being at risk for physical and/or sexual abuse by fellow inmates, being locked up in unsanitary conditions with who knows what - roaches and forty-legs an' ting - should send chills through the spine of any normal thinking person. Jail apparently, is not enough of a deterrent for certain people, and I doubt that these people have the mental faculties to be deterred. Hanging may not have the hoped for deterring effect on others on the outside who were going to commit crimes anyway. Hanging is a punishment, and not necessarily designed to satisfy the family of the victim. If the family of the victim is against the death penalty, would they be satisfied? One cannot expect hanging to rid the society of criminals. At the present rate of homicide, we would have to hang criminals at a very high rate in order to "cleanse" the country. And even then, the effect may be marginal. Without a simultaneous effort to address the causes of crime, we do not show any real concern for crime or the victims of it. Stop raising our children like donkeys, and we'll have a different breed of people. Stop emasculating our boys from childhood, and having them trying to regain it by become "bad boys", and our girls shouldering the responsibility of men as well as their own and becoming beasts of burden. Stop flogging, beating, and whipping them in schools or we'll never advance to having parents raise their children like human beings. I'm not talking about good parents, and there are a lot of them. But our criminal elements are not coming from those homes, nor schools that have treated them with kindness and respect. It's time to can the myth that Jamaicans are a peaceful people. We are not a warring people, but we are not peaceful either. As Peter Espeut rightly says, "we beat our children and we beat our spouses" and conveniently invoke the Bible where suitable. There is no defence, including a Biblical one, for being inhumane to children.
I am etc. |
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