Delroy ChuckNO DECENT Jamaican can be happy with the decaying, depressing and disorderly state of the nation. We live in a rotten political society and the festering political sore seeps deeply through the corridors of power and authority to infect and corrupt everything.
It is from this political cesspool that Jamaica needs to be rescued in order to create a society of which everyone can be proud. When we condemn the wrongs in our country, it is not only an expression of our feelings but also an indication to those in authority that we want to get things right.
People are so fed up with the rampant criminality, corruption and indiscipline, the disrespect for the rule of law - especially from those in authority, the hopelessness, frustration, and lack of vision that they are prepared to turn their backs on Jamaica.
Jamaicans do well abroad, yet here they suffocate, sink and suffer in hopelessness, poverty and misery. I get hundreds of e-mails weekly, mostly from overseas Jamaicans, to urge us to get our act together and make Jamaica a habitable place to which they can return or be proud to call their birthplace. Thousands of Jamaicans are prepared to invest and retire on this little rock but it would be unwise and imprudent to advise them to do so now. And I am not being unpatriotic, I am only being candid so that no one can criticise me later for advising them wrongly. Yet, I sincerely hope that it will not be long before Jamaica can be peaceful and prosperous again.
I have chosen to live in Jamaica even though I could live better, but not happier, elsewhere. My mother, three brothers, three sisters, relatives and friends have made America their home. My wife is Barbadian and I could easily become an American or Barbadian citizen, but I don't even have a Green Card. My children love Jamaica and two of them, while representing Jamaica at swimming, wave the Jamaican flag proudly. It is for them and the children of our generation why I entered politics and want to make this country better.
I love Jamaica and hope, later rather than sooner, to be buried here. I make this point, as many of my critics believe I have no interest in building Jamaica and making life happier for everyone. In truth, I want to get things right and my vision is to live in a Jamaica that resembles the best that other countries can offer.
How then can we get things right? First, we need to get the economy right and this can only happen if we stop making politics a priority in every major decision-making, in every legislative enactment and in the continuous struggle for scarce benefits and spoils. If we put the economy right then other things are likely to fall into place.
That is why I do not agree that we should concentrate primarily on the escalating crime problem, values and attitude, alleviating poverty, strengthening the education system, and so on. While these things are important, they can only get worse if the economy continues to decline and are more likely to be resolved if the economy improves. So, why can't we get the economy right?
Under the present PNP administration, the economy is more likely to deteriorate than to improve. The government denies it is managing a command economy. Yet, it will argue relentlessly that it has to protect the exchange rate. Well, is that not a political decision and a manifestation of command economics?
Social decay
Clearly, it is not an economic decision! It is a foolish and costly decision that is skewing the economy and creating more hardship, unemployment and social decay.
It is a politically misguided decision that has increased the country's debt by nearly $200 billion, during the past five years, with nothing worthwhile to show.
Moreover, it is not helping the poor; it is simply creating more poverty and greater hardship. Truly, if we want to get things right, then we must allow the market to work, as the market economy allows the best prospect of getting the economy right.
Then, if we really want to get things right, we must understand that less government means better government. Isn't it amazing that in the prosperous and booming economy of the USA, the two Presidential candidates are keenly focused on who believes in big government and how to even further reduce the size of government? Indeed, we need only to examine the countries that are doing well, getting things right, and one thing is sure they have an efficient, limited and competent bureaucracy. We need to cut and trim our bureaucracy, to remove the fat and corruption, to pay the efficient and competent better, to get government out of the lives of people, to remove the onerous red tapes, inefficiency and corruption that make it impossible to do business well or get anything done with alacrity.
In truth, we need a revolution in thought and action if we are to get things right.
We cannot continue on the same track, with the same minds and with the same personnel if we are to make this little rock into the prosperous giant that it can become. We will never be able to make life better for the poor, unemployed, illiterate, hopeless youth in the ghetto unless we have a vision of prosperity that will only come if we remove the impediments and obstacles to attract capital and investment. We need to make it attractive and beneficial for money to go to work to produce, to create wealth, jobs and opportunities rather than to be deposited in treasury bills and bank accounts. It is that vision of peace, progress, prosperity and hope that the country is desperately waiting for and, if realised, can make us, once again, a jewel of the Caribbean.
Delroy chuck is an Attorney-at-law and Opposition Member of Parliament. He can be contacted by e-mail at delchuck@hotmail.com.
