THE HEAVY rains over the past two weeks expose, once again, the failure of the authorities to properly anticipate and prevent the ravages that usually come during disasters. Disasters will happen, things will go wrong, torrential rains and floods are natural events that occur every year, yet we fail to plan and prepare, and the inevitable result is the unnecessary loss of lives and extensive material damage, much of which could have been avoided.
From time immemorial, we have had heavy rains, much heavier than occurred recently. Certainly, in the past decades, the seasonal rains have caused flooding, landslides, damage to roads and many easily anticipated problems. Heavy rains are blessings, so why in Jamaica they are more disasters than blessings? The answer can usually be found in human errors. Natural and man-made drains are regularly blocked and need cleaning, and if they were cleaned then millions of dollars in property damage could have been avoided, so what is stopping the regular preventative maintenance to clean them? Virtually every year a car is washed over Flat Bridge, yet every year we promise to do something about it. We build housing schemes in riverbeds and then wonder how come they are flooded out during heavy rains!
Look on our roads. It is quite clear that most were not built to last, beyond the next possible government contract. Many of those repaired in the past year or two have been completely eroded, disintegrated, and now in need of another major rehabilitation. In fact, the rains may have been a blessing in disguise, as it unveils the substandard work being done everywhere. The hastily repaired and constructed roads in North East St. Ann, for the by-election last year, shows the corruption and inefficiency of the contractors, as they carried out their political duties instead of discharging their proper contractual obligations. Even now, the roads being repaired across the island are so incompetently done that the contractors should hang their heads in shame, and many should be sued. Somehow, we don't seem to have any quality control, especially for government work, and the citizens have to endure the consequence of poor supervision, failed management and weak governance.
Then, just look on our residential and urban roads. They are monuments to human failures and neglect. Members of Parliament, especially those in Kingston and St. Andrew, get blamed for the conditions of these roads, but they have absolutely no control or influence over which ones get repaired or fixed, even though some of us try to bring them to the attention of the authorities. The KSAC councillors and the National Works Agency are fully responsible, yet unless they get the funds from Central Government, nothing can be done. So, while our government and its fanatical supporters gloat about the newly built highways, the vast majority of our people endure the poorly maintained and badly repaired residential and urban road networks. To be sure, enough has not been done to ease the inconvenience and discomfort of motorists who have to use these roads. Is it too much to ask that the government simply do what has to be done and spend the necessary funds to bring our roads to decent, acceptable, standards?
The Jamaican people have really been misgoverned, and it is not surprising that indiscipline and nastiness have become the habits of the average citizen. We enact dozens, nay hundreds, of laws for better governance but fail to enforce them. The Anti-Litter Laws are the best example. Tons of garbage and rubbish are regularly thrown on the roads and in the gullies, which are the major causes of the extensive flooding, but nothing is done. During a heavy downpour it is sad to see the gully courses transporting bottles, boxes and other human discards, most ending up in blocked drains or ultimately in the Kingston Harbour - what a human tragedy that has simply become the norm of a rotten society. In fact, within the inner cities, the gullies are used to dump garbage and no one in the immediate surroundings seems to care. Solid waste disposal is a major failure of the present administration, and it has the gall to speak about solid achievements. In fact, floods always seem to be a curse of PNP administrations, when the problem is the failure to properly dispose of human waste.
Again, one must wonder if the present administration inadvertently brings disasters onto itself. It seems to anchor blame for its many failures on natural and human disasters. Thus, its perennial failure to grow the economy is blamed on the flood rains, the security forces attack on Tivoli Gardens, and the September 11th terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre. Now, its failure to finish promised projects will be blamed on the 2002 May rains and the much vaunted pothole-free promises will find a ready excuse from these torrential rains. One cannot ignore the fact, also, that when these easily anticipated disasters occur, the administration uses them as platforms to seek overseas aid and loans, which show how disasters serve useful purposes.
Can anyone help being cynical in the face of these natural disasters and human failures? Many of these so-called disasters and failures seem to occur every year. We don't seem to plan for them, and when they occur we throw our hands up in the air, shout disaster, and wait for others to come to our help and rescue. For the records, in the normally flood-prone gullies of Grants Pen and Barbican, was there any flooding? Perhaps, it had to do with the fact that someone anticipated and had the good sense to ensure that the gullies were cleaned! With the hurricane season here, it is vital for the authorities to act now, fix the gullies, clean the drains, prepare for the heavy rains, and avoid the millions of dollars that could be lost, if roads, houses and properties are flooded.
I do not deny that some natural events and human failures will occur. However, the human mind is so infinite in its creative capacity that we should anticipate and prepare for them. Man's creative vision and boundless imagination have the potential to cure most, if not all, of human problems. Our Creator gave us a beautiful and creative mind that we have not fully utilised. Isn't it time we use our infinite creative potential to anticipate the many problems that could arise from heavy rains and strong winds, associated with the hurricane season, prepare and prevent them, instead of trying to find solutions when they occur? When human failures occur, leadership demands that someone accept responsibility. Who will, for the abject governmental failures?
Delroy Chuck is an attorney-at-law and Opposition Member of Parliament. He can be contacted by e-mail at delchuck@hotmail.com.
