Delroy Chuck TOURISM REMAINS the main industry to drive Jamaica's growth and development. With our natural beauty, geographic diversity, warm climate and friendly people, Jamaica should easily welcome 10 million tourists or more annually to our shores.
If Singapore, with none of our comparative advantages, and barely the size of St. James, can attract more than eight million tourists annually, what are they doing right that we cannot duplicate? We struggle and spend large sums to advertise our little paradise, and still cannot attract enough visitors to make Jamaica a tourism mecca.
In spite of the recent increases in tourist arrivals, I think with the present state of affairs we will struggle even harder to maintain the present level of tourist arrivals. We are wasting millions of dollars falsely advertising Jamaica, when half or more of that money should be spent fixing the squalid conditions that tourists undoubtedly see and experience when they visit. Jamaica has become a soiled product, tarnished, crime-ridden, filthy and unattractive. When I travel to the North Coast and see the unkempt and dirty conditions of our roads and surroundings, I wonder what do tourists think of our island and wonder even more if they will return. Well, a letter in the Thursday Gleaner, August 7, answered my query. It is entitled, "Clean Up Montego Bay". I quote: "This was my first visit to Jamaica, and my husband's second he had visited Jamaica 15 years ago. I could not believe we were in the unspoilt, untouched piece of paradise so beautifully advertised on many of the major television networks in the USA. The amount of garbage that littered the streets of St. James was unbelievable. How can the citizens of Jamaica condone this level of pollution? The stagnant water and pungent smells coupled with the thousands of plastic bottles, tyres, cardboard boxes and styrofoam containers, and other non-biodegradable materials made this trip to Jamaica my first and last one." The writer noted that even in Cuba, financially deprived and struggling to win friends, the surroundings are clean and aesthetically pleasing. Surely, this letter should be a wake-up call for the authorities to clean up Jamaica and retrieve our island paradise from the garbage dump that it has become.
RUBBISH EVERYWHERE
What is said of Montego Bay is actually true of most towns and marketplaces around Jamaica. Our capitals are dirty, strewn with rubbish everywhere, decaying, messy and unfit for even a leisurely stroll. In the tourist areas, shacks and stalls have spoilt the natural and beautiful surroundings, garbage litter the sidewalks, streets and gullies, and, everywhere, one simply wonders what has happened to the Solid Waste Management Authority.
We have lost our sense of pride, perhaps of shame, and no one in authority seems deeply concerned enough to have the zeal and determination to clean up the mess. In Parliament, we pass enough laws, talk relentlessly of what is to be done, lavish mountains of praise, and make vain promises of how everywhere will be cleaned and improved, yet enough is never done to satisfy the basic levels of human decency and social acceptance across our fair land.
What has happened to the many anti-litter laws passed in Parliament? Even recently, we passed laws to keep animals off the streets but somehow I seem to see more cows, dogs and other animals roaming the streets of every town and village. Surely, the real problem lies in our failure to comply and enforce the laws. If the anti-litter laws were really enforced, people fined and punished, we definitely would not have so much garbage on our streets. Now, littering and throwing garbage on the highway and in our gullies have become such a habit that it will take years and much effort to eliminate and overcome our people's propensity to litter everywhere. But, we need to start the process and a massive campaign should be initiated immediately to clean up the mess and filth that we have created and allowed to get out of control.
Perhaps, this is an area where the JLP-controlled Parish Councils can make a difference. Here is an opportunity for the newly-elected Mayors to send the powerful signals that the squalid and unkempt conditions they inherited will be corrected and lead the way now. Indeed, I was very happy to see the Kingston's Mayor Desmond McKenzie touring
Corporate Area gullies, which have become garbage dumps for inner-city residents. The mountain of garbage that must be removed over the next couple months is definitely a daunting task but it has to be done. I would urge the Mayor, and the other Mayors, to start a strong public relations campaign to educate resident of their duties to manage and dispose off their garbage in a responsible manner and to go a step further by insisting that the police start prosecuting people for littering the streets or throwing garbage in the gullies.
Jamaica can, once again, become a clean and proud place. I remember well in the '80s how we felt proud of our surroundings, the streets were clean, the gullies were maintained, flowers beautified the sidewalks and roundabouts and a sense of pride developed. MPM did such a wonderful job. It can be done again. I commend this gallant effort to the newly-elected Mayors and Parish Councils to make their towns and capitals clean, attractive and pleasant and, even if they do not attract tourists, the local people would at least be well served.
Delroy Chuck is an attorney at law and Opposition Member of Parliament. He can be contacted by e-mail at Delchuck@Hotmail.Com.
