By Damion Mitchell, Staff ReporterSTRESSING THE need for a structured system of representation, some 250 Jamaican expatriates yesterday voted for the establishment of a foundation, which they say will strengthen ties between the country and its overseas nationals.
In addition, delegates at the end of a two-day conference in Kingston agreed to convene every two years in Jamaica on June 16, to be declared Jamaica Diaspora Day.
Dennis Smith, president of the Coalition of Jamaican Organisations of Massachusetts in the United States, pointed out that while there are several organisations presently assisting Jamaicans living overseas, the majority were voluntary groups.
NEED A DIFFERENT MINDSET
"We need paid people," he said. "The voluntary thing has carried us, and carried us well but this is where organisation and economics building must come in... the organisation that we have now cannot carry us onward, we need a different mindset."
The principal goals of the Jamaican Diaspora Foundation will be to strengthen the links and support systems between Jamaicans residing abroad and those at home, with an aim to deepen the collaboration and co-operation between the stakeholder groups. In addition, the Foundation will facilitate and increase the scope and impact of the contribution of the diaspora to the development of Jamaicans. A Jamaica Dispora Institute will also be set up to function as the secretariat for the Foundation.
The group, however, was dismissive of the idea of political representation in the Jamaican Senate, arguing that it was more important for them to have a functional and permanent representation in the bureaucracy. "We want a Ministry for the Diaspora," said Lisa Narcisse, president of the Greater Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce in the US. Minister of Information Burchell Whiteman had raised the suggestion of the Jamaican Diaspora having a voice in the Senate.
Yesterday, Delano Franklyn, the State Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade told reporters at a press briefing that the government had recognised the need for better representation on behalf of Jamaicans living overseas. In this regard, he said a seven-member advisory Diaspora Board comprising representatives from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom was established during the Conference.
The first Jamaican Diaspora Conference was held over two days this week at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.
