FOR TWO days last week, first and second-generation Jamaicans from the Diaspora, namely the United States, Britain and Canada, gathered in downtown Kingston for a conference aimed at exploring possible areas of investment and co-operation.
The feedback from delegates and conference organisers has been overwhelmingly positive as they cite opportunities to invest in business and social-intervention projects in the island while strengthening their own lobbying efforts on behalf of the country in their respective domiciles.
Several concerns were aired which the delegates cited as important to be addressed if their contribution to the island is to be enhanced. Bureaucracy remains high on the list of priorities, although some conceded that there had been significant improvement in some areas. They still want to be assured that it will not take an inordinately long time to get documents from government and quasi-government agencies. There is also concern about the civil justice system how long it will take to adjudicate disputes in the Courts.
Clearly, the delegates want to be taken seriously and their usefulness to the island appreciated beyond their ability to send back money and barrels stuffed with groceries and clothes to relatives. As one delegate noted, having benefited from the island's education system and having obtained an opportunity to do well economically overseas, the time was ripe to give back to country.
They want to be kept fully informed about investment opportunities and not be left to feel that "other people's" money is more valued than theirs. Others are equally determined to give their numbers clout politically in the metropole by becoming influential lobby groups to the benefit of the country.
These are all issues that have been raised to greater or lesser degrees of intensity and urgency over many years. The challenge that the Government who organised this conference and the persons who came here representing various organisations now face, is one of follow-up, implementation and practical action.
We put in a word of caution. There is a danger in this sort of coalition of goodwill being primarily state-driven. In the normal course of events, governments change. If the initiatives that flow from these discussions are to be sustained, they must be grounded in the work of private, independent agencies. There have been several such agencies working on behalf of Jamaicans for decades. They need better co-ordination to see how best their resources might be pooled and better yet to move towards having paid secretariats, subject to regular audits, with their work undergirded by, but less dependent on, the spirit of voluntarism that now obtains.
