Howard Gregory, Contributor
WITHIN THE realm of parliamentary politics, it is a popular strategic move for those who control the votes on the two sides of power in the lower and the upper Houses to enter into a process of manoeuvring and compromising by which an unpopular or objectionable piece of legislation or administrative change gets added to one that can or needs to be passed as a way to ensure that it gets through the voting process and not get killed.
From time to time we see little glimpses of this in our parliament, especially when the difference between the number of seats held by the incumbent government and that held by the Opposition is not wide enough to ensure safe passage of a Bill. For those who pay attention to United States politics, it would be observed that this is a constant source of conflict between the White House and Capital Hill in getting legislation passed.
In the exercise of the penchant for blaming politicians for just about everything that goes wrong in this country, many of us sometimes feel that the kind of political strategising of which I am speaking only takes place in the realm of politics. It is present in various organisations including the church.
UNSAVOURY MEASURE
At heart the issue is really how to get an unpopular or unsavoury measure to be adopted by a resistant constituency. This is precisely where the recent pronouncement by Dr. Ralph Thompson on the adoption of casino gambling as a way to fund education has taken us. Most of us have been eagerly anticipating the report of the Special Taskforce on Education which was established by Prime Minister, P.J. Patterson. During the past week the Report was tabled in Parliament and apparently has some far-reaching implications for the direction of Education in this country with which, at least from second-hand information, most of us can agree.
Unfortunately, although promised a copy within days of the release of the document, I have not yet received the same. Like every other meaningful development in education, there is a price tag attached to the recommendations. Almost simultaneous with the release of the report, Dr. Ralph Thompson, is reported to have stepped forward to use the release of this report as a platform for the legalisation of casino gambling. It is reported in the print media that he said, "The Government should stop pussyfooting around and introduce casino gambling". The thrust of his argument delivered at a luncheon meeting of the Rotary Club of downtown Kingston, is that "the introduction of casino gambling would be the answer to funding the $52 billion per year needed to transform the education system over the next 10 years" (The Daily Gleaner Thursday, December 16, 2004).
What Dr. Thompson has ended up doing, is to take an outstanding Report which should serve as a basis for focus and unity in the generation of a national consensus and vision for education in this country and make it into a point for controversy and division. It appears to me that the Report needs to be disseminated, discussed, and understood by a broad-based population of stakeholders and people at various levels of the society. This to me would be the way to give due regard and respect to the hard work which has been put into the preparation of this report. When we have done this then we can look at how we shall fund it. Indeed, as I understand it, there is already a Committee which was set up to look specifically at this issue.
GROUNDS FOR CONFLICT
Education is not the platform, or should I say, the battle-ground on which to take the casino lobby. Next to the Government, the Churches in this land constitute the largest stakeholder in education. To disregard the Churches moral objection to casino gambling and then turn around and tell the Churches that education, in which they are a major participant and stakeholder, is to be funded by income from casino gambling, would constitute a broadside slap in the face for the Churches.
The Churches are committed to the cause of education in this country and would not want this important area of our national life to become the ground for conflict with the Government. To date we have no signal that the Government has any such intention. If the casino lobby needs a platform on which to advocate its cause, I suggest that this is not an appropriate one. One of the interesting things about this Report as I understand it, is that it takes cognisance of the need for moral education and citizenship education within the school system. The churches have consistently raised objection to casino gambling.
This is not because it cannot bring in money, although we are of the opinion that the economic benefits have been overstated, but that it violates moral principles which we affirm about the value and dignity of industry and work. Games of chance are a violation of our ethic of work and the acquisition of reward; gambling is predicated on the anti-social premise of winners and losers as the basis for its continuity, and there are addictive behaviours which often develop among the gambling population with serious social consequences for the individuals and their families.
CASINO PROJECTS
It is interesting to note that while we are engaged in this discussion, the Tony Blair government is reported to have put caps on casino projects in Britain because of fears of addictive behaviours now being evidenced. To quote the Reuters Report carried in The Financial Gleaner of December 16, "Tony Blair's government last month proposed a cap on Las Vegas-style super casinos with multimillion pound jackpots, following fierce opposition from politicians, campaigners and health experts who warned of a surge in gambling addicts".
But we need not look to Britain to help us solve this problem or guess what will be the problems for us if we allow ourselves to be swayed by flowery arguments about the economic gains from gambling. Anyone who stands by one of the money transfer services to receive money from overseas or pay bills will already be seeing the tragedy that is befalling this country as the lines to buy daily gambling chances get longer and longer and less productive time is spent on creative and productive work. It may pay the bills for sports, and give a handsome return to the operators but at what cost to the country?
MORALITY AND EDUCATION
What is very disturbing about much of the discussion on casino in our national context is that there is very little appreciation of anything that has to do with morality concerning gambling. It would be a tragedy if in the promulgation of this Report on Education which speaks of one of the curriculum components being proposed as moral education, the morality issue should be shelved and children for whom the system is designed should receive the double message that morality must be a concern in life but when it comes to funding their education we will leave that outside the classroom.
While discrediting the importance of the moral argument against casino gambling, the advocacy of casino as the basis for funding education is providing useful case material for teaching morality in schools. The argument that money should be accepted from a source because it will be used to fund a good cause, education, is an old method of ethical casuistry in which it is argued that the end justifies the means. This society needs to think through this matter very seriously. One of the serious social problems confronting us is the impact of donmanship and drug lords on the life of certain communities.
These individuals are able to maintain control over communities because of the financial and other social benefits which they offer residents in their communities. These funds are usually the result of illegal and violent activities. Yet, as soon as the police or system of justice attempts to do anything about these persons, there are roadblocks, the closing down of commercial districts, and killings with shooting and general mayhem by the beneficiaries of this system of patronage. Why should we want to stop these things when there are supposed social benefits derived from its operation?
Prime Minister P.J. Patterson will probably be remembered as the Prime Minister who spoke most about 'Values and Attitudes'. It is probably because of his conviction on these matters that under his leadership his government has been accused of "pussyfooting" on the issue of casinos. I recall my first visit to Gordon House as a high school student to hear the Senate in session and of being impressed by the presentation of the young, attractive and articulate Senator, P.J. Patterson.
I would like to think that this national leader and role model for many Jamaican youth did not achieve his successes by chance but by the pursuit of the values of hard work and discipline, imparted by an equally industrious mother and teacher. I would hate to think that Prime Minister Patterson would bequeath anything less to the young people of this generation by implementing a strategy for education supported by funding from a source which, by its very nature, contradicts the values the system of education is supposed to teach.
Let me hope that this Prime Minister will leave office standing by the values which he has urged for the adoption of the educational system and not go down in history as the one who legalised the operation of casinos in this our country.
So let the Report of the Taskforce on Education receive the attention which it is due but let us be wary of any attempt by any individual, lobby, or interest group to try and get a free ride on this report and its implementation.
