Edward Seaga, Contributor
SEAGA
MY RECORD of participation in Parliament has been two and a half years spent in the Legislative Council
followed by 42 years in the House of Representatives, totalling a little more than 45 years. Destiny must have had a role in that because I neither had any plan nor any training for this role that I have had to play. But the Legislative Council was, to a certain extent, a part of my learning experience and training.
It was there that I was able to understand the political process and compare it with the real life experiences that I had gained in the research work that immediately preceded that period. And it was out of that comparison of real life with the political process that I fashioned the address that I gave in the Legislative Council, known today as the Senate, which is known as the "haves and have-nots" speech. It struck a deep resonant note with the country.
END IT WHERE I STARTED
As I pondered how I should end my career in Parliament, what I should say in departing from this august body, it occurred to me that I should end it where I started. I want to do so by looking at where we are now after some forty years have passed since Independence and the presentation of that speech.
In those very early days, I had many a discussion with the renowned and distinguished anthropologist, Dr. M. G. Smith, who was my close friend. We spent many afternoons together over many months discussing my research findings and we came to the conclusion that we lived in two Jamaicas.
These two Jamaicas broadly speaking, are two sections of the same island in which one part has the blessing of being organised into a modern society and all the
trappings that go with modernisation, drawing upon the structure and principles of western civilisation. They can be called the "haves", to make the comparison. And the other part, the much larger section of our Jamaica, comprises an Afrocentric, traditional society, our folk society, rural society, inner-city people where the modernisation that has taken place elsewhere has not been imparted or adopted there. They are the "have-nots".
GOOD GOVERNANCE
To make this comparison, let us look at the three main functions which a system of good governance ought to perform for the benefit of the people of a country: the provision of a fair and secure criminal justice system; the operation of an effective education system; and the creation of an economy which
provides sufficient gainful opportunities. The questions that must be asked are: What was the condition more than 40 years ago and what is it today in relation to these three particular areas of governance?
There is no comparison between the situation at the time of Independence some 40 years ago and what exists today in the
criminal justice system. There were no widespread complaints about abuses of rights and no extensive criminal activity that led to so many serious crimes, including murder.
Over the years that system has deteriorated to world record levels of crime and alarming levels of abuses of rights. Who suffers when this happens? It is the poor, it is the "have-nots", it is that Jamaica comprising the traditional society. Those who live in the other Jamaica with the privileges of the "haves" can protect themselves from
abuses. So how do we disabuse the system and reduce its criminality that has reached alarming proportions over the past many years?
First of all, as the Prime Minister mentioned, we are remiss in not having passed the Charter of Rights. That was to have been our guarantee to prevent the abuse of rights. Greater effort must be made to bring that Charter on to the table of this House and into the books of our legislation.
If we examine what is taking place today on the criminal justice front we cannot help but come to a conclusion that there is a woeful lack of resources. Not just financial resources, which is true, but human resources. To deal with the problems in this area two things must be done. A will must exist to provide for the substantial resources that are necessary to fight crime, and the quality of human resources must be raised to new heights. It is time now to look at getting rid of the dead wood and bringing in green wood into the security forces.
Turn now to the system of education and ask the question, who is being educated? In the pre-Independence period there was an introduction by the then PNP
government of the "half scholarship" programme to allow primary school children to enter secondary schools. Then later, the JLP government issued an edict that 70 per cent of primary school children must be given admission to secondary schools. The intent and will were there to recognise that this was a very vital adjustment that had to be made in order to better provide for the education of children who came from poor households. To do so, the JLP government went on to build a large number of new schools called new secondary schools in order to provide the extra places for
accommodating the increased numbers of students coming, from the primary school system. Some 60 new secondary schools were built in the first instance, nearly doubling the accommodation at this level.
INADEQUATE RESOURCES
Lack of schools to accommodate additional primary school students was not the only problem. Other shortcomings were lack of
text books. Several students were sharing one textbook. So textbooks were produced to provide each child with a set of books covering all core subjects. There was little provision for feeding hungry students. A school feeding programme was put in place. A further shortcoming was that the curriculum was not unified. This has now been corrected.
There was no testing of students in primary schools. The only test in their six years of primary education was the Common Entrance (now GSAT exam) at Grade 6, age 11 to enter the secondary system. That has changed. Tests are now administered to Grade 1 and Grade 4 students.
See continuation in tomorrow's Gleaner
