THE EDITOR, Sir:
The plaintive lament of Andrew Holness, member of
parliament for West Central
St. Andrew, contained in The Gleaner of the March 24, moved me to reflect on the role and
life of our politicians. To begin with, their only real moment of
euphoria in the job occurs on
election night (assuming he or she wins) they awake the next morning to the reality of just what they have won. They then begin to appreciate that long before the applause has subsided, they can look forward to a lifetime of endless meetings, endless funerals, endless faces with upturned hands that they will never be able to appease, endless early morning and, after nightfall, visitors to their homes, and the result is
frustration, frustration when, with the best will in the world, they
are unable to achieve for their constituents what they thought they could. I am willing to wager that irrespective of how successful they are perceived, individually, there remains vast areas in which they know they could have done more with adequate funding.
What is the state of their
popularity: generally, in the Jamaican context, one-third of their constituency adores them, one-third dislikes them, and the remainder would not give them the time of day. However, it is not only the politicians themselves who are affected by their chosen roles pity their spouses and
children when does the
politician find the time to attend to affairs of State and also find
the time to be father/mother,
husband/wife?
responsible resolve
The crisis in crime, which
the nation is currently facing, demands of our politicians more then ever before in our history, a responsible resolve from both sides they must resist the
natural temptation of one-upmanship. It is time to synchronise their thoughts and actions to find
solutions the government must be prepared to take firm, decisive, albeit unpopular action and the Opposition must advance any
theory which they consider
necessary and productive. In this regard, I wish to congratulate Mr. Holness who, instead of keeping it close to his chest, proposed the creation of employment for the inner city a proposal similar to one I made on September 6, 2000.
(That proposal was for the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica to spearhead a $2 billion initiative to rebuild inner-city communities.)
Some areas of development and expenditure will have to be sacrificed on the altar of job creation, and it should not be left only to government every employer in this nation should strive to increase his workforce by, at the very least, one person. For at least one year, let us not be obsessed with the bottom-line we are at war and this is for survival.
I am, etc.,
HOWARD HAMILTON,
Q.C.
Public defender
