Delroy Chuck
THROUGHOUT JAMAICA, on the highways and byways, in urban and rural areas, inside and outside of Parliament, everywhere, the predominant discourse is how politics and politicians have failed. The level of political discontent has reached an all-time high. People now blame politics, of every version and colour, and from either side, for virtually all the ills and failings of the country. In fact, the Opposition gets as much blame, perhaps undeservedly, as the Government, for the mishaps, mistakes and misdirection of the country.
Sixteen years of successive PNP administrations have plunged the country to its deepest depths of despair, desperation and discontent. Frustrations abound, and glimmering hopes are easily extinguished. Those who hope things will get better are frustrated daily. When fires burn on the plains of St. Elizabeth or the rocky terrains of Hanover or St. Andrew, crops disappear in flames and multimillion-dollar houses scorch to the ground, desperate owners cry for help but firefighters and their trucks are rendered helpless, through the inability of government to fund repairs, maintenance and new vehicles.
KPH PATIENTS SUFFERING
The sick and dying are not spared the inadequacies and shortcomings of this bankrupt government. On a recent visit to Kingston Public Hospital, I saw patients lying in bed, suffering and in pain, awaiting surgery or treatment but unable to access either, as the equipment, medication or necessary drugs were unavailable in the hospital and their families unable to afford them. Nine x-ray machines were not, and are still not, working. If the largest medical facility in the island suffers from such dire shortcomings, what obtains in the other public hospitals across the country?
The Opposition is not spared the criticisms. In fact, the Opposition is fried in the same grimy political fat as the government. When things go wrong, corruption unveiled and inadequacies demonstrated, embedded and faithful government commentators do not lambaste the ministers; instead, they focus on the Opposition for not speaking out loud enough or for failing to stop and correct the wrongs and inadequacies.
HEAVILY CRITICISED
When, last week, I wrote that if the government is unable to govern and to address the problems of the country, the Opposition has a duty to seek its earliest removal, I was heavily criticised for not providing solutions and corrections to the country's problems, which, I daresay, cannot be my political duty and responsibility, at this time.
Members of Parliament are blamed for every shortcoming in their constituencies, and the growing discontent, especially in the inner cities, is laid firmly at the feet of the MP.
MPS ALLOCATED LESS
Sadly, MPs have been set up. Throughout the '90s, and until 2003, MPs got a total of over five million dollars to address some of the problems, needs and discontent. With 26 Opposition MPs, the government cut back the SESP allocation to less than three million during the past two years, which means that in spite of inflation, inadequate social services and growing discontent, the MPs are allocated even less to respond to the needs and desperation of the poor, sick and vulnerable.
Moreover, the thousands of idle, unemployed and angry young men that congregate at the corners and in every inner-city community look to the MP for some form of salvation, whether in the form of jobs, occupation, charity or a round of drinks.
In the Grants Pen community, in spite of the social intervention from KRC, PERF, USAID, the Stella Maris Foundation, the Ministers Fraternal, and my perennial presence, the young people, quite rightly, complain that 'nutten naw gwaan', but, mistakenly, blame me for not doing enough or being disconnected from their problems.
As far as they are concerned, I have the means, contacts and resources to solve their problems but I am not 'letting off', which is partially true, as my principle is not to hand out insatiable benefits but to demand that young people take responsibility for their lives and action.
POLITICAL DISCONTENT
Sadly, PNP political activists in Grants Pen have sought to exploit the discontent and paid well-known criminal elements to paint PNP signs over business places, freshly painted fences and beautiful decorated walls.
In truth, the growing political discontent threatens social stability. Well, as the government relentlessly pursues its dysfunctional economic model, the inadequate social services will be further savaged, MPs SESP will be further trimmed, and the boiling discontent of the unemployed, hungry, sick, frustrated and hopeless may well reach a point that social upheaval, conflicts and revolt become unrestrainable and, I dare say, unimaginable.
Delroy Chuck is an attorney-at-law and Opposition member of Parliament. He can be contacted by email at Delchuck@hotmail.com.
