Ian BoyneWhen Peter Phillips mounts the platform today for the (second?) official launch of his bid for the Presidency of the People's National Party (PNP) and the Prime Ministership of Jamaica, will his speech be relevant to the vast majority of Jamaicans? Will he touch on the really fundamental issues, or will he engage in the usual rhetoric and catch-phrases which politicians trade in?
Will he deal with the solid issues which face this country and give a real sense of the rock-and-a-hard-place position in which this developing country finds itself?
The Jamaican political class seems to have run out of steam and has yet to sensitise the country to the really central issues which face us. The questions and issues I pose to Dr. Peter Phillips today are those I have for all contenders for PJ Patterson's job including Bruce Golding. I use the occasion of Phillips' launch to raise these issues (though his speech is already prepared and rehearsed), and hope that they will come to the attention of all who want to be Prime Minister of this country.
With the massive social deficit which exists in the country and the need for major investments in education, health care, social welfare and community projects, where will the state get the money to fund this social investment in light of the imperative to balance the budget, reduce the debt burden and maintain fiscal conservatism? Everyone agrees that without significant social spending, we will not be able to sufficiently contain crime, stem the drug trade and rescue the desperate and frustrated inner-city youth from criminality and recruitment by the dons.
No crime plan can work realistically without large sums of money being spent on social welfare. Where will that money come from under the macroeconomic programme to which the Government is committed? How would Peter Phillips or any other contender for Patterson's job including Bruce Golding solve this dilemma? You can't go back to fiscal expansionism and major social spending and yet reduce deficits and the debt burden, and you won't have the major expansion in export earnings in the short-term to make the social investments.
So after all the rhetoric is over and the right words are said for the 'forwards' and ecstatic cheers at the Arena today and the other venues where the candidates are marketing themselves, what do we really have to hold on to concretely? If we don't have enough money to throw at the crime problem, then we would have to have a population which has a common, unifying vision and a philosophy which can motivate them to manage the frustration of material lack because of their hope in the future.
But how do you inspire hope, optimism and the willingness to sacrifice and tighten the belt when there is so much cynicism, alienation and turn-off from the political system? In other words, Dr. Phillips and other contenders inside and outside of the PNP, what can you do to win back the hearts and minds of the Jamaican people? What can you do to make people believe in politicians again; to make them feel that politicians really care about them and their welfare and not just personal aggrandisement and the intoxication of political power?
What can the present contenders for the country's top political job do to bring back confidence to the political system; to make people believe again that politics can make a positive difference?
CAPTURING THE YOUTH
And what can you, Dr. Phillips, and the other contenders, do to capture the imagination of Jamaica's youth? A large proportion of our population consists of young people. What are their goals? What are their values? They are not like the youth of the 1960s and the 1970s for whom ideology or a national vision meant something. Are these contenders for power really in touch with the youth of various classes? Do they know what their aspirations are?
Many of the country's youth are taken up with migration and are looking for the earliest opportunity to go overseas. They see the good life as being in the United States or Canada certainly not in Jamaica. Few Jamaican youth see Jamaica as the place to achieve their dreams and to fulfil their ambitions. What can Dr Phillips and the other contenders for political power say to the Jamaican youth to ignite passion in their hearts and fire in their stomachs?
What can Dr Phillips say today that would move young people to say, "This is the man to change Jamaica!"? The statistics as to the percentage of our secondary and tertiary-educated youth who leave the country is frightening. At a time when the research is conclusive that foreign investors are looking to invest in countries with a high level of human capital; when companies are looking to invest in countries with highly-skilled people who can create value, how competitive can Jamaica be when its human capital is being exported at such an alarming rate? Remittances cannot compensate for this level of loss of your human resources, particularly of your most skilled and schooled.
What policies or programmes will Dr. Phillips announce or articulate today that will
encourage our youth to stay here?
PROJECT ME vs
PROJECT JAMAICA
When the values of so many Jamaicans are largely materialistic and hedonistic; when the predominance of the interests of self is the order of the day; when rugged individualism and self-centredness define so many Jamaicans, through what principle will people be inspired to sacrifice, 'come together for the common good', 'build Jamaica', commit to 'Project Jamaica' rather than 'Project Me'?
I can't put it any better than Don Robotham did in that memorable GraceKennedy Foundation lecture in 1998: "Every man and woman for himself and herself seems to be the slogan which is expressed in all
departments of Jamaican life. Right before our very eyes, we are witnessing a fundamental shift in the values of the Jamaican people and one critical aspect of this shift is an abandonment of altruistic attitudes and the replacement of these by a narrow individualism based on shallow understanding of what a market economy necessitates."
Unless this values issue is addressed and addressed fundamentally and centrally, rather than treated as some religious or moral issue in the narrow sense, then our political class will be demonstrating its myopia and irrelevance. You can't deal with crime unless you have a people whose values go beyond filling their stomachs and merely satisfying their basic physiological needs. Let's not fool ourselves: We don't have the money to solve, in the short or near-term, the gargantuan social development challenge of the inner-city.
can't buy way out of crime
We can't buy our way out of our crime problem. So if poor Jamaicans are willing to sell-out just to put food on the table; if the poor, unemployed and frustrated ghetto youth can't resist the offers of the dons; if the young girls can't resist the sexual advances of the financially well-off predators; if the police can't be satisfied with their low pay but are obsessed with having enough money to live in Havendale or Swain Spring, then how are we going to contain crime, AIDS, unwanted pregnancies and corruption?
If you don't have honest, ethical cops, no crime plan will work. And the respect for the police by the citizenry absolutely necessary for crime control will not be possible.
If the alienation and distrust between workers and management is not reduced, then how will the workforce be motivated to produce world-class goods and services?
If the next Prime Minister does not have the magnetic force of personality, charisma and intellectual competence to both inspire the people and demonstrate sound judgement and a keen grasp of complex issues, then how will Jamaica tackle its many challenges?
Political tribalism is a major problem. We need a political leader who can build emotional capital in both Comrades and Labourites. We need a political leader who can not only boast about unifying his or her party but of unifying the country; a person whom political opponents can see as a model of fairness, impartiality and justice. Is that too much to ask?
We need a political leader who will not promote cronyism and who will put competence over commitment in making appointments and awarding contracts. A lot of superficial comparisons and contrasts are being made between the candidates for the leadership of the PNP. Many of our analysts are missing the most critical issues. Most of the differences between the contenders are both cosmetic and contrived. We are asking the wrong questions and posing less than fundamental issues.
candidates need to explain views
Yes, the policy position on the Caribbean Single Market is important. Yes, the candidates need to explain their views on crime control, corruption, the education system, the justice system, constitutional reform, local government reform, rural development, economic strategy, employment creation, debt reduction, tourism development, etc.
These are all important issues but there are some overarching ones which precede them. Improved intelligence-gathering, increased forensic sophistication, construction of more police stations, better patrolling will not solve the crime problem if Jamaicans don't learn to resolve conflict peacefully; work through issues rather than fight it out and reduce our aggression. We are too easily 'dissed'; our self-esteem is too low and too easily assaulted. That's why domestic violence is so high.'
Our promiscuity levels are too high and the pandemic of fatherlessness in Jamaica is a major contributor to crime. Who are these kids who are the shottas with AKs in Jamaica? What kinds of homes do they come from? What music are they listening to? Listen to what is being portrayed in Baby Cham's Ghetto Story, now the hottest dancehall tune on the road.
How many people do we have in Jamaica who would die for an ideal, a principle or a set of beliefs because they passionately hold it? Then if you don't have a critical mass of these persons, how can you build a society and resist crime and corruption? How can you build a society of excellence? These are the questions and issues that Dr. Phillips and the other contenders for the Prime Ministership of Jamaica must concern themselves with rather than merely playing to the gallery.
