Contributed
Minister Omar Davies at the podium addressing members of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ). Seated (from left): Mr. Wayne Chen, chief executive officer (CEO) Super Plus Food Stores Ltd; Audrey Marks-Dunstan, CEO Paymaster Jamaica Ltd; and Carol Narcisse, co-host of Nationwide at the PSOJ job creation awards held on Tuesday, December 13, 2005.
Omar Davies, Contributor
Over the last 13 months, our 'Campaign for Prosperity' to create a world-class Jamaican society in
a decade has been charting
new waters. I have articulated a message that requires every citizen to accept personal responsibility for his or her own life and the community in which he or she lives. Our campaign team has gone into the highways and byways with this message directed first at party members and activists. It is a message that resonates and can be embraced by all Jamaica. We now extend that message in articulating a vision for sustainable inner-city governance.
The status quo which prevails in our inner cities is profoundly undemocratic. Too often, it places community power in the hands of a minority who, through fear born of their possession of firepower and their willingness to use it ruthlessly, control and restrict the capacities and aspirations of the ordinary citizens of these communities.
This power structure also represents a fundamental impediment to economic development in the inner cities. Legitimate economic resources as well as those who have a genuine desire to assist and contribute to development of these communities are intimidated by what obtains in these communities and will not risk entry into areas governed by such a system.
For decades, Jamaica's politicians have avoided coming to terms with the need to turn all this on its head. Many who have represented so-called 'garrisons' have fallen in line with the system, dispensing whatever patronage they can muster, thereby, reinforcing the dictatorship of the dons.
moral courage needed
During my political incumbency in South St. Andrew, I have sought to change that system and to provide a genuinely democratic system that can ensure sustained economic and social development. The 'Campaign for Prosperity' is offering the approach that is being used in South St. Andrew as a paradigm for the transformation of political garrisons and for the development of inner-city communities nationally.
Changing the status quo in political garrisons requires great moral courage and honesty, and a willingness to endure criticisms. Its success requires the support of those who want Jamaica to become a civilised place for all its citizens. By 'civilised' we mean that all citizens are able to rely on, and therefore, must respect, the rule of law.
Attempts to establish parallel systems of law and order, however expedient, will undermine the rule of law in a civilised country. The refusal to establish this parallel system is the practical way in which we demonstrate the will to dismantle political garrisons and move beyond mere rhetoric.
Recently, South St. Andrew was confronted with the ugly spectre of gunmanship and gun violence, the most pernicious residue of the political garrisons. We encouraged the security forces to have full access to South St. Andrew to protect all its law-abiding citizens and to take the necessary actions to restore the rule of law. We refused to offer political protection from all the ghetto system's protagonists. We were pilloried and criticised for this in some quarters. However, encouraging the security forces to take firm and resolute measures to restore the rule of law was not a failure on our part to act. It was what was required by firm and far-thinking leadership that has a focus on what is in the best interests of the people it represents and the people of Jamaica. It is the only approach that can lead to the restoration of community democracy in these inner-city areas.
restoring democracy
and civil rights
This is a very stark contrast to the stance taken by others. Some have hypocritically articulated enlightened pronouncements but, when tested, have reverted to their original colours by seeking to protect and maintain this cancerous and unsustainable governance model. However, to honestly and resolutely embrace community democracy requires leadership that has the courage of its conviction and fixity of purpose to stay on that course.
The price of the transition to democracy is being paid in South St. Andrew, and it is a very high price. Many lives have been lost, and parts of the community have been fractured. The 'cold turkey' of cauterising an addiction to garrison politics is not a smooth and pleasant affair. Furthermore, and understandably so, many residents caught in the middle of this transition long for the 'stability' which once came from the rule of the dons.
However, once it is recognised that what is being done is restoring democracy and civil rights and liberties to the citizenry of the inner city, suddenly the lives that have been lost are no longer meaningless. Those persons are martyrs to a national cause, that of saving civilisation within Jamaica as a whole. It was never necessary that a single life should have been lost. And we regret and repudiate the loss of every single life. We owe it to them to do what we can to stay the course and bring democracy to their communities on a permanent basis.
The success of this new paradigm is essential to Jamaica's future. It is critical that it be embraced and institutionalised by Jamaica's leadership in all sectors. Without it, Jamaica cannot become world class, and the road to ground zero will be assured. The light has been sparked in South St. Andrew; we have begun to develop a viable alternative.
I call upon all Jamaica's political leaders to join with me in fundamentally realigning inner-city governance, and to demonstrate the strength and commitment to chart a course towards genuine community democracy in our inner cities.
Dr. Omar Davies is Minister of Finance and Planning and contender for president of the People' s National Party.
