Tres-Ann Cooke -Searching for solutions

Taking Responsibility - The Jamaican Economy Since Independence

Shakira Maxwell, Contributor

 

Tres-Ann Cooke, researcher, CONTRIBUTED

IT HAS taken a long and meandering journey to bring this St. Thomas girl from a small village in her home parish to the peripatetic life she now leads. Dividing her time between London and Jerusalem, Tres-Ann Cooke nonetheless, describes herself as "extremely patriotic" when it comes to her homeland. Whereas Jamaicans once had to choose between migrating and staying home, she now foresees an age in which they can keep their feet in two camps.

So when Anthony Harriott ­ the leader of the crime group in the Jamaican Economy Project called Tres-Ann to see if he could persuade her to become his group's lead researcher, she leapt at the opportunity.

"Seldom do Jamaicans feel they can affect their country in a tangible way," she said during a recent interview. "By bringing together committed young Jamaicans from all over the world, this project seeks to do that."

In Kingston, recently, to present her group's interim report, Tres-Ann discussed some of the challenges which lie ahead for Jamaica. The links between crime and the economy are evident. Moreover, she points out, while crime will always be with us, there is a real possibility of reducing our crime rate to the point where it does not cripple the economy. But how to do that is the challenge.

ILLUSTRATION

She cites her own research to illustrate the point. After graduating from University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona in 1999, Tres-Ann moved to London where she studied evenings at the University of Westminster, specialising in conflict management in her master's

degree. So impressive was her performance that the University of Kent immediately recruited her into its doctor of philosophy programme, and she is now writing a thesis on black foreign women in British prisons.

"Until last year, Jamaican women accounted for the largest share of black women inmates in Britain," she says. "Most were drug couriers, and most were motivated by economic necessity but also, very importantly, a quest for liberation." In short, Jamaican women were looking for opportunities for advancement and independence unavailable to them in the formal economy.

As the Jamaican Economy Project is discovering, once the informal economy is added to the mix, one could be forgiven for concluding that the Jamaican economy is not doing too badly. The problem is that this economy lies outside state control ­ indeed, it often directly challenges the authority of the state. When the state's legitimacy is weakened, social bonds fray and public authority declines.

UNDERSCORED

This was underscored in a paper written recently by Don Robotham, a former Pro-Vice Chancellor for Graduate Studies at UWI, Mona, who is now a professor of anthropology at the City University of New York. In it, he pointed out that because Jamaicans have increasingly been left to fend for themselves, the 'social compact' that once held Jamaica together has been broken. As a result, the unequal wealth distribution that has characterised Jamaican society appears to have been aggravated.

This is a major concern for Tres-Ann. "Economic growth will reduce crime" she states confidently, supporting the opinions of those who say that growth must be the overriding goal of a national development policy. "However," she adds quickly, "it will only do so if opportunities for advancement are created in the formal economy."

In the past, this has been a problem for Jamaica. As research done by the project has found, the country's greatest period of growth in the 1960s failed to generate employment opportunities commensurate with overall gains. As a result, Tres-Ann believes strongly that any effort to reduce crime that is purely technical ­ improved policing, better intelligence or weaponry, and the like ­ will fail. "What is needed," she says, "is an integrated approach that couples technical improvements with social development and a restoration of the status of the justice system in the eyes of ordinary Jamaicans."

GROWING THRUST OF THE RESEARCH

Can it be done? "Of course," she insists. But she says it will depend upon strong leadership. Not merely political leadership, but leadership at all levels of society, from the church to the schools. This is in keeping with the growing thrust of the research in the Jamaican Economy Project, which has located the source of many of Jamaica's post-independence failings in leadership failures.

Still, this girl from St. Thomas remains optimistic for her homeland. "While violent criminality is significant in Jamaica, it provides us an opportunity to ask ourselves questions, dig deep and act in ways that will vastly improve the future of our little rock."

This is one in the series of articles for the Jamaican Economy Since Independence Project.

* The Jamaican Economy Project is an independent research body dedicated to charting a way forward for Jamaica by conducting a detailed and objective study of the country's economic history. You can send your comments to: taking responsibility@gmail.com.