Beverley Anderson -Manley
ELEMENTS OF the Jamaican society appear to be in a comfort zone of 'nutten na gwaan fi mi' or 'same ole same ole'. Many of us are caught in a hole, in a trap and instead of digging ourselves out we keep on digging ourselves in - piling on dirt, after dirt, after dirt. From the vantage point of this trap it is no wonder that nothing appears to be happening. We have to find a way to stop digging ourselves further into the trap so we can begin to see ourselves and our world differently. The Good Book says that "where there is no vision, the people perish." One of the critical aspects of visioning is to be able develop the capacity to look beyond present reality to what is possible - in spite of our present experiences.
SQUANDERING STATE FUNDS
Keith Duncan, chief executive officer of Jamaica Money Market Brokers - made The Gleaner front page last week for a speech he made at the quarterly luncheon of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce. Duncan asserted that public officials who squander state funds should either be fired or held criminally responsible for their actions. This would definitely require a paradigm shift on the part of leaders and followers. Are we up to this?
He then reminded Jamaica of some of the recent incidents in which state funds have been squandered - NetServ, the Intech Fund, Operation PRIDE, the National Solid Waste Management Authority, the North Coast Highway, Sandals Whitehouse. These are the ones that we the public know about. But, of course, there are others that we are not aware of because we do not take time to read, for example, the annual reports by the Auditor General and Contractor General. When the reports are first laid on the table of the Parliament, there is some amount of discussion mainly by the Jamaica Labour Party and the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, ably chaired by Opposition Shadow Minister of Finance, Audley Shaw.
NINE-DAY WONDER
In addition, for a while some members of the press in both the print and electronic media ask the relevant questions about taking responsibility. Then everything returns to normal - although in each case, taxpayers are paying someone to carry out these jobs who should take responsibility and be accountable for the cost overruns. Then sanctions must be applied where appropriate. The structure of Government is such that a minister is in place; an accounting officer is always in place, but year after a year, we get the same results, a gross misuse and waste of state funds.
The Orane Report outlines in very clear terms what is necessary to put a stop to this waste. One of the things mentioned in the report is our deep and abiding fear as a country about taking responsibility and being accountable. Within what the report describes as a "culture of inaction." it seems that we are great at 'talking the talk' but there is considerable failure around 'walking the walk'.
NWC AND PORTMORE TOLL
We need to begin to give serious consideration to how much this "culture of inaction" is costing us as a nation in financial and other terms. We have to demand from our leaders that they create the conditions within which citizens feel safe to involve themselves in genuine participation as distinguished from mere consultation. If this kind of participation had taken place, would the National Water Commission workers find it necessary to go on strike? And what about the Portmore residents, would we be seeing the type of chaos we are seeing now? And when citizens take a stand, particularly in the interest of Jamaica, they must not be denigrated and seen as political partisans but acknowledged and appreciated.
Leadership must ensure that the necessary time is allowed for
genuine participation from the beginning. If this is not done, it is almost inevitable that problems are sure to emerge towards the end of the process. Let us commit to an informed and active citizenry.
Beverley Manley is a political scientist, gender specialist and transformation coach email: BManley@kasnet.com
