THERE SEEMS to be a deepening consensus on the need for a new building for the Jamaican Parliament given the inadequacy of Gordon House, a fact that was highlighted in the 2003 Clarke Committee report on salaries for legislators, and echoes a long-standing call.
But politicians are so out of favour, or maybe more to the point, there is so much ambivalence to their worth, no one, not least the Government, wants to commit to such a project, particularly given the country's deep fiscal problems. Why, the reasoning goes, should the country shell out good bucks for the comfort of ranting members of the political tribes, whose efforts have failed to deliver sustained economic growth and a standard of living most of us believe we deserve? Why not spend the money on roads, hospitals, or schools?
There is, it appears, an obvious logic to that argument. Except that parliamentarians conduct the people's business and should have the basic support systems and services that should allow them to do it with efficacy and in a manner that produces the best results for the people they are supposed to serve. Adequate meeting and caucus rooms, a decent library, research and information technology and communication facilities should be standard in a modern parliament.
It is in this context, therefore, that we embrace the suggestion of Mr. Morin Seymour, the executive director of the Kingston Restoration Company (KRC), for a public/private sector partnership for a new parliamentary complex in downtown Kingston, around which other facilities would be anchored.
We support the idea of the downtown location for several reasons, not least of which is its potential for helping to halt the rot in the old section of the city with its pervasive ramshackle, widening grittiness and stalking crime. These things have
happened because, led by Government, we have abandoned downtown in a race towards New Kingston. While extensive government-owned office space is empty downtown, government agencies spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually on rent uptown; and others have shelled out good taxpayers cash to buy property in New Kingston and its environs. All this is happening while Government offers incentives to private individuals to upgrade their downtown properties.
We hear of the proposals to do temporary things at existing downtown buildings, however we are fearful that once stop-gap measures are implemented, they tend to become permanent. For this reason, too, we are not in favour of using the Jamaica Conference Centre, even if expanded. For this would mean appropriating the only decent conference facility in the city, limiting the capacity of private persons to put on big events when Parliament is in session.
If we are to do something, let's do it right.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
