JAMAICA IS at a major cross-roads today where it has to position itself for where it wants to be in the competitive ranking of nations ten years from now. It has to decide what path it will take and how it will proceed to get there, by the time the year 2016 rolls in.
There are three mind sets. One, I have to make it, no matter what. Two, who can I look out for to get a 'let-off' today. Three, throwing up your hands and crying at your troubles, and taking a 'woe is me' approach.
These are the scenarios possible. The most beneficial one to adopt would be that where fundamental changes are made in how we approach our current practices of politics, business, and even social relations, if we want to meet the stiff challenges that most Caribbean small nation states will face over the next decade.
One would involve a major shift in the mind-set that somebody else owes you for your existence. This would involve more persons, communities, and organisations taking greater charge of their circumstances and trying to make significant changes. There should be less dependence on the Government so that we can begin to use the other deeply embedded Jamaican character trait of overcoming great odds. Politics must become less about what is always good for the party (but sometimes bad for the country) and more about developing structures that facilitate the Government playing its desired role as an enabler rather than a provider.
There has to be less central control and more individual decision making in communities, to generate revitalisation (whether it's cleaning up communities, attracting business investment, or controlling crime). The communities that make the effort must be supported over those which just throw their hands in the air and rely on external forces to solve problems.
SUCCESS CASES
For far too long we have catered to the delinquent minority who fail. Now we must pay more attention to the success cases, to inspire others to follow their path.
The adversarial relationship between employers and employees will have to be another casualty of current practices, and to do this will mean greater democratic participation at more organisa-tional levels, and more access to information at the lower levels. Workers must see that there is a direct proportional relationship between the jobs they do and the profits earned and the services provided. Greater openness must be displayed in trying to look at the vexed question of appropriately paid levels of remuneration for what is done in each job, by establishing more objective criteria to determine what skills are needed for what tasks and what outcomes are accepted and what are not.
As a result, attention will also have to be paid to attendance, punctuality (less use of 'Jamaica time') and reliability. These have to be more that just individual traits of behaviour but accepted norms of doing business at all levels, if output levels are to rise in key sectors.
A second alternative is to continue on the current path, where a shifting of political managers will still not create the fundamental changes that are necessary.
Yes, we want to see democra-tically elected new parties take power, as having one party in charge for too long is likely to breed stagnation, but we also want to see 'young blood' emerging as key decision makers in these traditional major parties, to revitalise the political system as well. A grave danger is that the current political apathy may also stifle the development of new parties and inhibit challenges to the current status quo. It is, however, clear that if the Government continues to play the lead role in the economy, it will be difficult to generate the needed economic dynamism.
I would not even comment on a third alternative, where the society gets further broken down and divided and key services don't work for the majority of the population. The outcome in this scenario is not one to contemplate. It would be even worse than the most contemptuous description of a banana republic (when bananas wouldn't even be grown here anymore).
Those who live in Jamaica have to decide where we want to go and no one else, with the kind assistance of the interested Diaspora.
