Not so long ago in these columns, we had cause to complain about the sorry state of National Heroes Park, a portion of which has been appropriated by the Finance Ministry for use as a car park.

The park, where Jamaica buries and pays homage to its heroes - as well as some other people considered to have made outstanding contributions to national development - had grown decrepit and unkempt. At first, the response was one of sophistry, focusing primarily on what comprised National Heroes Park - the walled off area that encloses the monuments - as opposed to National Heroes Circle, the large area of the old Race Course.

In the end though, the authorities were shamed into allocating $25 million from the Tourism Enhancement Fund for the upgrading of the park, although what it is being spent on, if the money has been spent, is not immediately obvious. What really is needed is an investment in a fence, a small tractor/mower and a handful of minimum wage caretakers. And half-decent management.

We had hoped that the shaming of the Government would not be necessary for them to pay attention to and maintain, even half decently, other public spaces, especially those in which we honour important figures in Jamaica's history. We certainly didn't expect that would have to be the case with St. William Grant Park in downtown Kingston. After all, the former Prime Minister, Mr. Patterson, more than two years ago announced the redevelopment of the park as one of the projects in the rejuvenation of downtown, to be completed in time for the Cricket World Cup, which opens in Jamaica in just over two months.

We were wrong! Very wrong! As was demonstrated by pictures and text published by this newspaper on Tuesday. The monument to St. William Grant, this important labour leader, an icon of the 1938 labour agitation, stinks. Literally. And it is dirty.

From those photos you could feel the grime and smell the stench: of the unwashed bodies of the derelicts who occupy the park, of the faeces and urine deposited by the itinerant crowds.

Perhaps the state of the park says something about us as individuals and as a society, about our appreciation of heroes and important personages, about esteem, and perhaps even more important, about self-confidence; singularly and collectively.

But we think that statements from National Heroes Park/National Heroes Circle and St. William Grant Park, say more about leaders and leadership or the lack thereof. Ours is a governance that tends to be quick and spontaneous and, too often, opportunistic. It appeared to make good sense to establish a place to honour heroes or a labour leader whose activities were at a time marked for the start of a nationalist movement. But we have lacked the consistency of effort to maintain such places of homage.

Keeping St. William Grant Park, or any other public space, in pristine condition should not have been dependent on the World Cup. We should be doing it for ourselves, which perhaps is why it is the way it is, and those who are in charge of these things consider us to be.

And this tale is not only about St. William Grant Park. Nelson Mandela would retch if he enters the park that bears his name.