Lambert Brown

On Thursday morning last, I was on my way to a meeting in St Ann. While driving, my mind was on the Cricket World Cup, scheduled to open with much fanfare this evening in the picturesque Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium. I have visited the stadium twice before. The view of Falmouth from the grandstand is simply breathtaking. The allure of the Jamaica north coast will captivate the world, was my thought. Suddenly, I was jolted back to the reality of normal life experience in Jamaica. I was staring at a traffic jam near Ewarton. My deepest fear was that this was an extension of the ever-so-regular Mount Rosser roadblock and I was going to be very late for my meeting at the bauxite company. Soon, I would discover, it was not. Such an extended and time-wasting roadblock would have been a picnic to what really was holding up the traffic.

From reverie about Cricket World Cup (CWC) in a split second I am witnessing the immediate aftermath of a death scene. It was a terrible motor vehicle collision.

Victim

People were running in all directions; signs of worry and despair were evident. Then I noticed a private motor car with a pair of feet in blue socks and one foot of shoe missing, protruding from the side of the trunk. It came to a stop only a few feet from my car. Linstead Hospital was its destination. The driver stopped to adjust the lid of the trunk. The head of the person was resting in the car's trunk. From looking at the feet, it appeared that the person was lifeless. Later in the day, I learnt the name of the victims of the crash.

The young life of Aldene Brown, a student of Ewarton High School, was snuffed out while on her way to school. Several other persons were injured in what was obviously an incident caused by the recklessness of man. I did not say accident because I am convinced most of our road deaths are avoidable. Recklessness can be prevented. We must stop destroying human capital by senseless speeding and abuse of the road code. Now that we have better roads in Jamaica, bad drivers are taking over. Is it too much to expect the Government and Opposition to come together and work out strategies and law enforcement to make the roads safe again?

This accident happened on a main support route for Cricket World Cup. The emergency response mechanism was abysmal. There were no ambulance or first-aid providers on the scene. The handling of the injured was disgraceful to say the least. In developed countries, at least one ambulance, a fire engine and the police would converge on the incident scene.

Thanks to the cricket, there will be 40 new ambulances available to serve the people of Jamaica. Unfortunately, young Aldene and her fellow passengers were not to benefit from this investment. This is still the sad reality for thousands of other Jamaicans. I sincerely hope that the tragedy of Ewarton will spur the Government to ensure that all hospitals are properly provided with emergency response capability at no less a level than those provided for the World Cup. We know what the international standards are in terms of how to respond to emergencies. We must insist that the Jamaican people get no less.

Our country will benefit enormously from hosting the Cricket World Cup. It has cost us a pretty penny, indeed, billions of dollars, but as a sports lover, I think the investment in sports is more than worth it. We love to celebrate the victories of our sporting heroes and heroines. We love the photo opportunities with them but we curse the investment which is the foundation of their victories. Instant gratification is only in the movies. In real life, it takes hard cash to achieve success. This is what the leaders of the Caribbean governments have come to realise and they are deservingof our support.

On Thursday, when I arrived at the bauxite company in Discovery Bay for my meeting, the Indian team was in training. It was an incident-free session. Numerous journalists were present. I was surprised to find a team of journalists from oil-rich Dubai. It is conceivable that from their reports and the exposure of the beauty of Jamaica, investment opportunities may yet arise.

It is clear that whether we are ready or not, Cricket World Cup is here. No amount of naysayers, chasers of negative stories or petty politicking will stop the games. The three big events expected from Jamaica are already sold out. Those who played politics about ticket sales can enjoy their humble pie diet for the next two months, if not beyond. How can the leader of the Opposition limit his vision of what the World Cup of Cricket represents to just three days of visitors? How can he not realise the value of at least two months of global exposure of Jamaica's beauty, culture and heritage? The JLP and its leaders are coming off looking like foxes calling the grapes of cricket sour. We know that grapes were sour only because the fox could not reach them. How can a mayor not see the benefits to his parish from the successful hosting of an international event such as the Cricket World Cup? It appears to me that such blindness is not caused by a lack of free tickets but more simply the attempt to inject petty politics into the futile but desperate search for political embarrassment of the Government.

Opportunity to work together

Petty politics is the same approach being adopted by the Mayor of Port Maria in his absurd claim that the Government of Jamaica transported mentally ill people to his parish to hide them from the lenses of international journalists. No evidence was given by Mayor Montaque but he was all over the news. I think there is a lot to criticise about the preparation for the Cricket World Cup and the Government. Unfortunately, the criticism we hear is not about how to make things work better for the people of Jamaica.

Cricket World Cup gave us an opportunity for the Opposition and the Government to work together to improve the lot of all Jamaicans. I think in vacillating and flip-flopping on their attitude to the CWC, the Opposition has missed the boat to share in its success. Maybe they will find success in its failure, as elusive as that appears. Petty politics does have its price.

Lambert Brown is president of the University and Allied Workers' Union, and may be contacted at labpoyh@yahoo.com.