The focus at the time of writing seems to be centered on matters of crime; integrity; Government board reviews; and constitutional reform. These may seem unrelated to a casual onlooker but they are associated through one word — Trust.
Let us take a cursory look at these:
Crime still seems to be out of control, and indiscriminate shootings are the order of the day. In some ways it could be posited as a sort of “victory dance” about the rejection of the proposed state of emergency “SOE” and the stance taken by the Government which was opposed by the Opposition. Criminals may have taken this debate and dissent as some form of victory as they abrogate to themselves their own version of divide and conquer.
Parliament seems to be unable/unwilling to put together any conjoint plan to fight a situation of rebellion that may one day explode in their collective faces, and have Jamaica heading towards a fractious and volatile status of non-equilibrium like Haiti.
So we feel that even as nature abhors a vacuum, so too crime relishes an absence of agreed order. Therefore criminals walk out of lockups assisted by tools provided by other criminals reportedly well paid for providing them. Also the police are complicit and corrupt.
Secondly, integrity is a personal trait that can distinguish right from wrong both internally and to public perception. It does however require that principle of “to your own self be true”. It sometimes flies in the face of legal interpretation, conjecture, and argument. The fact that “Whoppy King” may escape on a technicality of the way we write laws, does nothing to restore life to “Fillup”. He remains dead.
So exactly what we do when we are not observed does not call for the infringement to be reported by us. This is exactly why sports have referees. So for example, the exclusion of two schools from this year’s schoolboy championship has not yet resulted in “mea culpa” by their coaches but a rather insincere “I didn’t know”. Yet there are lawyers who probably challenge ignorance of the completion rules in the Supreme Court. Just wait and see.
Thirdly, the composition of Government Boards continue to expose criminality; family connections; a lack of corporate governance; employment of friends; political contributions; and the list goes on and expands every day.
The discussion of the implementation of governance rules has been in the discussion stage for over ten years. The last discussion that I attended was about four years ago at MOFAP, but I am not aware of any progress. So while Fit and Proper exists for the private sector, the government freely appoints many dubious characters to their boards (inclusive of schools, the cradle of our children’s future).
Article & Photo from: Public Opinion