File photo
A woman cries in mourning for a victim of a rampage by gunmen through the Kingston suburb of Rock Hall, on election day. Gunmen rampaged through the community killing seven people half an hour before polling stations opened.Phyllis Thomas, News Editor
The main political parties, the People's National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) have flung about a ton of mud at each other over the last few weeks as they sought to gain political ascendancy in the general election just ended.
Now that the PNP has won the election the nation must lift itself out of the mud. Picking up the pieces of Jamaica that have been fragmented by tribalism and its accompanying violence, must be the foundation on which a national reconstruction ought to be built. The focus must now be Jamaica, not the PNP or JLP. How we deal with this issue from here on will determine what kind of future we have or, indeed, if we do have a future.
The acceptance speech by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson at the end of counting in Wednesday's poll, was therefore encouraging. He urged his supporters to begin to work on nurturing more unity among political factions as well as the nation. And importantly, he stretched out a hand of friendship "to all those who are involved in political leadership in the Opposition". He invited Opposition leaders to "work with us to build a better and brighter and more peaceful Jamaica".
However, some people didn't seem to hear what he had to say, or they did not think he meant it because just a few hours after he made that gracious and conciliatory speech, they were burning their opponents out of their homes in Board Villa, Denham Town, and robbing them. And the following day in an apparent reprisal, gunmen murdered a pregnant 15-year-old and her twin sisters, who were only three years old, in Rema.
This is saying that our cruelty knows no bounds. This is saying that talk is not enough. The leadership of the political parties are going to have to demonstrate their expressed commitment to peace and national reconstruction. It is only a visible demonstration of unity by the leadership of the parties that is going to pave the way for a united Jamaica.
Also, many of those who were elected to serve us need a strong dose of humility to counter the offensive effects of their arrogance. We tend to see their arrogance before seeing them but since arrogance and unity are not compatible they are going to have to shed the arrogance. That will put them in a position to better handle other major problems which have had devastating effects on Jamaica and its people.
Some of the issues of foremost importance to Jamaicans are:
Creation of jobs
Cutting the crime rate
Justice that is seen... and swift
Attracting investment
Reducing poverty
Reducing illiteracy
The Gleaner-commissioned poll published in September revealed that the second biggest concern of Jamaicans is unemployment, coming behind crime and violence. More than 42 per cent of the 1,119 persons interviewed then, cited crime and violence as the biggest problem facing Jamaica. But some 32.8 per cent of those polled made unemployment secondary to crime and violence. The overwhelming majority of those persons were convinced that efforts to ease unemployment are inadequate.
In the constituency profiles carried by The Gleaner in the run-up to the election, unemployment was among the major issues raised by the people.
Even Prime Minister P. J. Patterson admitted that his Government had not created enough employment.
"The reduction in the rate of unemployment is not as dramatic as we would have liked," he said in September at The Gleaner's Editors Forum. He added, "but I think we have to put that in some context, and that is, as you transform the economy and seek to make it more competitive the pattern worldwide is one of down-sizing. In fact, the more successful the corporate ventures are, the less persons have been employed in each particular enterprise. And the challenge which faces us is that while we have been able to have some cushioning in job displacement, what I might call job creation in new areas, need to be given an additional spur."
Some 165,400 persons or 15 per cent of Jamaica's labour force are unemployed, according to the Economic and Social Survey of 2001, prepared by the Planning Institute of Jamaica.
The PNP in its election manifesto promised a 10 per cent reduction in unemployment. The responsibility of the Government is to create the environment, the infrastructure and training to facilitate job creation. But the Government's attempts to reduce unemployment over the years have been greatly challenged because there has not been any significant improvement in infrastructural development and training. It has failed to make the environment friendly to investment.
It needs to be doing things differently this time around if it is really going to put a dent in the unemployment rate. For example, it is no secret that Jamaica has to put a lid on crime and violence as part of its approach to creating an investment-friendly environment.
The International Monetary Fund's report on Jamaica's fiscal performance for 2001 states that "High growth is critical to address the social problems of unemployment, crime, and poverty". However, the report identifies endemic violence to be among the impediments to the country's growth.
Mr. Patterson in his acceptance speech Wednesday indicated that his Government was going to confront crime again. He is going to rid the country of gunmanship "once and for all". That is the kind of strong resolve that the country is looking for and hope it will be backed up with action which will include getting rid of gunmanship across Jamaica and not just in selected and targeted communities.
It was really interesting to watch the politicians respond to the shootings and other forms of violence during the election campaign. Their supporters were never the instigators. "Don't allow yourselves to be provoked," they were told. "Don't retaliate". The supporters were always the victims. But the guns barked and both sides had casualties.
Amidst the reports of gun violence and the reactions by the politicians, I was reminded of a song made popular by Ernie Smith which says, "It must be a duppy or a gunman". But guess what? What we are experiencing now is no duppy. It's a damn gunman! PNP gunman. JLP gunman. A gunman! And the country doesn't need any of them.
So the challenge to this new administration will be to weed the gunmen from the length and breadth of Jamaica, sparing no community. This calls not only for a bi-partisan approach, but for civil society to become more proactive in crime-fighting. By that I mean that we do not only react when there is an upsurge in a volatile community but that crime should be on the regular agendas of organisations like the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, the chambers
of commerce and the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association. They could set up crime-fighting committees that will come up with ways of how to solve crime and prevent crime. They should also make budgetary allocations towards crime prevention. Put your money where your mouth is or you are just another hypocrite.
Crime must be fought on many levels including the communities and in school, if we are to put a lid on it. Peace pacts in the communities are fragile because the concentrated efforts and determination to sustain them are not there.
One way of preventing germination of crime is to make Civics a compulsory subject to be taught in schools, because if we have civic pride then it will matter to us, the type of image of the country that we are projecting.
Illiteracy, joblessness, poverty, crime, failure to attract investment, stagnation in the economy - notice the pattern? They are all intertwined.
In this link we cannot ignore justice. But justice must be seen and justice must be swift. Our justice system has failed us repeatedly because it is neither seen nor swift. So the cry of the people is always, "we want justice". When that is not forthcoming the system of jungle justice flourishes - in a natural habitat for crime and violence.
Picking up the pieces of Jamaica - a daunting task - but one that has to be confronted. Head-on.
