Peter Espeut

Customarily, the beginning of a New Year is a time to make resolutions of how we will improve and do better during the next 12 months.

It is not a bad custom to evaluate ourselves annually, to take stock of our own situation - our strengths and our shortcomings - and make a strategic plan of how we are going to move forward. Otherwise we run the risk of staying in a rut, repeating old mistakes and continuing with strategies which are not working.

Nations and governments need to do the same - to take stock, to make a strategic plan for how to move forward. Otherwise, they run the risk of sticking in a rut, repeating old mistakes and continuing with strategies which are not working.

I would like to suggest a few strategic New Year's resolutions for the Government of Jamaica that if implemented, will take us forward towards sustainable development, which is the overall objective for which we strive.

We need the jobs; we need development; but if we have to destroy our possibilities of future growth for short-term gain, then that would be the illusion of development - counterfeit development. It would be like sawing off the tree limb on which we are standing.

Let us get our education system right: In this year when we observe the bicentennial of the end of the slave trade, that wrong has not yet been fully righted. Even 45 years after political independence and the official end of colonialism, the descendants of slaves are offered education which cannot train even half of us to read and write. This year, let us put a system in place to ensure that every child who goes to primary school learns at least to read and write; and if not, someone specific must be accountable.

Let us reduce police killings: The number of private citizens killed by the police increased in 2006 over 2005. Enforcing slavery was a bloody business, and the lives of slaves were cheap.

The large number of police killings is another legacy of slavery which Independent Jamaica has not yet been able to put right. Surely we can keep firearms registers properly, and make each officer of the state accountable for every shot fired?

Let us increase crime-detection efficiency: Too many crimes go undetected in Jamaica because we still lack sufficient forensic capability to detect crime. More Jamaican detectives need to be receive deeper training. I believe that an important step forward would be to increase the educational qualifications for first entry into the police force.

Let us make serious efforts to reform political campaign financing: The only way to make sure that contracts and other political benefits do not flow from political contributions is to have perfect transparency: all political contributions must be publicly declared by both donor and receiver.

Auditing guidelines must require the private sector to record political donations as such in their annual accounts, and all political parties publish the donations they receive; and the two must be cross-checked. Instead of looking to the Netherlands to investigate the Trafigura deal for us, we should have the legislative and institutional muscle to do our own investigations.

Let us make serious efforts to reduce public sector corruption: If we are serious about reducing political corruption then the annual declaration of assets by politicians should be published. That way those with information will know if the politicians are lying, and can come forward to set the record straight.

Let us take environmental impact assessments seriously: Sustainable development is predicated upon thorough environmental impact assessments of proposed projects. The consultants who conduct these assessments must be accountable to the environmental authorities, not to the so-called developers.

The funds must be placed in escrow by the applicants, and the environmental regulators must hire the consultants. Damaging projects should be declined. Conditions attached to permits should be enforced. Progress comes with a price, and history is made by those with the courage to take tough but necessary decisions.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is executive director of an environment and development non-governmental organisation.