Without fear of contradiction, the name Robert Nesta Marley is more widely known worldwide than any other Jamaican. The massive decline in the value of our currency presented us with a golden opportunity, having decided to create a $5,000 note. Our failure to exploit the phenomenally famous image of Robert Nesta Marley on our new note represented that missed opportunity.

This would have been a befitting salute to the achievement of this home-grown world figure. That we have not exploited this golden opportunity does not surprise me. Bob was always endorsed by the grassroots in Jamaica and by the rest of the world before the powers that be in Jamaica gave lip service to his worth.

My recollection of the rule of Prime Minister Hugh Lawson Shearer stands in sharp contrast to that of Marley. The Black power movement of the 1960s in Jamaica was demonised. The outstanding Guyanese black intellectual and brilliant historian, Walter Rodney, was declared by the Shearer-led Government, persona non grata. He was kept aboard an aircraft and refused permission to return to his teaching assignment at the University of the West Indies and deported from Jamaica.

Travel worldwide

Bob's song was voted Song of the Century; he is in the rock and roll hall of fame; he is as known in the English-speaking world as much as in the non-English-speaking world. Wherever we travel worldwide, he has made us proud to be Jamaican.

Can you imagine the pluses for us had we seized the opportunity to place the image of Marley on the new $5,000 note? He has given Jamaican reggae music the recognition and respect it now enjoys. The irony is that while we are afraid to place his image on one of our bank notes, his work has significantly strengthened our foreign exchange earnings more than most if not all the political leaders we have had.

I am, etc.,

BERT S. SAMUELS

bert.samuels@gmail.com

4 Duke Street

Kingston