Peter EspeutIT WAS Senator (now Minister) Maxine Henry Wilson who said that "Politics is about who gets what, when and how", and she is absolutely right." This is one of the roles that politics has played in Jamaica since colonial days and we should be very clear that this is not a statement just about the PNP. This is a statement by an eminent political scientist about how politics has been carefully fashioned in Jamaica by both the PNP and the JLP.
The economy of Jamaica up to the 1930s was intentionally quite narrow. Jamaica's purpose in the world as defined by our colonial masters was to be one of "Britain's overseas plantations" producing crops which could not be grown there. Industrialisation, which was revolutionising production in Europe and later North America, was not to be introduced to plantation Jamaica, lest with her cheap labour Jamaica might out-compete the Mother Country. Not even agriculture was to be industrialised. A hierarchical society was fashioned with a privileged (colonial) political elite guiding the semi-literate majority skilled in the use machete and bill, the dominant technology of the plantation. An education system was created which would not disrupt the supply of plantation labour by making too many people literate and educated.
POLITICAL ELITE
Internal self-government and then independence put a formal end to the colonial state, but the narrow local economy with its narrow skill base remained. The task of the new political elite enfranchised by the semi-literate majority should have been to open up the economy and broaden the skill-base of the population through education and training, to create a meritocracy where social and economic advancement comes through hard work and the quality of personal achievement. Wealth should not be the prerogative of the few with the scare benefits of a sound formal education and family connections.
But that is not what happened. A system was set in place where social and economic advancement in Jamaica would come mostly through political connections. In the first place there would be jobs for the boys (and girls), important jobs attracting not necessarily the best person, but the best connected person: the party supporter, the campaign contributor. In this system, the idea of having an independent civil service is thrown out the window. It is going to be more important to have political connections than management training to get into a public sector managerial position.
THE PARTY
A road is to be built. A party land surveyor, a party quantity surveyor, a party engineering firm gets the work; not necessarily the best persons or firms, but the best connected persons and firms: the party supporters, the campaign contributors. Party lawyers handle legal matters. Party public relations firms do the publicity. The construction contract is given to not necessarily the best person, but the best connected person; and a party supporter gets a new quarry licence close to the project area, and all the marl and sand etc. must be bought from him, not necessarily at the best price; and the hardware is bought from a party man, who laughs all the way to the bank; and the local Don recruits the workers for a percentage, and might even provide 'security' on the worksite.
And so the party machinery gets oiled. And people from all classes with party connections "get ahead" in life, whatever their qualifications and experience, as long as their party is in power. And woe to those in the opposition, for work will be scarce and their "pants will drop off a dem".
In this system, having qualifications and previous experience with (for example) catering is not a requirement to land big catering concessions in government institutions. With the right connections you might even get them to advance you a few million dollars so you can purchase catering equipment. Isn't that great! From zero to cooking hundreds of pounds of callalloo, etc., every day for big money! And who says education and hard work is important?
People on the sidelines - especially young people - see that it is those with party connections who get ahead, and so there is plenty of pressure to get on the gravy train to get some gravy. The beauty of the system is that it has wrapped-up, tied-up and tangled-up much of the private sector who might be expected to provide leadership to get us out of this mess. Since no one wants to lose their lucrative business with the government, silence reigns.
And the Church watches and sees. And also is silent.
What has happened since Independence is that easy access to wealth has switched from light-skinned elites to a partisan political elite, with the vast majority still out in the cold, with poor education and few opportunities.
But it is essentially a corrupt system, prejudicial to qualified and experienced independent Jamaicans who are disadvantaged by the political elite. The system is kept going when young people buy into it for personal advancement, and I am sure the politicians are surprised that so many Jamaicans are opting out of this corrupt system. Maybe it is that there is less and less gravy, and the system cannot support as many as it did before. But it is also clear that our system of political patronage is reinforced by poor educational opportunities, and so we should expect no change in this area.
The longer this system stays in place the more inefficient and mediocre and impoverished Jamaica and the majority of her people will become. Poor us!
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is the executive director of an environment and development NGO.
