‘Dangerous disconnect’
Holness warns against abuse of public resources seen as ‘free’
Published:Friday | May 27, 2022 | 1:37 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
Prime Minister Andrew Holness has warned against what he termed a “dangerous disconnect” by people in the society who view resources provided by the State for the public good as theirs to vandalise, simply because it is seen as free.
Holness, who was delivering the keynote address at the official launch of a public Wi-Fi hotspot at the Seaward Primary and Junior High School in his St Andrew West Central constituency, sought to set the record straight on the public perception of freeness.
“Though the public Wi-Fi is free to you, free to access, it is not without cost. The Government of Jamaica has to pay for it, but there is a curious disconnect in the mind of the public. When we say that something belongs to the Government of Jamaica, the people feel that it is not their property and they have no responsibility to take care of it. That’s a very dangerous disconnect because people believe that Government and government resources are separate from them, but worse, it is limitless, not realising that there is this umbilical connection between you and your Government, and it is called your taxes,” he said.
“Government’s revenues can only come mainly from your taxes. So, if you destroy things that [the] Government provides, you are destroying your taxes. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t pay tax, but maybe your parents did, certainly your teacher would,” added Holness.
The prime minister lamented that some wireless transmitters installed across the island have been stolen or destroyed shortly after being commissioned. In addition to wasting the public resources, this action also disrupts a valuable service to the general public, he said.
“They see this piece of equipment and they throw stone at it, or they see that it is connected to a power supply and we know what ‘throw-ups’ are about, and they throw up a wire and it shorts out the equipment,” he said, referring to illegal connections to power lines.
“Government has to go and replace it. Some of these equipment are very expensive. So, as we make this public good available, I make an appeal to the citizens of the area to protect the equipment and be conscious of its value to you and your children,” Holness appealed.
He also acknowledged that resistance to change is sometimes fuelled by great suspicion about things which are new.
“When we talk about the transition to the digital society, it is almost an automatic reflex that some persons view it with great suspicion and trepidation, that there is some conspiracy somewhere that is being concocted to deprive people of their freedom or take away their privacy. There is no doubt that any new technology always has this kind of potential if misused, but the history of man is that you cannot hide from these technologies and you are not going to be able to stop the march of technology,” he said.
“So what you have to do is to put in place the systems to govern technology and the societies that embrace technology and embrace science and remove suspicion and fear, but apply reason. Those are the societies that progress and prosper.”