Letter of the Day | Education, health are basic rights

THE EDITOR, Madam:

It is wonderful to hear our finance minister, Dr Nigel Clarke, (in defence of the movement of the exchange rate) point out that Jamaica has achieved external sustainability and is known worldwide for its economic status – something, without question, all Jamaicans can be extremely proud of. But at what cost?

My concern, and that of many others is, where is our investment in the basic rights of the people - decent education and a good health system, the benefits of which would be massive to the Jamaican population, short and long term? When will we hear our Government announcing big investments in these critical areas?

Not being an economist, I certainly don’t profess to understand the economics of running a country but, surely, if we hope to improve the quality of life of Jamaicans, we need to invest heavily in both of these things. That’s not rocket science.

We keep hearing that tourism is up. Wonderful! But how many of those tourist dollars benefit the average Jamaican?

Teachers, caregivers, the police, and first responders absolutely need to be paid much better salaries in order to effectively provide the basic rights of citizens. This, again, would eventually improve the quality of life for all.

Water woes continue to plague our society. Again, a basic right. I personally am involved in a business whereby, for eight months of this year, we had to truck water – National Water Commission pipes running dry. How can hospitals, businesses, and homes thrive without this basic commodity?

We are driving more luxury cars per capita, surely, than many other countries. Very nice. But do we have access to good schools, and are our hospitals well equipped, and do our police have petrol in their cars?

According to our Government, it seems that the outside of the house (Jamaica) may be all nice and pretty and give a good impression, but if anyone looks inside, they’ll see where she needs lots and lots of love and maintenance.

Wendy Facey