Vernon: I have family working overseas too
MoBay’s deputy mayor says he wasn’t making reference to Jamaicans who contribute to nation’s growth
Published:Wednesday | August 17, 2022 | 12:05 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
WITH BACKLASH pouring in over his recent comments concerning Jamaicans who seek opportunities overseas at the cost of developing their homeland, Montego Bay’s Deputy Mayor, Richard Vernon, has sought to clarify that he was not referring to members of Jamaica’s Diaspora who contribute to the nation’s growth.
Vernon has come under fire, including from members of the diaspora, for identifying as “cowards” persons who leave Jamaica to seek financial betterment abroad while not helping to improve the country of their birth. He made the comment on Thursday, August 11, while addressing the New Fortress Energy Foundation’s annual back-to-school fair at Pier One in Montego Bay, St James.
But speaking subsequently with The Gleaner, Vernon pointed out that he was not making reference to Jamaicans who live abroad and support their families back home with remitted funds.
“Like many Jamaicans, I have family who live and work overseas and have been there for many years. They also contribute to one of the country’s leading foreign exchange streams, which is remittances,” said Vernon. “Additionally, our diaspora has made significant contributions to the development of Jamaica via aid, health missions, sponsoring education programmes and paving the way for opportunities in sports, among other endeavours.”
NET REMITTANCE
According to the Economic and Social Survey Jamaica, net remittance inflows in 2021 totalled US$3.393 billion, an increase of 20.7 per cent on 2020.
Vernon added that at the time of his address on August 11, he had issued a plea for Jamaica’s young trained specialists to give back to their country instead of contributing to the brain-drain that results when professionals leave and head to other jurisdictions, taking their skills and talents with them.
The issue of Jamaica’s brain-drain has arisen afresh following a report from the Ministry of Education that it could lose approximately 1,250 teachers this year, with over 400 educators having already left Jamaica to pursue more attractive salaries in the United States.
“At the back-to-school ceremony held on August 11, I beckoned the interns (of New Fortress Energy) to stay and develop their country because we need our engineers, teachers, doctors, nurses, and other specialists. If we continue to take flight, then our issues may revolve for decades to come,” said Vernon. “The word ‘cowards’ used in the context of my presentation referred to those who turn their backs on Jamaica, who fail to contribute to its development and continue to criticise us. I am free to urge fellow Jamaicans to help us develop as much as they are free to leave as that is their choice.”
However, such an explanation may not be enough for diaspora members like O’Neil Barrett, currently residing in New York in the United States, who is issuing a challenge to Vernon to let the community decide whether expatriates are ‘cowards’ or not.
“As far as I can tell, we are not cowards. We are hard-working Jamaicans who believe in progress in Jamaica, who believe in truth and justice for all people, and who believe we should have a good life whether you are rich, poor, or in between. I have seen people work so hard to take care of their families in Jamaica, working three jobs, and they never complain,” said Barrett.
“What I would recommend is for Deputy Mayor Richard Vernon to call a beerfest (a social event for all parties to sit down and drink beer together) with the people in the diaspora and the neutral observers who used to live in the diaspora and now live in Jamaica, and we take a bus to the various communities in his area, we put our case before the people, and then we will see who is the coward,” Barrett added.