NOTE-WORTHY
Published:Tuesday | January 26, 2010 | 12:00 AM
A matter of trust
There is a need for governments in Jamaica to win the trust of the population all over again. This trust has been lost over the years since Independence. Our governments have performed poorly and the people have responded in predictable ways.
Each group of worker and professional association that has been formed, has taken on the role of dogged advocate for its members.These groups don't trust government when it says or promises anything. Instead, teachers, doctors, police, manufacturers, hoteliers etc, all seek to get as much as they can at all times. It seems like a "devil takes the hindmost" approach to living. The result is that we all seem to be perishing slowly "like crabs in a barrel".
Each group says that it wants better for the country but every change is opposed vigorously. It's as if we have all decided that the country, is dead and we only want to come out, grab whatever we can and retreat behind our fortress walls. Look at this "debt exchange" for example. There are a lot of people saying that they can't possibly survive on less than the interest that they are now getting. They seem to think that the Government has money hidden or will find it from abroad if this thing fails. Some think this is a trick and that things can totter along the way they have been.
They apparently don't believe that we would suffer a real default or be ground down into a Haiti, Somalia or Zimbabwe. After all,in the past , money has always been found to keep every group going, right?
- Claude Russell
Spanish Town
MoBay street signs
I recently visited Jamaica by way of the Sansgster International Airport in Montego Bay airport to Negril. I find it appalling that there were no signs to direct traffic.
There is a major road construction in the heart of Montego Bay and there were no signs alerting motorists of the upcoming snarl in the flow of traffic, and that there would be a detour and lessening of the otherwise normal roadway.
Someone should check on this and correct the problem.
- Velma Wizzard
Port Saint Lucie
Florida
Green card privileges
I just don't understand the complaint of the nurse practitioner who was reported in your Sunday edition to have been denied air passage to the United States from Haiti even though she is a valid green card holder.
When you have a green card all you have is a privilege. In times of emergency that privilege can be suspended. If you are not in the US you can't want to enjoy rights that you don't want to work for. That is how many Jamaicans get deported.
If you want the rights, then apply for them.
- Graham McDonnough
Richmond, Virginia