You broke our State, so fix it!

Gordon Robinson, Contributor

My December 29 Sunday Gleaner column, 'Random ride to destiny', contained a message that mightn't have been clear to those who believed it was simply about changes over time in public transportation. It wasn't.

It was intended to show how shifting governmental priorities over decades have ensured we live in a failed state where meritocracy is a forgotten joke; values and attitudes are based solely on individual needs; growth and development impossible; and an environment of violence and voodoo economics has rendered life solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

This is our reality. This will be our perpetual destiny if we don't stop, think and immediately change our national priorities. I know. I know. There are things to celebrate. We run fast. We sing well. Those of us who prefer clear thought over pandering to political correctness recognise that, even in sport and song, we're blighted by bandooloo values driven by selfishness and attitudes based on violence, depravity and greed. For example, it continues to be a source of embarrassment and frustration to me that one of our best athletes, Yohan Blake, feels obliged to present the spectre of a 'Beast' as his public persona.

The message in 'Random ride to destiny' was how inappropriate (and often corrupt) government priorities have ruined Jamaica's chances of development. My intent was to expose the connection between decades of dishonest government priorities and the absence of locally developed talent from which governments and private sector alike could benefit. In Jamaica, we waste resources on an unnecessarily large public sector, supporting more than twice the number of government ministries required. Consequently, our resource crisis is overly magnified as every ministry's budgetary allocation is automatically insufficient; nothing is properly done; and all aspects of national life seem in permanent free fall (e.g., our public transportation).

If only we'd focus on fundamentals and stop prioritising cushy jobs for every MP and hangers-on, we might've avoided this catastrophe. We can still turn catastrophe into triumph. Government, especially in small developing economies like Jamaica, have four fundamental responsibilities. They are:

1. HEALTH

Good government must deliver the most modern training in practical techniques; the latest vaccines; diagnostic equipment; and high-quality hospitals. Anything less is a gross dereliction of duty for which resource shortages is no excuse. A healthy citizenry lives longer and acquires the tools to contribute to Jamaica's growth. A sickly citizenry is a permanent resource drain. It's not rocket science. If the health ministry finds itself short of resources to produce essentials, then other ministries must be closed down and resources transferred. We can no longer tolerate triage as the basis of our health-care system. The importance of health care is exemplified by Republicans' willingness to shut down America rather than give President Obama the credit his Affordable Health Care Act deserves.

2. EDUCATION

Michael Manley understood that a nation's MOST IMPORTANT national resource is its people. Citizens mustn't only be healthy but also educated for life (not to pass exams). That education is government's responsibility, NOT parents'. An educated Jamaican (properly-so-called) will end up contributing by unlimited multiples to national revenues, growth and development over an uneducated one. Parents' responsibility is 'broughtupsy'; government's responsibility is education.

The brainless non sequitur being bruited about by police and politician alike that certain schools have been identified as producing criminals is just another attempt to divert attention from government's failure to educate our children. Which school did Dudus attend? Who educated J.A.G. Smith? How many exemplary scholars have been produced by Vauxhall? Why are we silently allowing incompetent police and inert politicians to slander any of our schools? What if your child passes for one of these schools? Should he/she attend?

Not all parents can afford their children's education. The Government must step in with reasonable population-control policies followed by free education (starting at the basic school level but, eventually, at all levels) for every child.

I hear the shrieking "But why should my children be treated the same as Mr Filthy Rich's"? Because they ARE the same. As the legendary Bill Cosby used to tell his children when they complained about the social awkwardness of being rich, "No, no. You're NOT rich. Your mother and I are rich."

An education system where some parents are seen to be paying and others not is fraught with psychological trauma and probable corruption. The correct way to deal with affordability anomalies is to ensure that rich parents contribute more to the tax net (which pays for ALL children's education) than poor parents. The only efficient way to do this is to eliminate the iniquitous income tax and to rely on a general consumption tax system which targets consumerism.

3. NATIONAL SECURITY

A government's third fundamental responsibility is to keep its people safe. This involves a complex mix of policies which includes education and health; disconnect between politics and crime; a properly equipped and manned police force; and the elimination of the army (who're we expecting? Galactus?).

I recently heard our prime minister spouting the most ghastly drivel blaming, non-informing communities and overprotective mothers for the crime wave. Mark you, ever since "Don't ask me. Ask the PNP" I have stopped taking anything Portia says seriously but, in case somebody out there still does, my questions are these:

(a) Does Portia really expect
Jamaican mothers to turn in their
children?

(b) In a society where 'informer fi
dead' is the mantra, is Portia really depending on communities to help
fight crime?

(c) Who in these
communities is she relying on? Is it the relatives of those gunned down
by the police in cold blood?

WHAT IS PLAN
B?

Does the PM have a Plan B in the event that mothers
DO NOT turn their criminal sons in to the police and community members
DO NOT inform? In such a circumstance, whose responsibility is it to
tame crime? JIS resident propagandist Booklist Boyne is once again
disrespecting readers' intelligence by supporting a "crime control,
hard-policing model" (see 'Taming the crime monster', Sunday
Gleaner, January 12) which has failed to control crime for 50
years. Surely, Booklist, a professed Christian, knows violence (a.k.a.
'hard policing') only begets violence. Gangs aren't dismantled by
executing gang members. Their resolve to retaliate is strengthened.
Gangs are like the Hydra. Cut off one head; two will take its place.
Booklist, as a card-carrying government 'journalist', can't admit
anti-gang legislation won't stop gangs; 'strong policing' won't cut
crime; we won't tackle crime effectively until we take a different
approach.

So Booklist stubbornly panders to a corrupt,
inefficient and under-equipped police force that he promotes by writing
this astonishingly alarmist idiocy: "......when you have marauding
gunmen preying on communities, wreaking vengeance on enemies and
creating panic; when criminals control communities and have people under
bondage so they can rape little girls by edict; when multiple murders
are being committed daily, you have to find a ... speedy way to stop
those criminals today, not in the next few years when you get everything
right and have an angelic police force
......"

Government has had 50 years to begin a social
intervention model. It's had 30 years to computerise the Force. It's had
50 years, since Rhygin's extrajudicial execution, to note the increase
in crime consequent upon every street killing of a notorious 'gunman'.
It's had 50 years to recognise crime is a long-term fight. During that
50 years ABSOLUTELY NOTHING but lip service has acknowledged this.
Instead, we've had Eradication Squad; ACID; OCID and now MOCA; SOCA and
POCA. We've had 'hard' policemen like 'Trinity'; Joe Williams; G.C.
Grant; 'Stomach'; 'Trippa'; 'Rough Neck'; Reneto; Laing; Bigga; Tony;
Cowboy, etc. Guess what? Crime rates just keep moving on up and have
never been as high as they are right now.

Booklist has
forgotten that his annual crime column for 2008 insisted, "We must stop
the piecemeal approach to fighting crime. It's not hard policing versus
social intervention; intelligent evidence-gathering versus moral
transformation. It's both and not either/or." As usual, Booklist picked
what he thought was both sides of the argument to support and has found a
way to be twice wrong. 'Hard policing' is a proven failure. It must
stop. Instead, what's required is a mix of good policing, driven by
modern technology and intelligence-gathering techniques together with
social intervention by both police and State.

Policing
can't succeed in an atmosphere where police and gunmen are
indistinguishable; where the 'badman' culture, started by politicians
who controlled it until it grew, flourished, transformed and now
controls the politician, is emulated by the police. We can't support
execution of so-called criminals in the street while fraud and scandal
are our raison d'être . As a downtown gunman once
said "We fire gun, yes. But de uptown man fire pen" [Translation: You
and me not different. We use different tools].

4.
TRANSPORT

Government MUST transport its people and
reduce the demand for expensive vehicles the country can't afford.
Transport (to include decent roads) allows safe, educated, healthy
citizens to concentrate on their work, not on distractions like car
maintenance bills and reduces the nation's demand for
oil.

So, four ministries are essential: health (to
include welfare and social security); education (to include youth and
community development); transport (to include works); and national
security (to include justice). I suppose we can't avoid a finance and
planning ministry. Ministries of foreign affairs and home affairs can
mop up what's left. Bite the bullet. Send the rest
home.

We don't need:

• Ministry of
  Tourism (there's a Jamaica Tourist Board; Tourism Product Development
  Company; Tourism Enhancement Fund etc, etc);
• Ministry
  of Commerce or Industry (an oxymoron; government has NEVER understood
  these concepts).
• Ministry of Environment (Land). Good
  grief. For what?
• Ministers without portfolio:
  Disgraceful waste.
• Minister of Information: C'mon,
  man! Any experienced JIS propagandist can make Cabinet
  announcements.

Political leaders created the vicious
cycle of organised violence followed by a new and violent police
philosophy. Then they blame silent society and overprotective mothers
for violent crime waves. That cycle created and included violence-torn
homes from which children are sent to school. Now we blame the school if
that child lives a violent life.

Stop the lying,
cheating, expletive-deleted hypocrisy. Stop the patronising speeches.
Fix what you broke.

Peace and
Love.