Jaevion Nelson | Good policy trumps handouts

It seems that members of parliament (MPs) are far more interested in doing community work - building a house here and giving a scholarship there - than they are in policies and laws.

The truth is, understandably, many people depend on them for this kind of support. However, while I am acutely aware of the dire situation many Jamaicans live in, I can't help but think that if they'd focus more on their policy and legislative functions, there would be less need for that kind of thing.

Our communities would function better and people would be more prosperous if state institutions functioned effectively and there was more synergy across different entities and less duplication, including competition with MPs. These activities that MPs spend a lot of time doing entrench the culture.

Consequently, because we continue to ignore the state of affairs and pay lip service to making state institutions function effectively, the support that people get is unsustainable. They remain poor and vulnerable while politicians are glorified for building another board house.

One understands that this would be difficult for MPs since, at the end of the day, they all want to be re-elected. Consequently, one is forced to pander to the desires of their constituents. The challenge for all of us is to find ways to encourage and help our MPs to be transformational, to broker those relationships in constituencies that would help people understand, in a more comprehensive way, the kind of work/activities their representatives are to be engaged in.

Ensuring state institutions function as they ought to is especially important given the tremendous resource constraints that exist, including the almost non-existent support for parliamentarians to perform their role effectively.

The issue of lack of support for Opposition and backbench MPs is also critical. The Constituency Development Fund and other resources can barely stretch to include the kind of staff required to support MPs in performing constituency and legislative duties effectively. If this continues, the low-hanging fruits will get their attention.

It doesn't help that there is barely any organisation dedicated to governance, to make state institutions function properly, and that many civil-society leaders themselves are part of this culture of clientelism and laden with a saviour complex.

URGENT

We need to, most urgently, find a way to fix the state of affairs in our country by impressing upon our leaders the critical need to fulfil their duties and obligations - not in a piecemeal way.

We need to work collaboratively to engender greater appreciation among voters for work by MPs around policies and laws and not solely the houses they built, the times they bought rounds at the bar, the funerals they attended, the money they handed out, and the treats they hosted.

We need to demand that annual Budgets include funding for MPs to hire at least one staff that would be able to keep up with parliamentary and other discussions, review policies and laws, draft statements and private member's motions, etc. In the interim, while we demand such changes, those of us with interest and capabilities should volunteer our time to help MPs in this regard.

We need a new normal and it is all our responsibility to create it. We can't sit by and make do all the time because of our palpable frustrations with the 'system'. We do not have that luxury. We have to make it better. We have to make our MPs work better. We need a fixity of purpose that causes us to focus on our country's future. It's the only way.

Let's find ways to make Jamaica the place of choice to live, work, raise families, and do business.

One love!

- Jaevion Nelson is a youth development, HIV and human-rights advocate. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and jaevion@gmail.com.