Peter Espeut | Looking back, looking forward

As this will be my last column for 2019, I would like to offer some reflections on the year that was.

On the environmental front, the high point for me was the implementation of the national ban on single-use plastic bags. The naysayers warned of the chaos and dislocation that would materialise, despite the success of earlier similar bans in Antigua and elsewhere. I thought the result was very encouraging; shoppers bringing their own bags to supermarkets, many of which produce their own branded reusable bags for sale.

This move could have been made years ago; this present generation of Jamaicans is definitely more environmentally aware, and ready to act responsibly. Decades of environmental education and lobbying have borne fruit.

On now to the styrofoam ban! I see where progressive elements in the private sector have responded by placing more eco-friendly alternatives on the market.

Hopefully, the deposit/return scheme for plastic bottles will be next!

For the last several general elections, the manifestos of both parties have committed them to practice sustainable development should they win State power; either neither really knows what that means, or they find it inconvenient to keep their promise. Both seem committed to expanding bauxite mining despite its known disastrous environmental impacts, and total dislocation and discombobulation of thousands of Jamaicans.

Again, decades of environmental education and lobbying have borne fruit, as there is widespread public support for an end to bauxite mining, which really only directly benefits an elite few. This can be translated into votes. Let’s see what the election manifestos now in draft say about mining!

Resignations are not enough! Returning the money is not enough! Corruption will never be arrested in our fair land unless dishonest people in high places are brought to book and spend jail time. Is there any sort of indemnity granted to board members of government entities who misuse public funds? Why have we not charged all the suspect politicians, board members, and public servants?

Maybe we need to begin by passing laws to make breaches of procurement guidelines – and nepotism – punishable in the criminal court.

All Jamaica rejoiced when notorious gang members were found guilty of being accessories to murder before and after the fact. Kudos to the director of public prosecutions (DPP) and her staff!

EMERGING OF AN HEROIC STATESMAN

I remember when Michael Gayle, a mentally challenged youth, was beaten to death in 1999 by members of the security forces in the Corporate Area community of Olympic Gardens. None of the policemen were charged with anything, we were told, because it was impossible to determine which one struck the fatal blow. But were not all of them accessories to murder? Or at least, accessories to manslaughter?

I have written this several times: I think that over the years, the DPP – lovely lady that she is – is much too lenient with the security forces. Is it too late to reopen the Michael Gayle case?

On the crime scene, neither political party, when in power, seems to have any effective plan to reduce the number of murders, the number of illegal guns on the streets, the extent of extortion of businessmen or transport operators, the number of illegal taxis, the purchasing of driver’s licences and certificates of fitness, and the like.

Neither political party – in power or in opposition – seems inclined to dismantle their partisan garrisons nor cut their ties with the thugs they use as enforcers, who maybe perpetrators of some of the crimes mentioned in the previous paragraph.A new year is dawning, and we must live in hope that in 2020 a statesman of heroic proportions will emerge to fundamentally change the way we do things in Jamaica.

Peter Espeut is an environmentalist and development scientist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.