Peter Espeut | Balancing: opening churches and bars

I suppose if you want to allow betting shops and bars to reopen, then you have to open churches too. That is called balancing. When the history of this period is written years from now (with the benefit of hindsight) the multiple lobby groups bringing pressure on the Government to reopen their sectors, and the various incentives offered, will make the motives for decisions being announced clearer.

Make no mistake: machinations aplenty abound in private, and string-pulling behind the scenes is the order of the day.

Why the drive to reopen Caymanas Park? We know that “Big money does run behind it”, to quote the Mighty Sparrow; and much of the money flows from the throngs in the betting shops and the crowds at the Park. Reports in the media suggest that the decision to reopen is in the hands of the owners, trainers, jockeys and grooms, among whom a memorandum of understanding is open for signature, and not with the health authorities and political managers of the country.

And then it is all over the travel trade that Sandals plans to reopen all its Jamaican resorts on June 4 – just 20 days from now. The airports are presently closed, commercial passenger flights are still suspended, and repatriated Jamaicans have to spend 14 days lockdown in government quarantine before seeing their families. Do the Sandals authorities know something we don’t?

The only way tourist hotel resorts can reopen is if flights are available (charters?), airports are open to commercial traffic, beaches are open, and protocols allow tourists to serve their quarantine period in their hotels behind closed doors. I have heard no announcements about any of these matters.

If Jamaica’s tourism is to recommence under these conditions, it will take enclave tourism to new heights: there will be no mixing with the local populace, including taxi drivers, jerk vendors, artisans and craft vendors or the staff at local attractions. The resorts will become what sociologists call “total institutions”, with all staff residents and the hotel doing their own testing and medical observation procedures.

Nicodemus or Nostradamus

I suppose local farmers will resume supplying foodstuffs to these resorts, but otherwise, tourism will have few linkages with the rest of the economy. Is this where we really want to go as a nation?

Either the Government has shared its plans to open the tourism sector with the hoteliers in secret, and they are acting upon that information, or the Sandals management is playing Nostradamus.

One could be forgiven for opting for the former. The creeping reopening of the local economy starting with bars (and churches for balance) could be a prelude to opening elements of big business (like betting shops), including the reopening of all BPOs.

“Controlled re-entry” of Jamaicans to be quarantined in hotels could be a dress rehearsal for the controlled entry of tourists to be quarantined in hotels.

If this is indeed the Government’s plan, I see no reason why they can’t share their strategies with we, the people, and have them discussed and debated.

Clearly, with reopening of our borders, the number of COVID-19 infections will increase, but it seems that the Government is prepared to trade off numbers of Jamaicans being infected in exchange for the reopening of the economy and the increased flow of taxes; the latest wisdom is that most of the COVID-19 cases are mild or asymptomatic, and the few Jamaicans who will inevitably die are unavoidable collateral damage.

In the game of political chess, sometimes you sacrifice your pawns – and even your bishops – to gain position advantage.

As I said above, when the history of this period is written, we will judge the Government’s actions with the wisdom of hindsight; history will either absolve them or indict them.

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