Ronald Thwaites | The bauxite debacle

Did anyone else notice the expose in The Sunday Gleaner of December 19 about the scandalous arrangements concerning Clarendon Alumina Partners (CAP)?

The gist of the article by the very capable journalist Livern Barrett, is that the Jamaican Government has been unable to hold our international partner, the financially troubled Noble Group, to any account.

While bauxite mining strips agricultural lands of their top soil – seldom, if ever, properly restored – we can’t even find out what the product is sold for by Noble, much less to share in the profits of the enterprise. Sounds like the mining equivalent of practical larceny.

Communities of productivity are forcibly broken up to facilitate mining; families are disrupted; and titles for the lands on which relocation takes place take forever, if ever, to be made available. But we continue to give away the diminishing and irreplaceable stock!

The press report chronicles a bad, bad deal, crafted by a government who were warned: a deal presided over by a board with a heavy smell of alleged corruption, who were recently pressured to resign. The manager of this very big and expensive enterprise says she reported Noble’s breaches to her board months ago. Something like this would have had to be sent on to the portfolio minister (Bobby?) and from him to Cabinet. Don’t you think a response is deserved? Where does the buck stop?

Is the silence of our rulers tolerable? Remember, these Noble people have money worries which can compromise the assets they share with us. Recall, too, that CAP has made heavy calls on taxpayers’ money in years past.

INSOLENT SILENCE

The newspaper report cites an insolent silence on Noble’s part. “Siddung, you likkle Third-World country. Yu shoulda glad we give you a minority share. Hold yu corner until we sort out fi wi business and then wi will tell yu whey yu fi know!”

Both the outgoing chairman, Mr Norman Reid, and his successor Professor Gordon Shirley are persons to be relied on, but neither appears to be in a position to explain to the Jamaican citizenry what a gwan.

Shockingly, there has been no refutation – not even the usual excuse-making or reflexive blaming on the People’s National Party – which usually follows each succeeding scandal. No word from the Opposition yet, either.

So on the surface it appears, uncontested and true to historical form, that those we elect or appoint on their promises of imminent prosperity and open-window sleeping safety, have been, and still continue to give away our rare earth, decimate the environment for centuries, wreck rural community, provoke urban blight, stoke crime, and accept some charity from those who are savaging our economy and social order.

Three or four years ago in Parliament, I objected to the suspension of the cash upfront bauxite levy to be replaced by a profit-sharing scheme, which seemed like a cross between Cash Pot and Cash Plus. And what a cussing I got for even suggesting that the deal was suspect! I am told by accountants that hiding profit is an advanced science way beyond our capacity to detect.

There was also my motion which would have enjoined the legislature to undertake a cost-benefit analysis of the bauxite industry over time, so as to inform policy going forward. That, too, will never be debated. Too many special interests and sacred cows would be exposed.

Until persuaded otherwise, my conviction is that after 70 years of bauxite extraction we have lost more than we have gained, partly through our own short-sightedness. The debacle with CAP is but the latest instance. Had we prioritised land reform and scientific agriculture, we would have done just as well and still had a sustainable soil base.

But what’s new? Isn’t the sordid history of our economy one of extraction and exploitation? The Spaniards extracted the minerals of the New World. The British exploited and murdered slave labour to ensure their present-day prosperity, while we sang Rule Brittania on Empire Day.

IDEOLOGICALLY IMPOVERISHED

Spiritually and ideologically impoverished, we continue to open our nation’s legs to ‘investors’, local and foreign, who take much more than they give, leaving us with less than we need to pay back for the cost of imports from their economies, a mountain of unpayable debt, and malformed and dependent citizens.

As we conclude 2021, the Jamaican people seem to have normalised scandal after scandal. Public conscience has been dumbed down. We are led to believe that a Cabinet ‘reshuffle’ will be enough to make things better. Everything else is said to be too complex or will take a long time, even as the ‘advantage-taking’ continues.

Leaders take us for the fools we are. We are told that building plans are breached because there are insufficient inspectors. Really? So why aren’t the substantial fees collected by the local authorities used to hire enough officers? Notice, by contrast, that there is always a supply of municipal police and attendant goons to mash up and confiscate the goods of street vendors.

No one wants to deal with the high-level graft, the apartments and townhouses donated to high-ups, which lead to the high-rise building excesses and the ‘jim-screechy’ contracts. Local politics is too compromised to deal with the immoral use of capital to overfeed the financially obese, while ‘mirasmi’ and hunger attend the majority.

REDEEMING MOMENTS

End-of-year spirits soared among those attending Campion College’s Christmas Dance Production. Despite COVID-19 and very little practice time, these teenagers and a few admirably enthused dance society alumni showed joy, discipline and creative purpose in presenting an Afro-centric and Creole performance of class. I bet you that all young people so engaged will do well in school and grow into productive citizens.

Even deeper, as principal Grace Baston put it, dance is the joyful expression of soulful poetry; performance is a prayer, on this occasion in tribute and as memory for all whose lives COVID-19 has ravaged.

Of course, many other schools have similar artistic troupes. Mr Seaga once shared with me his hope that every school would have access to a vibrant creative arts programme. Why not this year, to revive desperately flagging school spirit?

In conversation with Pearnel and myself, Keith Duncan, the PSOJ leader, identifies social transformation as being one of their key priorities for national regeneration. So why not start 2022 with a sustained emphasis on creative expression, affordable, self-revealing and healing, in our schools?

Do it and watch attendance and behaviour improve; check for better academic performance, more stable character growth, and, ultimately, a more enabled and productive society.

Arguably, this would be one redemptive prospect for our 60th national birthday.

Happy New Year!

Rev Ronald G. Thwaites is an attorney-at-law. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.