Delano Franklyn | Jamaica heading in the right direction – Really?

Prime Minister Andrew Holness, while delivering his Labour Day message on May 23 this year, said, not once, but thrice, that Jamaica is heading in the right direction.

By these words it is clear that the prime minister would wish for us to be convinced that Jamaica is heading in the right direction. Many of us would like to believe him, but it is difficult to do so, when what is happening in Jamaica seems to suggest otherwise.

The best way to determine whether or not Jamaica is heading in the right direction is to ask ourselves the question, is the quality of our lives better than it was five years ago?

I am sure that the answer for the vast majority of us would be a resounding no. If that is the answer, how then can we agree that Jamaica is heading in the right direction?

The country has been hit hard by COVID-19, the increase in the price of oil on the world market, the impact of the war in Ukraine, resulting in significant increases in the cost of goods and services. Most persons are struggling to make ends meet. In many cases the ends just cannot meet. How then can it be said that we are heading in the right direction?

PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS

Some public sector workers, for the first time in over a decade, recently took industrial action. Others threatened to do so but pulled back, when the minister of finance said, let’s talk. The fact that public sector workers had to walk off their jobs, at this time, is an indication that after years of been asked to tighten their belts, they have no belt left.

Mrs Helene Davis Whyte, the head of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions, said recently, at a National Workers’ Week and Labour Day Thanksgiving Service, “an examination of the issues surrounding actions taken by public sector workers revealed that they had basically run out of patience”. What she did not say, although it is obvious, is that the vast majority of public sector workers ran out of money long before they ran out of patience. With this being the current situation regarding our public sector workers, how can we really say that Jamaica is heading in the right direction?

Of course, despite the challenges, there are a few among us who continue to head in the right direction. A quick glance at the annual accounts of a number of publicly listed companies, as well as the announced expansion and increased acquisitions by some private companies, clearly demonstrates that persons in charge of these companies are doing well. Nothing is wrong with this.

What is wrong is that the divide between those who have and the have-nots is growing wider and wider. This is not new in Jamaica, but based on the daily cries of our people, it would appear that the disparity in the social and economic conditions of the two sets of people is getting wider.

Those who are of the view that the prime minister is right, and agree that we are heading in the right direction, may point out that our current unemployment rate of 6.2 per cent, as was revealed in January 2022, is the lowest ever recorded in Jamaica’s history.

I have no issue with the professionals who have unearth this finding, but it is important to note when discussing this matter, that the category of workers deemed self-employed has increased. Which means that if you set up a stall and start selling cigarettes and sweets you are categorised as self-employed and, therefore, numbered among the employed.

BREAKDOWN IN MANY AREAS

A few years ago, the then minister of transport, supported by the Holness-led Cabinet, signed off on the proposal to ‘free up’ all the applications for route taxi licences. No plan was put in place to deal with the number of cars which would be on the road operating as route taxies. These cars have now taken over the roadways, creating their own lanes on the road, intimidating everyone in sight, as they bully their way through the traffic. It is a nightmare to drive on our roads. There is no order. How then can we say that we are heading in the right direction?

Our murder rate remains alarmingly high. It continues to spiral out of control, despite the best efforts of our security forces. Gang on gang violence is on the increase. Members of the gangs operate by the mantra, if you cannot catch “quaqo yuh catch him shut”, resulting in innocent persons being taken out by gangsters, if who they are after cannot be found. Contract and reprisal killings are on the rise. The fear level in Jamaica is at an all-time high. How then, as a country, can it be said, with a straight face, that we are heading in the right direction?

A few days ago, I heard the minister of education, the Hon Fayval Williams, on radio, saying that attendance in our primary schools is back up to the pre-pandemic level of 75 per cent. This is way below the acceptable international standard. If in the year 2022, 25 per cent of our primary school children are out of school, how can we say that we are heading in the right direction?

To compound this issue, Jamaica has a two-tiered system of education at the secondary level. One in which students in the better-performing schools are doing well and are able to move on to tertiary education. Then there are the students who are at the lower end of the scale who are experiencing great difficulties being able to move on to higher education. How then can we say that we are heading in the right direction?

BEDEVILLED WITH CHALLENGES

Our healthcare system is also bedevilled with challenges. Those of us who can consistently afford private healthcare may be of the view that we are heading in the right direction.

However, the vast majority of our people are at the mercy of our public hospitals. A visit to any public hospital or health centre will clearly demonstrate that, despite the valiant efforts of our doctors, nurses and hospital staff, patients have to wait for long hours to get service. Many of our people have to wait for months to get certain tests and surgeries done. Some persons, regrettably, expire before they are able to get critical healthcare. How then are we heading in the right direction?

While work is taking place on some of our major roads, such as the leg from St Andrew to St Thomas to Portland, our interior roads are riddled with potholes and overgrown bushes. Those of us who drive through the inner city daily experience not only the pothole-filled roads in some areas which have been represented by the same member of parliament for years, but also the harsh social and economic reality of people living in those areas.

Many rural interior roads are tracks, not roads, and some roads connecting parishes are a nightmare to drive on, including the Junction Road in St Mary. How then can it be said that we are heading in the right direction?

I do not expect our prime minister to say that the country is heading in the wrong direction, although he said it many times when he was the leader of the Opposition.

For him to admit, as prime minister, that the country is moving in the wrong direction, would be an admission of defeat.

Neither do I expect him to say that we are heading in the right direction when, on so many levels, it does not accord with reality and our experience.

It’s better if he comes to us and say, this is the situation and this is what we are going to do, let us all work together to try and get the country to move in the right direction.

- Delano Franklyn is an attorney-at-law and the former minister of state in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com