Trevor Munroe | Reigniting the nation means reigniting civic participation

“Reigniting the Nation for Greatness” is the slogan for our 60th anniversary of Independence. Is this not demanding each of us to reignite ourselves … but for what? I suggest reigniting our promise and our pledge “to stand up for Justice, Brotherhood and Peace”.

But in the words of one of the contributors to the Gleaner’s Readers’ Reactions on July 28 – in response to the story ‘Auditor General: NSWMA paid millions to undocumented contractors’, “at this point, why do we even bother?” The answer is provided by one of the demonstrators in the May 2022 protest against road conditions and Government’s non-responsiveness to workers’ demands, “Nothing will change until the people push back.” This is a lesson from our people’s experience that more of us need to notice, to learn, to teach and to practise.

• We would not be enjoying Sacaj’s Nuh Weh Nice Like Yard Festival Song 2022 had not the public pushed back against the Government’s decision to scrap the Festival Song contest and the Government reversed its position.

• The MOCA would not be investigating corruption at the NSWMA – involving tens of millions of dollars going to contractors not doing the work, had not some NSWMA workers themselves pushed back by blowing the whistle on wrongdoing.

• The workers at the National Housing Trust, the National Water Commission, the Air Traffic Controllers at the Airport Authority, the public servants in ministries, departments and agencies would not now be listened to by the Government in serious, ongoing negotiations had they not come together, spoke out and stood up for justice.

• Twenty-nine high-powered weapons would not have been seized, ammunition recovered, and arrests made had not hundreds of tips been made to Crime Stop in the first half of 2022. In fact, for the first six months of the year, 711 tips were made to #311; more than those made for the entire 12 months of 2021. In this case, speaking out resulted in the payout of over $4 million to those who stood up for justice, peace and against criminality.

• Today, Jamaica would not have a law against the government – whichever party is in power – appointing persons without competence, whose main qualification is partisan attachment, to manage the public bodies who spend and misspend tens of billions of our money, had not civil society groups like NIA, and honest persons in the political directorate stood up against this corruption-facilitating practice.

• Today, we would not have both the signature of the prime minister and that of the then leader of the Opposition on a commitment to take comprehensive steps and pass legislation to combat organised crime and corruption, had not in August 2020, the then leadership of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), other private sector groups, civil society organisations, including NIA, bothered themselves to insist that new measures be taken to stem the ongoing crisis of violence and corruption in our country. The commitment included the need to pass regulations to facilitate ‘Unexplained Wealth Orders’ to get at ill-gotten gains, an Enhanced Security Measures Act, as well as stronger anti-gang legislation to deal with criminal networks responsible for much of the violence in our communities. This and more is contained in the agreement that is now being overseen by the Consensus Monitoring Oversight Committee (CMOC) headed by former JCC president, Lloyd Distant.

• Could it not be the case that acting Chief Justice Sykes, appointed to act on February 1, 2018, might still be acting as Chief Justice? Recall that Acting Chief Justice Sykes was sworn in as Chief Justice less than 30 days after his initial appointment. Would this appointment have happened as speedily then had there not been insistence that it was wrong for an acting appointment to be made in the circumstances. The outcry from the Bar Association, other organisations in the legal fraternity, National Integrity Action, the media, and most of all, the unprecedented “informal strike” by the judges themselves, is what reversed this unacceptable action by the Executive.

• Would not the Government’s proposal to keep Cabinet Papers secret for 70 years instead of the current 20 years have passed and been accepted had not the Press Association of Jamaica, the Media Association of Jamaica, individual commentators, National Integrity Action and other groups spoken out in October 2019. The Government withdrew the proposal within a few days of its announcement.

• In July 2020, officials in the Manchester Municipal Corporation were jailed for corruption involving the theft of $400 million of taxpayers’ money. They would very likely still be at work stealing millions more, had not courageous witnesses come forward and our investigators at FID and MOCA, and our prosecutors from the ODPP, not stood up for justice.

REVISIT AND LEARN

So, each of us who continue to wonder whether things can change, and whether wrong can be made right, needs to revisit and learn that things can change when the people push back. At this point and going forward, we need to say to our Thursday reader, we need to be bothered because civic participation can bring results. In fact, much greater civic action is now needed to get more results. “We need to reignite our promise to stand up” to:

• Ensure that the timetable for implementing competence-based appointments to public boards is scrupulously observed, as per the new PBMAA regulations.

• Monitor the development of adequate control procedures to ensure implementation of performance standards – as recommended by the auditor general – at the NSWMA and other public bodies, so that we the taxpayers get value for money.

• Insist that the Government renew its commitment to CMOC, set new timelines where necessary, and give priority to the passage of the legislation in accordance with the commitments made by our leadership.

• Insist that we get a timetable from the Government for implementing the prime minister’s commitment to “Move on” to our Jamaican republic and bring an end to the Queen of England being the Queen of Jamaica. This timetable must include Government’s engagement in a public education programme leading to a National Referendum.

• Sustain the demand that the “gag order” be removed from the Integrity Commission Act, thereby providing the commissioners with the discretion to tell us when they are investigating a matter of corruption.

• Require the Electoral Commission of Jamaica to publish the Campaign Expenditure Report, in accordance with the Representation of the Peoples Act, relating to the 2020 general election.

• August 11, 2022 shall be two years since the prime minister announced the September 2020 election, triggering the start of the ‘Campaign Period’ and the need for the parties and candidates to record – and report to the ECJ within six months of the end of the election – who, including government contractors, gave money above a designated amount, to the candidates and political parties. Let us recall that the 2020 election was the first in which the Campaign Finance Regulations requiring disclosure, even to a limited extent, of who pays the piper and may possibly call the tune.

Our experience, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear, is teaching us not only what is to be done but how it is to be done. Many Jamaicans are learning, as one taxi operator put it while protesting bad roads in Darliston, Westmoreland, on May 16 in this our 60th anniversary of Independence, “Inna Jamaica, yuh haffi fight for what you want.” In Jamaica, the fight for what is right, against what is wrong, and against who is wrong is the way for more of us to reignite our national pledge to one another “to stand up for Justice, Brotherhood and Peace”.

Professor Trevor Munroe is principal director, National Integrity Action. Send feedback to info@niajamaica.org or columns@gleanerjm.com.