Ronald Thwaites | ‘Mout’ mek fi talk’

That was the cynical riposte of the ‘Big Woman’ as she calls herself. She sells rizzla, juice, fry-egg sandwiches, Boom, Campari and other unmentionable delights at the strategic intersection where “criss” commercial downtown Kingston bucks up the fetid inner-city yards. She was referring to two New Year events which were the subject of street conversation.

SEX AND THE BEATING

The first was the beating administered to the teenage girl in Clarendon. My lady is sure there is much more to the story than already disclosed and points to the similarity of several other crimes involving violence to children as a result of “man and woman business”. Jamaicans by and large, believe that it is OK to have serial sexual partners (Please don’t debase a beautiful virtue by speaking of “lovers”), ,but get violent when either party moves on or double-crosses. Jealousy provokes retribution and, as is rumoured in this and many recent cases, if yu cyant ketch Quaku, yu ketch im shut – to wit, a child, defenceless and innocent, is raped, killed, or both.

When this happens, every state agency, all of us bleeding hearts and those Rex used to call “the chattering class”, we reactively weep and moan, multiply ‘suss’ and offer to counsel, console and pay for the funerals. Few of us consider the deeper issue of sexual responsibility which is at the heart of the mix-up, mix-up which spills over into intimate-partner violence.

NO REMORSE

So it is reported that the accused girl-beaters showed no remorse for violating the child, spitting in her face. ‘Is so it set, enuh’. And the soldier boy, any man, who is the very cause of contention, he is entirely immune from any sanction. “Cho, why di gyal dem tek it so serious? Dem figet is how man stay”…

Where was the strong father, uncle or even stepfather present to defend the life and honour of each of the infant and older girls ravished recently?

Feelings of disrespect, the worst sin in the mind of all Jamaicans, are inevitable when infidelity is rampant. Add pent-up anger, hunger and idleness and you have the perfect cocktail the nation saw playing out in Havana Heights. Thank God for the ubiquitous cellphone or we would never have heard of the incident.

And this kind of outrage is going to happen again. The warp of our culture encourages early sexual experience and normalises fickle encounters which by their very nature result in emotional hurt and wrong response at the most sensitive juncture of personal life. When children are around they become available pawns.

This is not prudery. This is a critical matter of public health and national security, which is not being addressed. If we want social peace, the root causes of personal distress and disorder can no longer be sugar-coated.

ANDREW AND MARK

Big Woman’s other conversation is related. She watched and heard Andrew Holness and Mark Golding pledge before God to work together to ease the burden of crime. Does that promise include action against corruption also, she asks. She has heard of elected officials getting big money from a certain road construction company. She is sceptical about the leaders’ prayerful commitment. “How dem a go fight election ‘gainst one another, if dem turn fren”, she reasons. “Mout’ mek fi talk”!

Her parting shot is “ All me want is a house so the grandkids don’t have to batter-batter on the street-side. You can get me a house? Me will work an pay for it. No tell me about Housing Trust or MP. I drop NHT money since I was a girl and can’t get nuttin. Don’t is you nyam out the money to run budget? And MP nah go look pon me”.

By contrast, I welcome the acknowledgement by the two party leaders that national unity is essential to cope with the criminal and anti-social epidemic. It is the essence of good politics, not its absence, to collaborate and compromise for the common good. Trouble is the constitutional framework, history and the self-interest and egos of the few, militate against finding common cause for which people are clamouring .

Sadly, the JLP are very likely to expect the PNPs to agree to everlasting states of emergency. In turn, the PNP will require an end to galloping autocracy and an emphasis on social rehabilitation. With the best intentions, stalemate is very likely.

CONSENSUS V ATROPHY

But it could be otherwise if the earthy wisdom of my Big Woman were heeded. Her turn-off from politics is the story of the majority of us. Andrew and Mark need to realise that they need each other desperately to prevent the atrophy of the political culture, a situation where trust between electors and elected becomes so low that holding state power becomes hollow because you can’t stimulate people for effort and progress. In the worst cases, kleptocracy and dictatorship become the likely options. Just check Haiti and Nicaragua.

PUBLIC OPINION V GOVERNMENT

So we begin 2024 amid possibility and peril regarding governance. Have you noticed how public opinion, as evidenced in the latest Anderson polls, runs seriously contrary to the government’s narrative? The undeniable truth is that education, health, land, housing, transport and productivity – not just crime, require jointure, even coalition of the politically engaged to craft a political economy which will relieve the genuine angst of the alienated and uncommitted. Parliamentary committees with equal membership and access to civil society to set targets on each of these critical areas of national life are required to feed into the Budget process and inform the agenda for constitutional reform.

Whichever of the leaders who falters in delivering on his promise, made on behalf of his party as declared last week, deserves no support. That would be proof that his “mout’ just mek fi talk”.

Rev Ronald G. Thwaites is an attorney-at-law. He is former member of parliament for Kingston Central and was the minister of education. He is the principal of St Michael’s College at The UWI. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.