Ronald Thwaites | Giving blood to corpses

It is to the credit of this Government that almost half of the Jamaica Urban Transport fleet can be renewed out of general revenue – that is without recourse to the usurers. But precisely because public money is so precious, we must ask if this expenditure is not like giving blood to a corpse.

Daryl says the new buses will reduce the wait-time of commuters. How? These stylish juggernauts are going to have to compete for space on already over-congested roads. Their climate friendly efficiency will be compromised by the carelessly created crush on Corporate Area carriageways.

DISSING THE COMPETITION

And much more, how will the expanded JUTC fleet compete with the purposely-contrived, already oversupplied and daily increasing, fast moving flotilla of red and white- plate cars and minibuses? Do we think that the small transport sector, given free rein by this same government, are going to allow the criss big buses to put them out of business? The financial sector would collapse.

Then too, where is the prudence in investing heavy capital into an unreformed corporate JUTC structure, heavy with political influence, chronic fuel theft, unsustainable staff structure and fare box leakage ? Finally, where is the transport policy (including a proper school bus system) which justifies this massive outlay of that most precious commodity, domestic savings, the life-blood of any economy ? Without more, we are giving blood to a corpse.

BLOWING UP A BUBBLE?

Further on the subject of capital use, Jamaicans have invested heavily in recent years in expensive apartments and town houses, especially in the urban areas. Where has all that money come from? How is it going to be recovered? How many people are able to afford $150,000 and more a month for rent or mortgage? What will happen to this over-priced bubble when defaults increase?

Who is checking on the apparently increasing number of unsold and vacant units? Who is holding that bag, particularly when interest rates are high and recession up North looks likely? Again, leaving out the money-launderers who don’t care, we seem to be investing our money in the wrong priorities. Inner city redevelopment and under $20 million opportunities remain sinfully unfulfilled promises even though attending to those segments of housing need would relieve social tension and promote the flourishing of family life.

Stop pumping blood into what will soon be pretty- pretty high-rise corpses. There is a half-dead committee of Parliament which should be asking these questions. They have paid themselves more to do less work and are consigned themselves to the morgue of uselessness.

IMPORTING TEACHERS: REALLY!

Shame is sometimes the result of quickened consciences. So should the nation not be ashamed that we have to be traipsing around the globe to recruit teachers to replace those who leave our system because of its rigidity, inadequate pay and other unattended pressures? Even with recent salary regrading, few average Jamaican teachers can afford any of the apartments and town-houses we have invested their taxes and savings to construct. So like our forefathers over the last century and a half, they leave to seek the better we promised but never adequately delivered. Will we have to pay these foreigners in foreign exchange: at the same scale as locals? Will our students be able to understand their inflections?

Why not pay our teachers to stay? Many would. Why not aggressively modernize our teacher training institutions and incentivise more of the best-performing high school leavers to choose teaching as one of their careers? Nothing like that is being tried. A few years ago I was part of an effort to augment mathematics teaching by offering scholarships to able candidates. It has not been successful. Government wants to build STEM Academies. They will be hard pressed to find the staff to operate them. Once again, we make big spending decisions without thinking through the realities and contingencies which will make them effective. Trickle down economics doesn’t work. Just look that the shame of the expensive, underused Sabina Park, the rotting corpses of the Trelawny and Sligoville stadiums.

WRONG PRIORITIES

We are good at spending money on ourselves and on infrastructure and equipment but poor on ensuring that the investments yield the dividends of effective public service and so promote the common good. The majority pay the bill and remain in need while the rulers and the few prosper.

DEADLY DISGRACE

Amid the debris caused by Beryl, there was the compounded suffering reported on Saturday of the burning to death of an elderly lady in Lionel Town, caused by the unprotected candle, her recourse in prolonged darkness. It is alleged that graft and politics occasioned that tragedy. Until investigations dispel those assertions, we share the shame and guilt that bribery and tribalism could factor in the loss of life.

TREVOR’S CONTRIBUTION

Last week, the European Union Delegation partnered with several civil society organisations and individuals to celebrate the public service of Professor Trevor Munroe. His earlier Marxism, like the perhaps less controversial ideological positions of all our leaders, has mellowed into inspiration and leadership of the civil society upsurge which has a vital role to play in promoting the ideas and activism which can protect against the escalating lurch towards arrogance and authoritarianism. These groups, occasional and sustained, promote common good causes.

For decades Trevor has been the quarterback of this process whereby people of many different persuasions and priorities cohere around national issues and people’s concerns. Political parties have their indispensable roles but it is through the urging of the hearts and minds of ordinary people around particular causes that real change can be birthed. Munroe deserves credit for his persistence and encouragement to so many.

“If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine” – Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara.

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