Ronald Thwaites | Disrespecting life

Keith Clarke’s death is a national tragedy. His memory ought not be allowed to wither. His fate could have been yours or mine. I never knew him personally but my life and that of every Jamaican is diminished by what happened to him. The more so because of the manner of his death, the wicked and avoidable circumstances which caused him to suffer and have caused his murder to go unrequited.

The perception of most Jamaicans is that the security forces, albeit doing a dangerous job, can kill, most often with impunity. The number of killings by them this year is rising fast. The reported circumstances of most of them defy credibility.

Horace and Andrew can contradict themselves: the body cameras will never be effectively used . The squaddie mentality will always prevail. Any officer who gives evidence against another may end up dead. Jurors are justifiably scared to adjudicate on any case where a police or soldier is accused. Evidence can be suppressed and Mario Deane’s mother will be strung out until exhausted, she is expected to give up.

NO JUSTICE

Clarke took more than 20 shots in his back. What had he done wrong? No justice for him. Mealy-mouthed expression of concern from the army who will never be called to explain why the logbook connecting soldier to ballistics has disappeared. The JDF statement defends the soldiers and asserts justice done. For whom though? Not for Keith Clarke nor his family. Their lot is lifelong pain not only for loss of consort but because of how justice, a supreme virtue, has been trashed by those sworn and paid to protect. It ‘s the rotting underbelly of a system which, although improved and incorrupt at the judicial level, can be manipulated and circumvented by its underlings.

DUDUS’ PAWNS

But worse, reflect how Keith Clarke came to be slaughtered in his own bedroom. It was all part of a corrupt attempt to protect a self-confessed drug lord who obviously held more political influence than an entire Cabinet. Most of the people who cosseted Dudus are still our rulers now. They have never acknowledged their accountability.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

The army breached with impunity every right to which citizen Clarke was entitled because people who knew how Coke had ‘escaped’ and where he had been given safe lodging refused to speak. Big leaders knew the secrets he kept for them and the money and firepower he had been allowed to control. So either he had to be protected at the expense of the lives of Keith Clarke and more than one hundred other Jamaicans, or else be eliminated like his father. We were all pawns in a political conspiracy.

HIM SOON COME

And the well-tutored and street-savvy women in white declared to me that ‘Dudus is our Jesus’. Recently, a veteran of that day predicted confidently that her hero “soon come a road an tek up t’ings again”. I believe her.

To add bitter gall to our crucifixion, we were made to pay for the destruction of Tivoli with taxpayers’ money. Still, some of the instigators continue with their arrogance and their 200 per cent salary increase.

I saw this at Green Bay. And now again. And the certainty of more and worse to come. Life comes from God and we curse Him when we disrespect life as was done in our name to Keith Clarke and so many others. It is the fundamental self-contempt.

DEFEATING OURSELVES

At a prominent high school well patronised by the ruling elite, to fill in for a migrating teacher, there being no alternative, a chance was taken to employ a STEM teacher with an excellent first degree but who had no teacher training. This man guided all his students to the highest achievement at the CAPE level in perhaps the most difficult STEM subject. Such results had never been achieved in the region.

The guy could earn four times his salary anywhere in industry. But he just loves to teach. You would think that everything would be done to incentivise him to stay in the profession. But, Oh no! Despite his proven acumen, he can only be paid as an untrained teacher because that’s how the thick and unyielding system operates. Well, he’ll soon be on his way out.

Or the highly qualified contract officer who must start at the bottom of the pay scale by comparison to a less able person who has “years of service”. How do we expect to transform education (or anything else) with such self-imposed constraints?

Which business could operate without provision for accountability and incentives? Nigel, did you say you had reformed the public sector? Look here, nothing but a united effort to organise and remunerate public services based on capacity and targeted performance can achieve our development goals.

Right now there is no leader to inspire, no philosophy of the common good which can galvanise us to struggle beyond the resigned complacency that the majority of Jamaicans will remain poor and dependent while the state capture by politically connected oligarchs that Dennis Minott has been warning us about continues. There were two glaring examples last week.

SELL-OUTS

The dark side of the otherwise pretty-pretty and vital tourism industry burst out again in the continuing worker protest about disrespect and low wages. Legitimate calls for at least a Joint Industrial Council for the industry are being ignored by Bustamante’s heirs. Have any promises about cheap labour have been made to investors? The big issue, which can no longer be postponed, is how to configure a tourism sector which provides both reasonable profit to owners, good value for visitors while allowing for collective bargaining and fair rewards for industry workers. Who will take that on?

Fitz Jackson is among the most admirable representatives for the struggle he will continue to lead against the financial plutocrats. That’s standing up for the common good. Shame on the Government who are so beholden to those without care for fairness and the common good and who expatriate most value just like the planter class did, that they won’t even allow debate in Parliament on Fitz’s motion about bank charges.

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