Ronald Thwaites | A culture of trust?

The very worst thing to undermine any relationship is to erode trust. This is equally true in intimate personal issues as it is in commerce, national, and international matters. The damage of mistrust is greatest when, as in Jamaica, there is already a huge deficit of confidence and credibility between governed and governors.

So I am wondering why, last week, there were several utterances which are bound to aggravate public confidence. What purpose, for example, has been served by a minister straining to telegraph that elections can be postponed beyond September? We know. But why inject inevitable suspicion about your own intentions to cling to power by any means? You squander trust when it needs to be conserved.

MAJORITY DICTATORSHIP?

Then this very powerful apparatchik has also been stated from on high (with whose authority, please?) that the president of the future Jamaican republic will be chosen by the prime minister because such power flows from majority rule, which is the heart of democracy. Well, it isn’t. Consensus is a far higher trust-building moral and political virtue than the diktat of a Gordon House majority. Working towards, compromising to achieve, and uniting to sustain consensus is the apex of democracy.

DIVISION DOESN’T GUARANTEE FREEDOM

Underlying the Government’s attitude is the conviction that once you have won the election, you can do what you want. That sleazy, self-serving, and corruption-prone misapprehension is at the root of our distress. Our inherited systems have warped our minds to believe that by dividing ourselves into cold and sometimes hot-warring camps of class, politics. or religion, we, somehow, safeguard our freedom. Tell me if our history of governance does not bear out that proposition.

If we go on presuming that temporary political dominance equals moral legitimacy, the fractures in our society will only get deeper. On the major issues of constitutional reform there ought to be no alternative to finding common ground. Only autocrats in sheep’s clothing think otherwise.

Next. Why would the Government’s lawyer bestir himself to rivet in our heads that the Electoral Commission is merely advisory and that the only decisions that stick are the ones made by Warmy and his kind? Of course. But aren’t you afraid of those of loutish habit who, in clear contempt of court, proposed that the gerrymandered boundaries of Portmore be incorporated in the upcoming voters’ list?

Our only basis for trust is the sacred convention, arrived at by consensus, that legislators will always abide by the recommendations of the commission. Why raise suspicion? Or is it a declaration of real intent?

NO CONFIDENCE

Check who the public has to depend on. It is the Integrity Commission, not the legislators, who is having to prise out of several statutory and executive agencies the details of divestment of land, public assets, and contracts involving state resources.

It took me almost a year in Parliament to get answers as to the identity of those favoured people who benefit from the much-coveted licenses to import chicken back. If you want to build trust, all such information should be published regularly- and now, before the next election.

“We must move forward together as one, in a renewed spirit of fraternity and solidarity, cooperating generously for the common good.” (Pope Francis)

CHILDREN OF HAM

Selfishness is at the heart of the crusade to “make America great again”. Across the board, tariffs on imports to the US and penalties for shipping in Chinese-built vessels are going to increase inequality, consign millions to deeper poverty, and ferment distress worldwide.

Rationalisations about fair play and reciprocity are barbs of liberty-taking when trade from regions and countries like the Caribbean are compared with the size and resources of metropolitan countries. Making our very narrow range of exports uncompetitive and, no doubt, increasing the cost of our imports, are the modern shackles of oppression.

Implicit in the campaign is a view of humanity that elevates greatness based on material wealth, science, and firepower. In practice, this aligns broadly with race. From now on, brashly and intentionally, our great Northern neighbour benefits from the resources of the globe but has decided that its prosperity requires it to accept little obligation to the rest of humanity.

SHARING THE BLAME

Those championing this worldview are correct insofar as the inefficiency and corruption of many in the South (like us!) have wasted the generosity of the rich countries. Donor fatigue and revulsion at our cry-baby attitude of not taking responsibility for our own situations bolster their selfishness.

Begging the president to reconsider because we are his nice-nice friends after all will not cut it. Advantage-takers will always exploit countries that are at war with themselves or cannot get their productive acts together.

LOOK HOW WE STAY

We don’t own our hotels. We lose more than we gain from bauxite. We contribute richly to North American health and education human resources – even to our own detriment. When we migrate, we do their dirty work for less than natives are prepared to accept.

We squirrel away our savings in foreign banks and so have little domestic capital to invest, and we allow destructive armaments to be imported so that in our sinful folly, we can shed Abel’s blood.

This is the climate that we can expect to prevail going forward. The cliché of “pivoting” must mean taking stock of the fact that remittances are likely to tighten, tourists will have less to spend, and the products we love to buy on Amazon are going to cost more. Since most taxes are ad valorem, Government will collect more money without imposing “new” taxes, but growth will continue to be elusive.

ANOTHER WAY

It could be different if we decided to ‘confident’ each other more so as to propose and promote reasonable expectations, inclusive priorities, and targets for food production and export earnings. That would be the opposite and antidote of bad-smelling selfishness and nativism.

Trust grows out of common endeavour. And hope is the child of trust.

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.