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New corruption

"The face of new corruption" is one in a long line of such columns. Nary a day passes without us witnessing some enraged voice bemoaning the corruption in our society, or some writer thrashing our corrupt leaders. Despite all our protestations, the insidious rot of corruption spreads.

Skulking in the hidden recesses of reason lies the fact that corruption thrives because it is profitable. We live in a semi-literate society with crushing unemployment, where greed rules and corruption is tempting. It is easier for some financially stressed taxi man to bribe a police officer than to spend days trying to recover his vehicle.

The roots of corruption grow deep because the consequences of criminal behaviour are negligible. A noted politician posited that those who play by the rules get shafted. In Jamaica, this is true.

- R. Oscar Lofters, Kgn 8

Ashford Meikle and the CCJ

I found the article "Is the CCJ a Trojan Horse" by Ashford Meikle in The Sunday Gleaner to be quite interesting. Mr. Meikle suggests that the Caribbean Court of Justice may be a "Trojan horse designed by Caribbean politicians to launch an assault on our civil liberties and human rights."

He concludes by stating: "But, until the Jamaican Government looks into the mirror and, like Caliban, recoils at its revolting image, many Jamaicans will feel quite justified in continuing to believe that the scale of justice is more likely to be balanced 5,000 miles away, in London, among a venerable group of 'foreign' men".

Those wicked politicians (sigh).

The argument demonstrates what is wrong with us Jamaicans and why we will not achieve development: we refuse to take responsibility for our destiny.

Our politicians are produced by us. They are as Jamaican as you, Mr Editor, Mr Meikle or myself. They are elected by us. It must be our responsibility to control them. That is what independence means. We need to control them by establishing and maintaining systems that do not depend on the goodwill of office holders. We also control them by the strength of our civil society - our press, our non-government institutions etc. Finally, we control them at election time by responsible voting, which is not governed by 'curry goat' and dance hall.

When we learn to accept that responsibility, we will realize that our problems are not caused by the 'wickedness' of Portia or Bruce. Our problems continue because we fail to deal with them.

- HUGH P. SMYTHE, hpsmythe@gmail.com