Hope for the future

By Peter Espeut

The ease and swiftness with which both the minister of transport and works and the CEO of the National Works Agency have been separated from their jobs raises the question of why this has not happened before in Jamaica's recent political history.

Mike Henry is no political lightweight; he has political and institutional seniority, and is chairman of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). It would take a big axe or a chainsaw to fell that big tree.

As far as scandals go, the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP) is a big one. It is huge in dollar terms, but that is not just what I mean by big. It is a big scandal because of the profound disregard of government procurement guidelines, and the misuse of public power.

Putting the quantum of dollars aside, as far as scandals go, JDIP is no greater than dozens of others I have commented on in the almost 20 years I have been writing this column, and dozens before: the creation of garrison communities; the stuffing of ballot boxes; the missing schools; the scurrilous land deals of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s; the Green Bay massacre; the furniture scandal; the street people scandal; the Cuban light bulb scandal; and so many more.

Why were the political spin doctors allowed to control the airwaves, explaining away the scandals, and why should no one be held accountable while, this week, heads have been made to roll? Are billions of dollars more important than the lives of dozens of street people from Montego Bay, scooped up and trucked away with a police escort, and dumped beside a mud lake?

I hope we are in a new era in Jamaican politics. But maybe not. An election is almost upon us, and these resignations may just be part of the silly season, which will soon pass.

If we are in a new and more decent era, how could persons of proven dishonesty be included in the line-up of candidates for the upcoming elections?

What is really different about Jamaica in 2011 is that civil society is flexing its muscles, and will not put up with the sort of government perversion we endured in decades gone by. That is where the hope for the future really lies.

Remembering Aggrey Brown

As the well-deserved accolades pour in for Winston Aggrey Brown, I want to add my own tribute, and to expose a side of him perhaps not known by many. Aggrey was a committed environmentalist.

It probably began because he loved to fish, and would spend hours in a boat with his line in the water. His practice was to go to Portland Cottage, Clarendon, where he had an arrangement with a local fisherman to take him out into the wetlands and waters of Portland Bight, a glorious place of cays and reefs, stingrays, sharks, turtles, manatees - and fish.

But, over the years, he noticed that the fish populations were in decline, and there was less and less wildlife. Those who made their livelihood from fishing were getting poorer.

And so, in 1997 when he was asked to join the board of directors of the Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation, an environment and development NGO of which I was founder and executive director, he readily agreed, for he wanted to both improve the health of the natural environment and the local economy. And, in 2002, he was asked to be the chairman, a position he held until his death.

Being a practising environmentalist, journalist and university administrator, Professor Aggrey Brown found, I think, the former the hardest of the three, for the most formidable challenge he had to face was a series of anti-environmental governments and ministers of the environment.

I accompanied him to several (largely fruitless) meetings at Jamaica House and various government ministries, and I was impressed with his eternal optimism in the face of the obvious lack of interest in matters environmental by public officials, and with conflicts of interest staring him in the face. He believed in the fundamental goodness and decency of those who were sabotaging the work of our NGO, and always hoped they would be reasonable in the end. He was largely disappointed.

Farewell, faithful warrior. In your new place of rest, you can continue to advocate for justice and truth and for the integrity of the natural environment in our beloved Jamaica.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and environmentalist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.