Something's broken in the state of governance

Carol Narcisse, guest columnist

Something must be wrong with those of us who think that Vanessa Wint's apparent suicide at the Horizon Remand Centre was enough of a tragedy and an emergency to cause our leaders to respond differently. We were so wrong.

We expected our leaders to make public, empathetic statements; to ensure immediate improvement in counselling, medical, social work and educational services to wards of the State; and to broker public-private/non-government and other partnerships to bring about the relocation of girls from the prisons, in the very short term.

Instead, every responsible leader charged with the care and custody of such children seems quite satisfied with the current use of prisons as designated spaces for housing children who are in need of care and protection. They assure us that the children are kept separate from the adults, as if that should make it acceptable. They have expressed absolutely no objection to remanding to prison children who are described as 'uncontrollable'. This is astounding!

The madness of this situation - of the notion that holding such children in the circumstances of a prison could help, as opposed to further harm them - seems to be lost on the leaders.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated example of how inexplicable is the thinking and response from our leaders and state institutions. It is becoming very hard to make sense of what is passing for governance in general.

bankrupt nation

Take, for example, these other realities.

The country is, by all reports, broke. We owe 140 per cent more than we produce. The most basic of care and maintenance services are in a woeful state. Garbage is piling up at our gates, on the streets and in the gullies. Many roads are now impassable, especially those falling under the parish councils and those in communities that haven't been formally handed over to any government, local or central. The standard response is that little or nothing can be done to improve the situation because of 'lack of resources'.

Yet, the State fritters away money at every turn. Just read the various auditor-general reports to get the appalling details. The AG's report just this week tells us that our police force pays out considerable amounts for repairs to vehicles it no longer has in its fleet!

Other ministries and agencies of the State even waste borrowed money. Think, for example, of what could have been done with the mismanaged Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme funds. Despite the litany of waste, successive governments of People's National Party (PNP) and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) vintage, permanent secretaries and others with fiduciary responsibility continue to preside over misdirected or unaccounted-for billions of dollars, all with total impunity.

This is the context in which our leaders stand before the world with cap in hand. We, like they, wait with bated breath for the bailouts. We pray for IMF life support.

It is the context in which, without the slightest embarrassment, our present ministers afford themselves spanking new, high-end vehicles. The ministers will soon roll into a town near you gliding smoothly over your non-existent roads. They will hand out the bitter medicine of austerity with next year's Budget, and then they will drive away in ultimate comfort in vehicles suitably cooled by the AC kept on while their drivers waited.

woefully lacking governance

The prime minister responds to public outcry by telling us that she has sacrificed by allowing her ministers to get their vehicles first. The prime minister has indicated to us that the Cabinet members must be kept in the station to which they are, or ought to be, accustomed. We are expected to understand that no more modest, cheaper but just as sensible vehicles would do.

The public talk of the poor symbolism of it all has been rebuffed with a not-too-subtle suggestion that it's just a case of 'bad mind a kill wi'.

In all seriousness now, can anyone say that what we have as the state of governance is even remotely appropriate? The scenarios above are but the tip of the iceberg. We can add the mismanagement of agencies such as the Urban Development Corporation and Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ), which have amassed huge debts which their income cannot service. In the case of the PAJ, the liability for the debts incurred are now to be passed on to taxpayers by way of a government guarantee.

Add the impact of the politicisation of our civil service, the unjust dismissals of public officers because of partisan bias, the peculiar practice of dispensing with policies and programmes once governments change, whether or not these policies and programmes were good for the country.

Consider the implications of membership of public boards and posts in state agencies being treated as a reward for party loyalists - a likely factor in so many agencies failing to protect the interests of taxpayers.

There is so much more.

Whether we are partial to the PNP, the JLP, or no party, if we are being honest, we will have to admit it - something is seriously broken in the state of governance in Jamaica.

We have a duty to our foreparents, ourselves, the children, and to the country we call home.

We have to fix this.

Carol Narcisse is a social policy analyst and civil society advocate. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.