The deferred new Jamaica

MUCH IS being made of the dramatic reduction in the incidence of murder and other violent crimes over the last few months - and rightly so! We have been the murder capital of the world for much too long.

The police believe murders have drastically decreased because the criminal organisation in the 'mother of all garrisons', Tivoli Gardens, has been broken. This is no more and no less than what persons like myself have been publicly saying over the last 20 years: there is a direct relationship between garrisons and crime (and politics and crime), and if we dismantle the garrisons (and change the type of politics we practice), the crime rate will decline dramatically. And the Jamaica we will build will be closer to the nation we envisaged as we went into Independence nearly 50 years ago.The present dramatic reduction in violent crime has taken place after only one political garrison has been normalised. Can you bring yourself to imagine how low the crime rate might fall if we normalise other garrison hot spots like Arnett Gardens, Homestead, Concrete Jungle, Southside, Matthews Lane, Farm and Canaan Heights?

All for the victors

The trouble is that the type of political system we have created is geared at dispensing scarce benefits and spoils (winner takes all); which means that the victors have everything to gain. This demands a mechanism to produce an 'edge' - some political advantage over one's opponent; and that is what the garrison constituency is: guaranteed victory no matter what the electoral swing. Too much is at stake (jobs, contracts, waivers), and both parties have invested heavily in garrison constituencies, and have shown no inclination to dismantle them, despite the many calls for them to do so; possibly the politically connected believe that too much is at stake. Now that the evidence for the link between violent crime and garrisonsis mounting, this is the time to pressure the Government, the Opposition, and the private sector to take the necessary steps.

External pressure

We must be honest and admit that the normalisa-tion of Tivoli Gardens was not the result of strategic planning, but was forced upon us by the Dudus extradition request from the United States government. The news on the street is that more extradition requests are coming - for persons on both sides of the political divide. Well, I say: let the chips fall where they may! If external pressure is what it takes for us to build the new Jamaica, then bring it on!

Normalising garrisons is not the only goal. We've got to change our approach to governance, to introduce more transparency, and more quality management of public affairs.

The big story in last Sunday's Gleaner exposed our non-performing and under-performing education system through the results of a scientific survey. This is no more and no less than what persons like myself have been publicly saying over the last 20 years.

But let us be clear: our education system is not broken; it is functioning as it was designed to function - to promote some and hold back most, so that our social and class system can be reproduced. Bearing in mind the ebullience of the pre-Independence spirit to build a new Jamaica, who would have thought that 50 years later half of our primary school graduates would not be able to read! Independence came, but we have retained a lot more of the old colonial ways than we might care to admit. We have been unable - or unwilling - to fashion a new education system to meet the needs of the majority.

An educated nation means people who can earn a decent living, and who do not have to depend on politics for a handout. An educated population can contribute to GDP and grow the economy, and is less likely to turn to crime.

Tinkering with our substandard education system for half-a-century has perpetuated the old Jamaica of the backra massa and the plantation. It is time to start afresh and build a new education system geared to produce the new Jamaica which has been so long deferred.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and a Roman Catholic deacon. Feedback at columns@gleanerjm.com.