Making Jamaica a tolerable place to live

Martin Henry

"Give us vision lest we perish."

- Jamaica National Anthem

Try wishing the family and friends of the 1,200 Jamaicans murdered last year happy new year. Not to mention the loved ones of the over 15,000 other citizens killed since the start of the new century and new millennium, and the thousands maimed. Time will never fully heal their wounds.

I was reminded by a glossy brochure decorating the magazine table in the waiting area of a government agency that Goal Two of Vision 2030, the country's first long-term development plan, is "The Jamaican society is secure, cohesive and just".

Remember Vision 2030? No worries if you can't recall. The Government itself seems to have forgotten the plan, except for shiny brochures put out by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), like the one I picked up, appearing here and there.

Vision 2030 was a comprehensive and truly bipartisan plan designed to transcend administrations and cross-party bickering. It was conceived by the People's National Party Government in the P.J. Patterson-Portia Simpson Miller I era, delivered by the Bruce Golding Government, and must now be to be raised by the Portia Simpson Miller II administration.

Who in Government owns the plan and drives the plan? The prime minister is the right person to take charge of Vision 2030 as the blueprint and guiding light for Government, with her number two being the minister carrying the planning portfolio. When last have you heard a word out of the prime minister or the minister of finance and planning on Vision 2030?

The PIOJ maintains a Vision 2030 secretariat which is largely out of the public eye and apparently accomplishing very little. One gets the distinct impression, certainly quietly from Dr Gladstone Hutchinson when he headed the agency, that the secretariat has the dirty job of coaxing the political arm of Government to mind its own plan.

Perhaps Hutchinson's successor, Colin Bullock, could tell us what's happening with Vision 2030, now into its fifth year.

DEVELOPMENT AND THE IMF

We are hearing a lot about International Monetary Fund-directed economic targets. This newspaper closed out last year with the lead story (December 29), 'Recovery under way!'

"The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has given Jamaica high marks for its performance during the second review period since the country entered a new borrowing arrangement in May," the paper reported. "Programme performance is on track, in spite of the difficult economic environment," the IMF said in its review.

But let it be known to both Government and IMF that Goal Three of Vision 2030, "Jamaica's economy is prosperous", cannot be achieved and sustained in any equitable fashion for all citizens unless Goal Two is also achieved, "The Jamaican society is secure, cohesive and just".

While tackling tough economic targets is showing some success in the short term, the minister of national security on the final day of 2013 told RJR's 'Hotline' that murders had shown a nine per cent spike over 2012, largely driven by big increases in the third quarter.

What Minister Bunting said next should take our breath away, except that we are so used to the situation. "The spike," the minister said, "has pretty much been eliminated now and [murder] has sort of normalised for the last couple of months"! At 91 rather than 100 per month!

The minister of national insecurity is calling for more resources. So, too, is the minister of injustice. Two public servants and the president of the bar association spoke out as 2013 wound down about how the lack of resources is hampering the delivery of justice. Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn bluntly told us that there was no way that her 43 prosecutors could cover the caseload of the 14 parishes running into hundreds per year.

WEAKNESSES IN SYSTEM

And the auditor general (AG) has reported to Parliament - and to us - that weaknesses in the court management services is leading to serious tardiness in processing documents.

Ian Wilkinson, who now heads the Jamaican Bar Association, in responding to the AG's findings said starkly, "The justice system is grinding to a halt."

Other agencies given baskets to carry water should speak up and put the facts on the table.

Meanwhile, Vision 2030 is blah-blahing that Goal Two "focuses on the importance of living in a safe society where the shared values of mutual respect and protection of human rights are practised, and where justice and fair play exist for all citizens".

There is no more fundamental, no more critical responsibility of governance than security and justice based on the protection of human rights.

All of the strategies and steps to improve security and safety and to deliver better governance, as set out in Vision 2030 and many 'reform' documents, are going to require resources. The problems cannot be planned away; effective action must be taken. And action costs money.

GET SERIOUS

We are a good three months ahead of the next Budget. With all the clamouring demands, led by debt servicing, made upon the public purse, a government serious about creating a safer and more just society as its core responsibility must, as a matter of life and death urgency, privilege the financing of national security and justice.

Law enforcement and the justice system are disgracefully undermanned and ill-equipped in the current climate of lawlessness, disorder, crime and violence. I repeat an old riding horse suggestion, three months ahead of Budget: finance and planning must start top-slicing from the budgets of all other ministries a relatively painless and manageable percentage to be added to security and justice. My magic number is five per cent; but we can set the actuaries to work.

The vision of Jamaica as "the place of choice to live, work, raise families, and do business" by 2030 appears dim, at best. As an ageing citizen with zero desire to live and die elsewhere, I am prepared to settle for just making Jamaica a more tolerable place to remain alive and to get on with life.

Martin Henry is a communication specialist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and medhen@gmail.com.