Mark Wignall | In pain and in peril there is hope

Unity is strength. Strength allows persons to form or infiltrate alliances and bring them under their control. If the sequence follows its natural path, the next step is the possession of power.

The criminals among us know these simple things. And they also know that the possession of raw power allows them to shortcut the societal norms. In other words, to hell with equipping oneself to lawfully earn money and navigate life. The community’s coldest murderer meets with the chief rogue policeman meets with the big businessman meets with the politician meets with the pastor, who pretends he only meets with God.

The young man atop the gang knows that a big enough assault rifle and an armed pack of fearless murderers will do for now. Just convince his nagging grandmother that ‘Mi get a big job granny,’ when he gives her $50,000 in her hand. Blood money. In times of emergency, the little room at the back will be available. Always.

Granny knows that something is not right. But her ‘sweet’ grandson is her only economic hope. When he comes around she can go to the shop and feed the other grandchildren that have been parked with her. And she can go to church and give a good and sizeable collection. And contribute to the bake sale. And, of course, God will understand and put in a good word with the angel of death when he comes knocking at midnight.

Our Minister of National Security, Dr Horace Chang, knows all of these things too well. In presenting his yearly piece to the Sectoral Debate, he said, among other things of high import, “... the action of criminal terrorist alliances carrying out these types of [terrorist] activities has significantly impacted the national psyche”.

Dr Chang is finally admitting that the intense type of criminality in this country “a mad wi”.

The security minister stated: ‘The police have built up intelligence, analysed their activities, and are developing effective strategic deployments. We continue to expand and improve our intelligence capabilities to ensure they have all the tools required for strong, effective policing, including legislative tools such as the zones of special operations and states of public emergency.”

Many naive, innocently foolish, and politically troubling persons have been calling on the Holness administration to ‘show us your crime plan’. Well, that by Dr Chang seems to be the best that he will give. Plus, it also satisfies a key part of the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP’s) political push as the polls fail to respond to the magic that Holness once had as he raced away to the finish line in September 2020.

CLIMBING BACK UP MACKA TREE

The businessman emailed me while stating that his view was a common one among his peers.

“Mark, crime has metastasised, and fraud crime and white-collar crime is trending up. That will affect the business climate. Which will hurt the economy. That will create more poverty, which will create more hopelessness, which will lead to more crime. And the vicious circle goes on. I have this feeling the current Government is out of gas. I hear the loud attestations of fiscal prudence and reduced foreign debt owed, increased revenue collection, and overall fiscal discipline. But I do not hear any statements or policy initiatives regarding job creation and jobs that pay well.”

Six months ago it would be somewhat normal that more than a few people who I spoke with would offer a good word about Holness and the JLP. Those people still exist, but the priorities at this time do not include consideration or even mention of the PM and his party.

“The best chance the JLP has of getting back into the good graces of the people is time,” said a friend, who is a staunch JLP supporter. “I agree with you that Holness has grown stale but that is standard politics where many of the people who supported him with their votes in 2020 are not now triggered by political matters.”

“Why have they grown neutral on him?” I asked.

“Well I have to admit this. I was talking to my helper the other day, and honestly, her biggest complaint was the constantly rising prices. Many times you and I do not know this. So it seems to me that the JLP has to re-engineer its message because the real fact is that although the People’s National Party (PNP) seems to be in the picture at this time, there is really no big rush for the people to hug up Mark Golding and his team.”

OUT-OF-TOUCH PEOPLE

An experience that may prove worthwhile for people taking home on average $350,000 per month would be to spend four or five hours observing health delivery to the nation’s poorest people via the public-health system. At one level there are the health professionals operating in various clinics with tools that are the most basic possible. And they work wonders.

The long lines, the noise at times. And then a man falls over in a faint. And the noisy, impatient people all get together to lift him up and lead him inside to suit the emergency of the moment. At one public clinic at 8 a.m. one morning last week, a nurse led the people gathered there – on chairs, benches, and standing– in prayers and song. The psychosomatic in action even as I viewed the scene from my car, in the parking lot, through the telephoto lens of my Nikon D90.

Strange, I thought to myself. Many of those at the top of society have no idea how those at the base operate. They have to stand in line and wait. And wait.

One young dentist I spoke with a few weeks ago said, “Yes, there are many times I feel the stress coming on. I take a break and read the Psalms. I am not a religious person, but sometimes the pressure gets to me, and I feel as if something inside of me is about to give. But at the end of the day when I go home, it makes me appreciate my husband and child more.”

Mark Wignall is a political and public affairs analyst. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com.