New coalition not a 'high-profile talk shop'
Published:Friday | September 24, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer
The potential potency of the newest advocacy group, represented by a wide cross section of powerful organisations, was highlighted yesterday as members vowed that they would not be another high-profile talk shop.
The Coalition of Civil Society forcefully signalled yesterday that it would not relent as it takes on the Government on unacceptable provisions in libel and defamation laws; the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips mess; corruption bedevilling the public service, and other issues currently challenging Jamaica.
The issues of parliamentary conduct and the need for increased and structured social-intervention programmes, as well as the enforcement of human-rights practices, are also listed high on the agenda of the group.
The coalition has its membership drawn from a range of powerful umbrella entities including business, the Church, and non-governmental organisations.
The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, the Jamaica Council of Churches, the Women's Outreach and Resource Centre and Inner-city Community Forum were among the groups involved.
The combined forces represented by the coalition's membership enjoy the numerical power capable of toppling any administration at the polls.
It was the unrest in west Kingston in May that drew more than 20 groups together in shared consternation with what was happening in the country.
Members say they have not discussed the fate of Solicitor General Douglas Leys for his role in the Manatt affair, but members warned that nothing less than full disclosure in Parliament or a commission of enquiry would be acceptable.
Development specialist Carol Narcisse, who led yesterday's press conference, stressed that the organisation was not politically driven but would create an effective forum for national policy dialogue across social barriers.
Group's focus
Narcisse said the group would be focused on mobilising effective participation in governance and strengthen civil society monitoring of government policies and programmes.
She promised that the coalition would be task-driven and policy focused to prevent it becoming just a talk shop.
JCC head Milton Samuda was adamant that the group would not be relegated to a talk forum.
"That will not happen. We plan to get specifics from the Government on the range of issue for which we want answers," declared Samuda.
He later echoed the sentiments expressed by Dr Carolyn Gomes, executive director of human-rights lobby Jamaicans for Justice, and former senator Professor Trevor Munroe, that talk was necessary to start the process but in and of itself was not sufficient to get the job done.
Samuda was supported by Richard 'Dickie' Crawford of the group Jamaica for Sustainable Development.
"We must not only hold the Government to a timetable, we have to hold ourselves to a timetable as well," Crawford asserted.
Gomes said the coalition creates an opportunity to talk with each other and to come to agreements.
Lynnette Vassell, of the Women's Outreach and Resource Centre, stressed that the work of the coalition will enhance the work being done by the individual entities from which the members are drawn.
A west Kingston resident who represents an organisation out of that section of the community was emotional as she related how she narrowly escaped with her life during the Tivoli incursion.
She said family members were not as fortunate.
"This cannot be a talk shop. The onus is on me to ensure that this is not another talk shop," she declared. "We felt isolated when we were not included among the civil groups who went into west Kingston after the unrest … our voices were not heard."