Reflections on an article in the Jamaica Sunday Gleaner titled "Educate them to Stay"
I did some research on the Jamaican Diaspora recently. According to 2010 US census estimates there are approximately 500,000 Jamaican born residents of the US. If we expand this to Canada and the United Kingdom we can easily estimate 1 million Jamaican born residents of foreign countries.
These people are likely to be well-educated professionals from all walks of Jamaican life. Many members of the Diaspora found it difficult to obtain a safe environment or a living wage in Jamaica. I have personal experience of brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, nephews, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances who may fall into that category.
The Jamaican education system has a long history of producing well-rounded high prized employees, high qualified professionals, and successful entrepreneurs who have made their mark in foreign lands. While attending college at Howard University, I had the opportunity to see a Jamaican at the top of the class in every engineering discipline.
Yet still the Jamaican economy has remained stagnant for decades. The locals in country fight with each other over meager pickings.
We need to be asking ourselves why 1 million of the 3.7 million Jamaican born people alive today have to relocate. It’s not because the country is too small. It’s not because the country does not have the resources. It’s not because the Diaspora members want to live in a foreign lands. In fact many if not most Diaspora members return or attempt to return after retirement.
It is most likely because we are divided. We are divided between JLP and PNP. We are divided between up-towners and down-towners. We are divided between the children of slaves and the children of plantation owners. We are divided by a constitution that does not recognize any other power but the parliament in Gordon House. Unfortunately the motto "Out of many one people" rings hollow by events of the last 5 decades.
The newly introduced Charter or Rights is a down payment on a new tomorrow. Until Jamaicans obtain the will and the freedom to chart an economic course that is independent of political forces we will remain in this downward spiral of crime and lackluster growth.
In my estimation we need to neutralize the parliamentarians. We need to introduce more powerful balancing forces such as Judicial, Law Enforcement, Administration, and citizens groups that are independent of the legislative branch except by rule of law.
When the citizen is free, secure, and empowered then the economy will grow in a sustainable way. That is part of the secret sauce of advanced western economies.
The experience of Portmore might shed some light. I had the opportunity to work there when the community was being built by the NHT. The people in the community came from humble beginnings. They obtained home ownership. They demonstrate a will for self governance when they ask to become a Parish. The political history of Portmore rejects the strictures of the Jamaica Constitution. It demands a greater freedom that is denied by the Gangs in Gordon House.
The Parliament should be setting policy and creating law not micro-managing the economy or the finances of parishes and municipalities. Jamaicans as a group are far wiser than individual parliamentarians who think they know what’s good for us when in fact they know little or nothing about how to grow an economy or develop a country. They failed for 50 years and we have lost confidence.
We are left with a fatal flaw. A reading or the Jamaican Constitution reveals an unfortunate tragedy. Only the Parliament can reform the constitution or call for a referendum. So I say to the Parliamentarians in both parties, Get out of the way! Reform the Constitution and let the Jamaican people show the way.
