KINGSTON, Jamaica – The foundation of Caribbean politics has always been the division of scarce resources among the party or tribal faithful in the form of appointments, contracts, promotions and expensive overseas trips, ignorant of Skype. Such travel carries large government expenditure and a heavy carbon footprint or boot that would put the French Sun King to shame in the day.
Voters should be concerned as they are excluded from these dispensations.
The latest method of avoiding rules, scrutiny and protocol is government expenditure without established procurement rules especially during times of regular disaster that can often lead to unexplained wealth or illicit enrichment. One cornerstone of civil society is the oversight of government expenditure to ensure the people’s money is only spent on the people.
The brave Auditor General of Jamaica must be worn out by her frequent pronunciations on recent spending by a government given to ignoring procurement rules. She need not worry. The Latin expression magna est veritas et praevalebit is helpful in the current status quo, truth is mighty and will prevail.
Jamaica has a particularly bad record in this regard with an integrity investigation of the current prime minister and conviction of a former leader of parliament, since replaced by the wife of the PM, as well as several members of the cabinet facing integrity charges. Perhaps a tolerable idea before the unblinking, minimalist four seat majority result of the last election.
There has been little or no outcry on these events by 35 members of the ruling tribe sitting in parliament but murmurs of dissatisfaction persist.
But, to the victor goes the spoils and there is little concern or consultation with the losing party, even if over 90% of hurricane relief remains unspent, nonsensically, as we are on the cusp of another hurricane season.
Jamaica has always had party elections unlike the Cayman Islands which stretches to embrace party politics when many constituencies favor a lone wolf and often, dismissal of a leader before his or her term is completed. This concept is completely unheard of in most Caribbean countries ruled by party leaders. That is not to say that things change, younger members of parliament tire of nepotism and the voters grow dissatisfied of leaders who do not go gospel with the nation.
The greatest unaffiliated group that could push for oversight and integrity are the Caribbean diaspora, many of whom are inching towards accountability of the vast resources remitted to their home countries. It has taken some time amid the distractions of ruling government promotional events and frequent supplications.
This unfortunate paradigm of politics is unlikely to change without the advent of those who wish to become independent members of parliament, a small group of which, could trigger new governance and leadership.
Someone should light a candle, sing a sankey and show others the way home.
