Dear Editor,
I have always been mesmerised by Minister Louis Farrakhan, who I consider one of the greatest orators/debaters of our time, although I could never endorse his religion -- which treats women as second class citizens, but that is another matter.
Last weekend, at the anniversary of the million man march, Minister Farrakhan did not disappoint, despite having reached the grand old age of 81. For man of his depth, however, I was disappointed how he allowed himself to be influenced by cheap local rhetoric regrading our maintaining the status quo with regards the queen of England.
While I support the removal of the British queen and her expensive representative in Jamaica, we need to go much further to make governance more relevant to our needs, now that we are supposedly independent. For, to get rid of the queen while holding on for dear life to the remnants of colonialism, such as the Army, the British devised local government system, Caricom (the Federation of the former British colonies by the back door); and the allowing of members of parliament from the Commonwealth, while banning those who are American citizens and can help this country, is in no way progressive or independent.
Take the local government system, as bequeathed by our former colonial masters when it took days to travel from one parish to the next and land phones and other means of communication were in the dark ages, why we maintain it is ridiculous. And who does it benefit? In my book, only the JLP and PNP, who get the benefit of having their grass root campaigners financed by taxpayers to the tune of some $4 billion per year.
Jamaica, with its small population, certainly does not need 15 governments and 15 time wasting bureaucracies (14 local government and one central government), thus using all our resources to pay politicians, consultants and bureaucrats, leaving no or very little resources to build communities. We should have moved long ago to the concept of three county councils as proposed decades ago after intensive study, plus local government agencies for the two cities.
How much more practical would six governments be for a population of 2.7 million as opposed to the 15 we now have? Then take the army. The British needed a full-fledged army to protect their empire in the Caribbean, but where is our empire? They successfully 'samfied' some colonial-minded politicians into accepting the concept of federation to keep the colonies together, and we are still holding on to it for dear life via the body called Caricom.
We need to restructure the army to serve the interests of the Jamaican people, not to preserve an empire. So what we need is a good coast guard to protect our shores, an efficient engineering corp and an air wing and redirect the billions we are wasting on the infantry which will not even use a couple paint brushes and hammers to fix up the historical site at Newcastle that they occupy. Instead, the members of the infantry should be invited to join the police force so they can be trained to serve and protect the people of this nation, not treat us as enemies to be to be cut down, which is what soldiers taught to do.
Then there is his nonsense where members of the Commonwealth, including Pakistani Muslims, can serve in our parliament and even become prime ministers after residing here for a year, while Jamaican who migrate to the US and have gained experience and valuable education are deterred -- absolute madness.
Yes, Minister Farrakhan, by all means, let's get rid to the Queen of England, her heirs and successors, and all she represents, but we need far more than mere superficial tinkering if we are interested in becoming really independent and determined to build this great country into a place where we can live as a proud people.
Joan E Williams
Kingston 10
gratestj@gmail.com
Farrakhan shouldn't let rhetoric influence him
-->
I have always been mesmerised by Minister Louis Farrakhan, who I consider one of the greatest orators/debaters of our time, although I could never endorse his religion -- which treats women as second class citizens, but that is another matter.
Last weekend, at the anniversary of the million man march, Minister Farrakhan did not disappoint, despite having reached the grand old age of 81. For man of his depth, however, I was disappointed how he allowed himself to be influenced by cheap local rhetoric regrading our maintaining the status quo with regards the queen of England.
While I support the removal of the British queen and her expensive representative in Jamaica, we need to go much further to make governance more relevant to our needs, now that we are supposedly independent. For, to get rid of the queen while holding on for dear life to the remnants of colonialism, such as the Army, the British devised local government system, Caricom (the Federation of the former British colonies by the back door); and the allowing of members of parliament from the Commonwealth, while banning those who are American citizens and can help this country, is in no way progressive or independent.
Take the local government system, as bequeathed by our former colonial masters when it took days to travel from one parish to the next and land phones and other means of communication were in the dark ages, why we maintain it is ridiculous. And who does it benefit? In my book, only the JLP and PNP, who get the benefit of having their grass root campaigners financed by taxpayers to the tune of some $4 billion per year.
Jamaica, with its small population, certainly does not need 15 governments and 15 time wasting bureaucracies (14 local government and one central government), thus using all our resources to pay politicians, consultants and bureaucrats, leaving no or very little resources to build communities. We should have moved long ago to the concept of three county councils as proposed decades ago after intensive study, plus local government agencies for the two cities.
How much more practical would six governments be for a population of 2.7 million as opposed to the 15 we now have? Then take the army. The British needed a full-fledged army to protect their empire in the Caribbean, but where is our empire? They successfully 'samfied' some colonial-minded politicians into accepting the concept of federation to keep the colonies together, and we are still holding on to it for dear life via the body called Caricom.
We need to restructure the army to serve the interests of the Jamaican people, not to preserve an empire. So what we need is a good coast guard to protect our shores, an efficient engineering corp and an air wing and redirect the billions we are wasting on the infantry which will not even use a couple paint brushes and hammers to fix up the historical site at Newcastle that they occupy. Instead, the members of the infantry should be invited to join the police force so they can be trained to serve and protect the people of this nation, not treat us as enemies to be to be cut down, which is what soldiers taught to do.
Then there is his nonsense where members of the Commonwealth, including Pakistani Muslims, can serve in our parliament and even become prime ministers after residing here for a year, while Jamaican who migrate to the US and have gained experience and valuable education are deterred -- absolute madness.
Yes, Minister Farrakhan, by all means, let's get rid to the Queen of England, her heirs and successors, and all she represents, but we need far more than mere superficial tinkering if we are interested in becoming really independent and determined to build this great country into a place where we can live as a proud people.
Joan E Williams
Kingston 10
gratestj@gmail.com
Farrakhan shouldn't let rhetoric influence him
-->