Dear Editor,
With just a week left to another general election here in our beautiful so-called ‘PNP country’, I wonder what is meant by the word ‘progress’; a word that the People’s National Party (PNP) has been using a lot. A simple definition (Webster’s) is “…movement forward or toward a place” or “the process of improving or developing something over a period of time”.
The state of affairs in our country would lead us to think that ‘progress’ was a trick word, as the country is moving in a southerly direction. It is funny that the Government can boast about toll roads and highways when citizens continue to demonstrate over their pothole- riddled streets, lanes and avenues.
It is funny that the Government boasts about providing a Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme when so many college graduates sit at home to catch the colour of the furniture in their parents’ rented houses. It is funny that the Government can boast about international presidents and prime ministers visiting our island when electors don’t know their members of parliament. It is ironic that the things that our leaders boast about here in Jamaica are the norm in other countries.
This is because they don’t think the ordinary Jamaicans intelligent enough to surf the Internet. The country is rapidly losing its grip on all the assets it owns through divestments, and its primary assets, its people, are actively looking at the grass on the other side. How progressive can a country be when the majority of its civil servants are in the set position ready to respond to any overseas employment call.
The Jamaican dollar is progressively moving in the wrong direction and pretty soon the Bank of Jamaica may need to introduce a $20,000 note. When the Jamaican dollar is compared to its Caribbean counterparts, such as Trinidad, Barbados and The Bahamian dollar, progress is desperately needed for the Jamaican dollar to catch them.
Progress for Jamaica in the 21st century should not be a highway that we will pay for forever; a state-of-the-art airport that is owned by others, National Health Fund (NHF) or Programme or Advancement through Health and Education (PATH). Progress should be aligned to the systems and programmes set up to enable production that the country can earn, not borrow.
‘Freeniss’ is not progress, as the burden will fall on the already burdened working class to pay. It is really sad that after the over two decades of being in power the People’s National Party’s biggest achievement is a toll road that’s still under construction. With that said, there is a new definition for ‘progress’ ‘…one step forward two steps backward’.
Hezekan Bolton
h_e_z_e@hotmail.com
With just a week left to another general election here in our beautiful so-called ‘PNP country’, I wonder what is meant by the word ‘progress’; a word that the People’s National Party (PNP) has been using a lot. A simple definition (Webster’s) is “…movement forward or toward a place” or “the process of improving or developing something over a period of time”.
The state of affairs in our country would lead us to think that ‘progress’ was a trick word, as the country is moving in a southerly direction. It is funny that the Government can boast about toll roads and highways when citizens continue to demonstrate over their pothole- riddled streets, lanes and avenues.
It is funny that the Government boasts about providing a Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme when so many college graduates sit at home to catch the colour of the furniture in their parents’ rented houses. It is funny that the Government can boast about international presidents and prime ministers visiting our island when electors don’t know their members of parliament. It is ironic that the things that our leaders boast about here in Jamaica are the norm in other countries.
This is because they don’t think the ordinary Jamaicans intelligent enough to surf the Internet. The country is rapidly losing its grip on all the assets it owns through divestments, and its primary assets, its people, are actively looking at the grass on the other side. How progressive can a country be when the majority of its civil servants are in the set position ready to respond to any overseas employment call.
The Jamaican dollar is progressively moving in the wrong direction and pretty soon the Bank of Jamaica may need to introduce a $20,000 note. When the Jamaican dollar is compared to its Caribbean counterparts, such as Trinidad, Barbados and The Bahamian dollar, progress is desperately needed for the Jamaican dollar to catch them.
Progress for Jamaica in the 21st century should not be a highway that we will pay for forever; a state-of-the-art airport that is owned by others, National Health Fund (NHF) or Programme or Advancement through Health and Education (PATH). Progress should be aligned to the systems and programmes set up to enable production that the country can earn, not borrow.
‘Freeniss’ is not progress, as the burden will fall on the already burdened working class to pay. It is really sad that after the over two decades of being in power the People’s National Party’s biggest achievement is a toll road that’s still under construction. With that said, there is a new definition for ‘progress’ ‘…one step forward two steps backward’.
Hezekan Bolton
h_e_z_e@hotmail.com