The census is a big deal! The campaign is very important and we must use all media to show how a census benefits people. This is our shot until 2021, so spend some money and get the count right. The contest for a TV or radio documentary and song to hype it should be now on as 2011 is near. Plans are the key to progress and a census is the base line of all plans. A census is the government's promise and its mark of intent; we count our people because our people count! We plan to meet their needs. I worked in Hunt's Bay near a corpse in the mangroves. No one knew him, he had no papers, he was not missed; zero, zilch, he did not count! Let's get on the record! Census data is used to perform analyses and projections, for example, the beds we need for births in 2012; school places we need in 2014; the jobs for new workers in 2016. This head count is the first step to providing for all our needs. My advice: check the date, "be de man". Get counted!

The Doomesday Book (literally, the final accounts) was a census. William of Normandy (France) conquered Britain in 1066 and ordered a census; free men, slaves, houses, crops, animals and technology - ploughs, windmills, water wheels. The Brits today would like to forget French rule - as we try to forget British rule; but after centuries under two empires (Rome and Norman), and despite harsh apartheid laws, they integrated and the new British emerged. They had learnt lessons, which they later used in Africa, America, India, and the Caribbean to their benefit. Our census is pivotal as it tells government how many to cater for and defines the work we must put in to get the required output!

Let's make the census "sexy"! A good campaign, a bold logo, Usain as the face and voice of "C 2011"; endorsements by Asafa, Veronica, beauties, entertainers and after, a big thank-you party. Our illiterates are most resistant, but we can reach them.They must try new things, even a text reminder to all 3.2m cellphones. As a youth, I was involved in a census. The computer was big as a house yet my laptop today has more power. Computers developed, our people have not; they need education! David in the Bible held a census against Joab's advice and disaster fell! A story of past times when to count people was taboo. Ancient Egypt, China and Rome counted its subjects and nations that broke the taboo became great. In Africa counting people was and is taboo to many. Dahomey kept population count - birth, death - using pebbles (calculus = pebble) in boxes. At the Igbo Feast of Yams, every man took a yam to the priest for each person in his family and by this indirect means they did a census. We need growth, so please stand up and be counted!

The next UK census may use public data as voters' lists, social security, school data and private data as credit cards, loans, etc, with field work to fill gaps - Africa's indirect methods, but different motive! Given the costs, we must consider these methods too!

Whistle-blowers Bill

The spirited and lucid letter by Senator Kamina Johnson Smith marks her as good minister material. The revolution we need begins with a dozen like her on each side of the House! Let's challenge her to distil all Bills that come to the Senate in like manner. This paper can publish her commentary and an opposing view from a young PNP senator; pro and con at once - real citizens; education. Transparency is not just telling us when we ask or cuss; be proactive! My fear is not that people will abuse the Whistle-blower law; it's that class, politics, economic and wage intimidation may drive fear into people so that no one will use it. A strengthened OCG should be the first stop for all whistle-blowers. The OCG alone should know our identities, even if it delegates the issue for study to consumer, financial or other regulatory body. Some frivolous use by the public is also good as then we have cases to clarify proper use and can quickly embed whistle-blowing in our culture. Bring it on!

Politics history

It is tribute to our illiteracy that so few of us understand what is history and a travesty that our scholars have not written more. I usually ask, where are the books by black African scholars on slavery - domestic, Trans-Sahara, Trans-Indian Ocean, Trans-Atlantic? Most books are by white Africans. We need black Africa's side of Rorke's Rift, Shaka Zulu, 95th Rifles, etc. When, oh when? How much better off are we? Not much! We have less to write but have done very little!

Our African diaspora influenced the West deeply - the economy, creativity, innovation, sport, etc. Africa does not help its diaspora. Africa did not lift a finger to help in the generations of racism we endured. We stood alone! France and Spain sent gunboats to Haiti, Cuba, and South America to protect their diaspora kin. African diaspora leaders as Garvey and Padmore tried to get Africa involved - to no avail! Africa is a well-resourced and an ostentatious buyer of consumer and military goods. We are not, but we must write our own history so our people know and are uplifted! So then, where do we stand?

When we read the drivel which is adduced as history, scholars should be ashamed. People know no better. Where are our economic and political histories? Are scholars at work updating Clinton Black's and Douglas Hall's work? History has many strands. Who is writing the history of health care, mining, trade, media, tourism, music or transport in Jamaica, say, 1900-2000? Our century of progress? Where are the texts on the rise and fall of the West Indies Federation? The 60s? or 70s? Transition from colony to nation? Civil service? The Busta and Manley years? Senate? First generation of Caricom? The official documents here and abroad are released. Who's using them? After 60 years of UWI we now have unis to "stone dawg". Do they pull their weight? No! Is a campus just a degree factory? An employment centre? We need 10 big firms to fund 10 seminal history books for print by late 2012. No more "He say, she say; I saw, I know". We need authenticity; we need history books about major strands of our life from 1900 to 2000! We can do it!

Muslim toilet

We must consider the Nile pan toilet. I used this in the Middle East years ago. See the hole, squat and nature does the rest! Today, elegant porcelain ones with covers, in colours, level with the floor, side by side with normal water closets exist in homes of rich Muslims. These Turkish toilets are cheap, clean, easy to sanitise, use no water, good for the environment and no more toilet seat infections! To make this in metal or fibreglass with a standard cubicle could create a local industry - toilets for all! They can't steal them, so we could now have public toilets. Stay conscious, my friend!

Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston Consultants, currently on assignment in the UK.

franklinjohnston@hotmail.com

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