Last Saturday evening I sat at a roadside stall and saw Jamaica all around me. The pan chicken man across the road had just started to lower the heat under his various "quarters" and the aroma of barbecued chicken - Jamaican-style - settled on me uneasily and caused me to salivate. Half an hour later I would buy three pieces for my small household.

MARK WIGNALL

A young route-taxi driver known for his general crudity crossed the road, the waist of his pants gathered low down like a "gangsta" or some other human aberration. At a grassy area in full view of all passers-by, he extracted his penis and proceeded to urinate, all normal in this crazy country.

Another taxi driver in his late 50s had been having a running conversation with me. About women, relationships. "Missa Mark, me and you grow up differently. A ghetto mi born an' grow up. Yuh seh yu nuh lick woman. If it work fi you, it work fi you. It nuh work fi me." One of his colleagues endorsed his actions and suggested that "it nuh mean seh wi nuh love di woman. But she haffi get a lick if she fall off track. She get lick fi put har back pan track".

My protestations that a woman was not a child to be "straightened out" was met with friendly derision by the first taxi man. "Yuh tink seh mi coulda get married to a woman who mi neva beat before. Den wha'appen when mi get married and lick har fi di fus time. Nuh leave she a go leave mi. But if mi did kick off har face before, she woulda use to it."

His colleagues laughed and I felt saddened inside and very untypically, a Jamaican man.

The parking lot of a nearby supermarket was overflowing, defying the realities of the global economic crisis. One suspects that "food" will occupy a higher percentage of purchases this Christmas as salaried workers, from the "towers" of New Kingston to the young woman sweeping a shop floor downtown begin the guessing and fretting game over the prospects of a job layoff in 2009.

Jamaica has always been a land of contained chaos. In paradise, many of our young men have opted out of the formal system, abusing the time given them to gain a third-rate education. So they cruise through classes gaining little, with maths, history and science floating above their heads.

Many of them, especially those living in the dense, crime-filled inner-city pockets would have already had more than a passing acquaintance with a 9mm or an M-16 assault rifle. Too many of them ache to attain the status of their idols, the music DJs. So in the time between puberty and manhood and poor parenting, they go back and forth between trying to attract a producer and a side entrance to studio time while staying close to the gun if the song fails to "buss".

The word out on the streets is that "dem nuh know whey dem a do" in reference to the JLP administration's response to the global crunch. A week ago one reader, a woman supporter of the JLP, wrote of Golding and my column of December 11, "Governing in a bubble". Said she, "So well put. The only thing is, instead of the JLP needing an election to enlarge the pool of talent available to run ministries, what is needed is a re-election to change the man at the top. Nice fellow, Golding. Heart in the right place, some good ideas there, but just not a leader for the times we're living in."

The prime minister's address to the nation was, to me, designed not so much to allay the fears about the crisis, but to outline in as calm a delivery as possible the realities we will face and the government's response to it. A speech of this nature may have been late in coming, but I give the prime minister close to full marks for its content. "We are going to weather the storm," said the prime minister as he resuscitated his prime ministerial role.

I am particularly pleased that the administration responded positively to those who had been lobbying behind the scenes to bring primacy to Jamaican contractors, many of whom had been squeezed out of the bidding process because of the realities of foreign-based contractors sitting in our own backyard. The JLP administration needs to now seek help from qualified Jamaican contracting specialists working in the USA to assist in streamlining the whole broken process of contract procurement. There is no shortage of expertise, but we have to look overseas because the system in Jamaica tends to yield to corruption enhancement at every step.

Golding's stimulus package could not have been all things to all people. Some of us will be dealt painful body blows come mid next year. The prime minister had the unenviable task of focusing on key areas of the economy and in this, the hospitality sector, the productive sector (non-trading) and small businesses, all important areas in the country's life were singled out for assistance in the form of funding availability at manageable rates of repayment.

Although I would have preferred to see the launch of a huge all-island infrastructural project like arterial road repairs which would have employed large numbers from the available labour pool while leaving us with properly built roads for the first time, I am forced to believe the government that the sourcing of funds for such a project is now an impossibility.

Golding's stimulus package went even further to give the small man a well-needed benefit in duty relief on "barrels", that staple of the Jamaican with relatives abroad. It may have been politically disingenuous of Golding to free up duty on barrels (assessed to US$3,000) only till December 31, but resources must be stretched - more than at any other time - to the limit.

The $2.4 billion authorised to repair roads, drains and gullies will, based on the usual shoddiness of the work, present us with a bigger bill next year. "Bullo wuk" to soothe the breasts of those fully attuned to the systemic problems.

I would like the prime minister to utilise this stimulus package and the speech to the nation as a point of embarkation to be followed up by interim speeches which will be in the form of a monitoring of the package. This will present the prime minister with the "excuse" to report to the nation from his crisis management room like Seaga's excellent efforts in the wake of hurricane Gilbert which devastated Jamaica in September 1988.

Very few us know the inner workings of Mr Golding's mind, and it may be that to the prime minister the timing of the package is perfect. I will not belabour that point. I will, however, state that since the package represents, to me, the best attempt of the prime minister to meet us half-way, all concerned should throw their support behind it and hunker down for the harsh realities of the bitterness that 2009 will bring It is not a time to panic as tempting as that is. But it is a time to unleash the resourcefulness in all of us.

Prime Minister, many of us are willing to work with you for the collective good. Just as long as you demonstrate the kind of leadership that the times demand.

Last Sunday's delivery was the beginning, and I am certain that Mr Golding may not after all have a need for a St Thomas bush bath.

observemark@gmail.com

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