Puzzling mix of philantrophy and suffocation

Sunday, August 29, 2010

WE have no wish to look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth, especially when it comes to the matter of crime-fighting resources.

However, we cannot help but wonder why the banking sector, in particular, commendably gives with one hand while maintaining a policy that restricts the expansion of businesses on the other.

Yes, we are grateful for the $6 million that the National Commercial Bank; LIME, the telecommunications company; and Supreme Ventures Limited donated for the restoration of the Darling Street Police Station in downtown Kingston which was a casualty of the mayhem of May’s stand-off between the security forces and gunmen loyal to former Tivoli Gardens strongman Mr Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

Hopefully, the restoration exercise will, as Prime Minister Mr Bruce Golding expressed in yesterday’s edition of the Daily Observer, contribute to the effort to bring the crime rate down to a tolerable level.

However, while the importance of correcting the infrastructural damage occasioned by May’s unrest is undeniable, there is still a lot more by way of the rebuilding of human resources and the entrepreneurial spirit to be done in the communities which are served by the Darling Street Police Station.

Said rebuilding is not an easy issue within the context of this recession where jobs are hard to come by and the capital to generate small businesses costs so much.

Yet, if we are to experience the rise from the recession that we know is possible, the life blood has to be pumped back into the small business sector, which we all know is being choked by interest rates that are still too high.

There is no credible counterargument to this.

If the small businesses cannot make it, they won’t be able to provide the critical jobs, without which a significant section of the citizenry will suffer and eventually die.

And the many millions which have been spent on physical infrastructure will simply go to waste in the face of self-destructing behaviour on the part of the jobless frustrated who believe that life sans ‘dons’ is just not possible.

That we have made some progress on the road to peace and stability — despite the failure on the part of this administration to exorcise the ghosts of 11 months past — is undeniable.

Many a gunman who tried to defend the lost cause that was fighting the US extradition request for Mr Coke through channels other than the relevant court of law have either run off or been put off.

The country’s borrowing relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is, from all appearances, going well despite the forebodings of the naysayers.

Far from crashing, the country has a decent chance of turning the corner if the greedy among us can control their insatiable appetite for excess and forgo that extra piece of the national pie.

We were out of line, Miss Golding

We’ve never been known to ignore the comments of our readers as they relate to the stories and opinions we publish daily. In that regard, we accept wholeheartedly the many criticisms we received for our editorial last Tuesday which we framed against statements made by young Miss Ann-Merita Golding, in an interview with us.

We acknowledge, on reflection, that we need not have included Miss Golding’s comments in our discussion on national issues, and as such we apologise to her and her family.

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Puzzling mix of philantrophy and suffocation