Dear Editor,

Who is really responsible for the degradation of the Jamaican society? Some say that poverty is the problem but although it may be a contributing factor it was not so in the 30s and 40s when more people were poorer and there wasn’t as much crime and depravity. What happened?

With the illusion of independence the seeds of blind ambition and greed were planted. Even the well-intentioned leaders fell short and found it easier to use expedience to push through their agendas. The results of this is the slippery slide we find ourselves in today. If our leaders’ compromise is the example, what do you think we will ourselves follow, especially when it comes our time to get ahead?

One living example of the state of reflective responsibility and the

trickle-down effects of greed and corruption is evident in the creation and establishment of the resort town of Negril. Negril was truly nature’s paradise in the early 50s and 60s. Locals and foreigners flocked to its exquisite beaches and there they found the real Jamaican hospitality.

When the politicians and the wealthy saw the potential dollars, the gears of progress were engaged. At the initial planning stage, the well-intentioned correctly planned that all hotels were to be of a certain height and were not to be built on the beachside but across the road. From an environmentalist’s view, this was the correct planning and would have turned out to have been the best solution for Negril and their sewage problems.

However, with the mad rush and the selling out of Jamaica’s morality by those in positions to do so, the examples were being set and have become the norm to survive in Negril and Jamaica at large. Even up to the tip of the West End development, this is so obvious – knowing Negril before all this so-called development and seeing what we have become with crime, drugs and prostitution, overpricing, monopolising of the beaches, the erosion of the sand and the pollution of the sea. These are the examples of trickle-down corruption.

Nam Singh

namsingh7@hotmail.com