Dear Reader,

At the rate at which the country is going, the government might as well string up a banner from one end of the island to the other with the words, “Jamaica for sale – cheap and quick”. It must be obvious to all of us that our country is on the auction block, and it doesn’t matter who or where the buyer comes from – so long as the sale is consummated – and consummated quickly.

Under the fluttering banner of divestment, the remaining vestiges of our national assets are now in the “Classifieds” – Air Jamaica, sugar factories operated by the Sugar Company of Jamaica, Jamaica Public Service Company, National Water Commission, the Port Authority, Norman Manley Airport… and the list goes on. It has left some people asking, “When is Jamaica House going to be up for sale?” As the government fine-tunes the specifics of the assortment of divestments, it is the impending sale of Air Jamaica that is now an extremely controversial topic. And rightly so.

As far as I am concerned, the story of Air Jamaica is more than a story about the sale of some aeroplanes and the stated imperatives of divestment procedures and protocols. The impending sale of Air Jamaica represents a much bigger story of how the country has been pawned and prostituted by successive administrations without any regard for the impact their decisions have, and will make on the present and future generations of Jamaicans.

The prime minister’s address to parliament last week regarding the sale of our national airline left me wondering whose side he is really on. I’m not sure if he realised the great public relations job he has been doing for Caribbean Airlines. It seemed obvious to me that Mr Golding was doing more than selling Air Jamaica. He seemed to be making absolutely sure that nothing stands in the way of consummating the deal with Trinidad’s Caribbean Airlines.

Let me be perfectly clear. We want Mr Golding to know that we understand how critical it is to lift the Air Jamaica burden off the backs of the Jamaican taxpayers. What many of us don’t understand, however, is why more effort isn’t being made to ensure that Air Jamaica remains in local hands, procedures and protocols, notwithstanding.

I have a difficulty accepting man-made faits accomplis cast in heavy cement when in fact it is the same men who are the designers and makers of both. While it is important to respect agreements and contracts, there are times when flexibility is required, especially when those negotiations are in the interest of an entire nation. Are we to accept without question that in the interest of the Jamaican people Bruce Golding and Patrick Manning could not arrive at some kind of compromise which would preserve the pride and integrity of the Trinidad negotiations, while respecting and honouring the wishes of large constituencies of Jamaican people, including, and especially the workers of Air Jamaica? For many Jamaicans, it is not just the fact that the airline has to be sold, but what irks them is the callous and indifferent manner in which Air Jamaica is being discounted to Trinidad. I would like to tell our prime minister that the country doesn’t need a chief technocrat. What Jamaica needs at this critical juncture of the country’s life is a chief patriot and a chief visionary.

What angers we most about the Air Jamaica giveaway to Trinidad is that it represents the latest chapter in the book of how a country and its people have been systematically dissected, dismantled and sold off piece by piece to foreigners. Jamaica’s experience brings to mind the book, Things Fall Apart, by Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe.

The argument that the Jamaica Airline Pilots’ Association’s proposal is not sustainable, is hypothetical at best and manipulative at worst. If the government sells Air Jamaica to JALPA and the airline’s staff, like Pontius Pilate, it will simultaneously wash its hands off the Lovebird. If the airline flops after that, it’s none of the government’s business. My position is that if Air Jamaica must die, let it die after we have all put up a valiant and noble fight to keep it in Jamaican hands.

And JALPA’s proposal, though said to be late (the association, however, claims that their bid was put in from August last year), is a well-thought out, thorough business plan with modest, yet clear projections and targets, and with both a short- and long-term plan to turn the airline around. In a country where nationalism is being exchanged for whatever is expedient, the voluntary use of the staff’s redundancy payments to fund a portion of the airline’s takeover is to my mind admirable and honourable. As I see it, if the staff of Air Jamaica is willing to make that kind of sacrifice for our country, the least the rest of us can do is to support them.

But perhaps the greatest tragedy of the Air Jamaica story is the way in which the issue has been distilled into a brainless and esoteric debate about procedures and protocols, when in fact it ought to be a broader and more open discussion about the past, present, and future of one of Jamaica’s national treasures. It is a disgrace that we are about to dispose of Air Jamaica without the transparency and vigorous examination the matter deserves. There have been no public meetings held to discuss the matter and no public cost-benefit analysis done. The government is selling the airline with most of the information hidden from the people. But who cares, when the mantra is “Jamaica for Sale – cheap and quick”!

With love,

bab2609@yahoo.com