Dear Editor,

The country is faced with a backlog of court cases dating back many years and it appears there is a dearth of ideas as to how to substantially reduce the figures any time soon.

I make no claim to being knowledgeable on the subject of Jamaican law, but to my untrained mind, perhaps professional juries would provide temporary relief. This would afford employment to many currently unemployed and underemployed Jamaicans, while addressing the issue of difficulty in impanelling jurors for cases.

The jury pool would be large and would be subjected to background checks and training so thorough as to limit the cons attendant with such a system.

It is time Jamaica once again leads the way, and not merely follow other jurisdictions like mindless sheep.

On the subject of mindless sheep, back in the day when Jamaica was Jamaica, others sought to follow and be like us. Practically everything Jamaican, whether it was good or bad, was being lapped up worldwide. Everywhere people started growing dreadlocks and speaking patois.

It would seem even in financial matters we were trendsetters, because when people like Bernie Madoff were meeting their waterloo in the United States didn’t we already experience David Smith and Carlos Hill? And when the United States had its devastating recession, didn’t we already go through Finsac?

We were getting some things right, however, so much so that Lee Kuan Yew heard about us and came in person to see what the devil we were down here doing. Yes, we were true leaders back then, and our visibility in the forefront championing the cause of the abolition of apartheid in South Africa comes readily to mind.

Today, Jamaica goes where the wind blows, and as a friend of mine would say, “we stand for nothing and fall for everything”. We see now where even former dependencies of Jamaica are imposing visa restrictions on us and the International Monetary Fund is standing in line to get its kicks in.

How would the world view us today had we gone ahead and implemented the recommendations of the Ganja Commission to decriminalise marijuana years ago? Should we go that route today, we will be seen as copycats, aping the American states that have gone ahead and done what we did not have the cojones to do.

And I am still trying to figure out why is it that in our country, where Government is severely strapped for cash, the occupants of our penal institutions are not being utilised to clean drains and gullies, bush roads, farmlands, paint government buildings, etc.

Is it that the people in charge only have the ability to sign time sheets and cheques? If so, how difficult is it to put out a tender, inviting local and overseas applicants, to work out the logistics from start to finish of having our prisoners earn their keep, while saving the country some money?

Some claim Marcus Garvey, our first national hero, was ahead of his time; I wish that were true and that he would start doing his thing tomorrow morning.

Robert Mitchell

Box 191

Christiana PO

Manchester

mitcib@yahoo.ca