Dear Editor,

I’m no bright spark but I know I’m a slave of the State.

I’ve been employed by the Government of Jamaica, within an organisation that falls under the Ministry of Education for almost three years now, and thus far I’ve got nothing to show of my years in the service.

I’m currently earning a monthly salary that’s next to nothing — $26,595 after tax, from which more than half is used to fund transportation to and from work. I’m no bright spark but yet I’m no dunce as I’ve got five CXCs — English Language, Social Studies, Visual Arts, Biology, and Information Technology.

Some years ago, I worked in the private sector doing manual labour. Back then I was way more comfy working, as I could see what I was working for. I could save a little and I could afford to stay alive. In fact there is an individual I left at the plant who is now driving a car he bought not too long ago while I, a government employee, can’t afford to feed myself for a month.

My uncle, who has been working at the same plant too for quite a few years and is now doing sanitation duties, takes home more than twice my pay at over $50,000.

At age 25 years and seven months I’ve got no money in the bank, no furniture bought and no major achievement accomplished and I’m still living with my mother. If it wasn’t for Sagicor’s health/life plan I know I would have probably died many times before, as I couldn’t afford to pay for a doctor’s visit.

I live a life on credit, forever owing someone, as I can’t afford whatever I want or need straight up.

Being paid monthly makes matters even worse as I only know that on the 25th of the month it’s ‘pay day’, but such days only bring pain as what you earn for the month is so meagre. It takes months for the working man I am to buy a pair of jeans and even longer for a pair of shoes. I’ve never voted and I will never vote for the current Government or the Opposition as neither of the two is worth my vote.

What kind of Government pays an employee such a meagre salary? How can someone survive on that, especially with the constant hike in the prices of life’s essentials? I mean, what kind of prime minister do we have? Our prime minister deserves to be banned from politics, she knows nothing of what she does. It’s more than a year now and still I’ve seen nothing that she has done, and if she has done anything, it’s definitely not in my community.

I know for sure that the current Government and our MP, Mr DK Duncan, will never win again in my constituency. No member of my household and family will vote for either party again and by right, who would vote to be a slave for another umpteen years?

As I write this I’m currently a broken man, in the pockets and within. I’ve got way over a week before the slave I am gets “paid”, and I’ve got no money to buy food or to take me to work till then. People see me on the road and think I’ve got money as they say “you deh wuk fi govament”, but I pity their simple minds as I suffer far more than they do.

The Government of Jamaica is cruel.

The prime minister doesn’t watch the news so she knows not of the sufferings of the nation. She doesn’t hear the cry of the people.

The country is now a great big plantation and everyone is a slave in one way or another. Everyone but the prime minister. What I earn per month is merely a fraction of what the prime minister and even her MPs probably use to fund their parties. What I’m being paid monthly is probably just what they spend on gas for their high-end vehicles. What I’m being paid monthly is probably what they take to the supermarket monthly, if not weekly, yet we are supposed to survive and feed and support our families. We are left to feed and support our families and be present at work every day for a whole month on your “gas money”!!

This is madness. I see life getting more and more expensive every day. Food, which is a vital need, skyrocketed over the past few years, and since then there has been no slowing down or end to it. Gas, transportation costs, health, etc keep getting more expensive, yet the salaries of the slaves of the nation like myself remain dormant.

There are days when I get up and feel like not going to work as I’ve got no inspiration, no motivation at all because at the end of the month there is nothing to show for a month’s work. Take last Christmas, for example. I had no “Christmas dinner” as I couldn’t afford to buy food. My mom and I had nothing to eat. After paying all my debts I had nothing left to buy anything to cook for the most festive holiday of the year.

This was a first for me and my mother.

I had to go to a get-together where I was given a styrofoam plate of food with rice that wasn’t even cooked properly while my mom at home ate a piece of “cake” given to her that had more flour in it than any other ingredients. We survived, though. We are grateful.

I’m sure the prime minister had so much to choose from. I’m sure she had more prepared than she wanted or could consume, and I’m mighty sure she wasn’t thinking about the poor. I’m sure while she ate and laughed she had not a care in the world for anything else but the moment.

I’m not an advisor to the prime minister or any arm of the Government. I’m not telling her how to run the country, but what I’m trying to get across to the leaders is that we need more. People are suffering a whole lot in this country. Sure, some of us may be employed, but we all know that we deserve more. I know you know we deserve more. What is currently happening is cruel. Taxing so much of the pittance we earn. I just hope you read the newspapers. I just hope you get a chance to read this yourself.

If you truly have a heart, please prove me wrong. Please show you really love the poor. Please show us you are worthy to be trusted to lead this country on the right path. If not I plead that you just step aside and let someone with a heart, let someone who cares, someone who listens to the people [and the news], let someone who has suffered too and who knows what it’s like to suffer lead this country.

I am tired of living life as a slave. I am tired of the suffering. I’m tired of all the blatant political lies. I am tired of this Government and the Opposition too. This country needs a leader, and thus far neither Andrew Holness nor Portia Simpson Miller has proven to be that person.

I’ve only been around for 25 years but I’ve lived long enough to have identified one such person, one for whom I have a great amount of respect. Unfortunately that person is no longer in active politics. That person is the Rt Hon Percival James Patterson.

Since his departure from Jamaica’s political landscape, I’ve watched the country plummet deeper into shambles. I’ve watched the nation fall, and if it wasn’t for sports and the likes of Asafa Powell, Usain Bolt, etc, the country wouldn’t even be recognised or be associated with anything good or positive.

There is so much I would like to say to you, Mrs Simpson Miller. There is so much I would love for you to see and experience, but unfortunately at the present moment I can’t, so I’m asking you to just look into yourself, the life of others and the well-being of this country and make the right choices.

Just think about it.

Slave in distress

Kerrmainc_ent@yahoo.com