According to the USA-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the chikungunya virus was found for the first time in the Americas and Caribbean islands in late 2013. Chikungunya is described as a viral disease that is transmitted to people by mosquitoes.

But do not tell this to the average Jamaican who is convinced that this modern-day plague has nothing to do with those annoyingly buzzing insects that are ever-present in our island home. While officialdom has chosen a relatively harmless moniker for the disease, “CHIKV”, Jamaicans have come up with some more scary names such as “Chicken-gunman” or “Chicken-gonorrhoea”. And in this context, many Jamaicans have asserted with much conviction that the disease was man-made, perhaps by some unconscionable, racist scientists who have used Africa as their laboratories to test viruses that may be used in biological warfare. Others vociferously maintain that it is airborne. Some even go as far as saying that the light aircraft which crashed off the coast of Portland recently was in fact a drone packed with capsules of the virus that was aimed at Cuba but veered from its planned course accidentally. “You nuh see how quick dem call off the search?” the sceptics argue.

Whatever its origin may be, chikungunya is here and will be with us for a long time. This debilitating illness is taking its toll on the Jamaican population. It is estimated by the relevant authorities that some 60 per cent of the population will come down with it.

It is a very painful and harrowing experience. Indeed, one female victim has said that it is more painful than labour pains. From anecdotal accounts that have come to my attention, this may well be true; however, what I find most remarkable is that most of the victims I have spoken with have taken it in stride, and in many instances muster enough courage to joke about it.

Against this background, the music fraternity (dancehall) has already put pen to paper and has been coming up with some compelling, catchy and humorous lyrics. Such is the nature of us Jamaicans, “wi tek bad sinting mek joke”. We have also “tun wi hand mek fashion” in that home remedies have been widely used instead of recommended pharmaceuticals. The celebrated “bissy” tops the list, and one wonders why, even as Dr Henry Lowe and others extol the many virtues of ganja, they have not sought to do intensive research on this plant, which for decades has been known to have some miraculous medicinal qualities including being an antidote for a number of poisons. Then again, I may be wrong, so I stand to be enlightened.

In the meantime, the frenzy which the country has been thrown into with respect to cleaning up the environment leads one to ask: Why did it have to take the dreaded chikungunya to make us realise that we need to “sweep up wi yard”? In a previous article in this newspaper, prior to the chikungunya outbreak, entitled ‘The uglification of Jamaica,’ I wrote: “The time has come for successive governments to come up with a comprehensive policy framework and plan of action to counter this growing uglification of Jamaica.”

The current knee-jerk reaction is therefore not good enough. To put it bluntly, too many Jamaicans are too nasty. There are very few communities in this so-called island paradise that are not replete with garbage and filth. Bushing and cleaning of drains, regarded as “bollo work” given out seasonally, turn out more to be a way of rewarding the partisan faithful. Indeed, we have oftentimes seen where the same people who are paid to clean a drain or gully of garbage are the same ones who aid and abet in the continued disposal of refuse and solid waste in these same areas. So we end up with a recurring decimal! Who benefits in the final analysis?

It is well known where mosquitoes breed, yet all over Jamaica we perennially ignore their breeding sites to our ultimate peril. Millions of man-hours are being lost because of absenteeism at the workplace and it must be clear that the nation’s productivity level is being seriously affected. How will this play out in our bid to continue successfully passing the IMF tests? Are the highly touted public education campaigns — which should also be costing a tidy sum — having any meaningful effect? Will this be just another nine-day wonder until another virus visits our shores?

Already the growing panic of the imminent arrival of the Ebola virus (much of which is irrational based mostly on ignorance) is creating a state of “chronic” to be readily exploited by politics and the Church. No doubt, the latter may well argue that these are signs of the end of time. We are paying for our sins, they will maintain, having fallen from grace. In the meantime, the hapless Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson must have now realised that there are some things that are far more difficult to accomplish than pulling teeth — eminent dentist that he is. He has been battered and bruised, and it is being maintained that he should have been more proactive. While it may well be argued that the buck must stop at his desk with respect to this matter, it is time that we begin to teach Jamaicans to take personal responsibility for their surroundings.

I close with this response to my previous article from Leon Fearon, a 17-year-old living in the parish of Manchester: “I must say that I enjoyed your article on the uglification of Jamaica. I agree, too many people in Jamaica do not care about the environment, neither are they aware of the negative implications these actions could have in the future. Where I live many people burn their garbage, especially plastics, without realising that it affects public health and pollutes the air. Too many times have I seen vehicles coughing up big puffs of smoke from their exhausts, which was shown by the WHO to contain and add [cancer-causing] carcinogens.

“Too many times I have seen nasty heaps of garbage in this country caused by those who do not care about the environment. This, I believe, may be caused by the lack of public education campaigns by public health departments and the Government, and definitely the lack of enforcement by the police. The environment is something we live in and depend on for survival and it’s our job as humans to sustain it as best as possible, or else Jamaica will have another problem up its sleeve in the future. I hope in the future the Government would start to enforce these more and educate the public.”

I could not have said it better. Educate, enforce, empower must be the mantra if Jamaica is to stay safe and clean for generations to come and beyond. Enough said!

Lloyd B Smith is a member of parliament and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the People’s National Party or the Government of Jamaica.

lloydbsmith@hotmail.com