Dear Editor,

Most people are afraid of failure. No normal person wants to be associated with failure, so it seems we have some very abnormal managers of Jamaica.

Lately Jamaica has been faced with misery, gloom, fiascos, and botches. Too many policies have turned out to be abject, epic failures. We are shocked by crime and violence while we are told that there is nothing to worry about, and that Jamaica is the best place to do business even if you can’t breathe. Now we are in the midst of a serious public health risk because of the Riverton fire. Already there are direct and indirect costs associated with this debacle with economic and productivity consequences we can ill afford as a nation.

Does the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) have sole jurisdiction for solid waste management in Jamaica? Even by Third World standards, the management of Riverton dump is poor and lacking, as we are decades behind where we should be. It is a shame that in this day and age we are operating the Riverton dump as a big rubbish heap instead of a landfill or organised solid waste treatment plant and compost factory. The health and environmental experts continue to flap in their confusion even as we read about carcinogenic pollutants. Managers and directors who are paid to ensure that we can breathe spend much of their time reacting, fumbling and bungling instead of planning, organising, directing and controlling; the latter would have restricted access to the site. What a shame! How about a little management?

When events are cyclical in nature we know they are going to happen; they are predictable. The cycle of the annual drought, hillside fires, Riverton blaze, hurricane season, rainy months are all events that we know are going to happen. Yet, every year they come with great amazement. We sit on our derrières and wait for the event, act surprised, issue a press release, then throw blame at each other like silly schoolchildren who play marbles on a swift river bank.

Our shame tree is as dead as a door post. I am tired of the incompetence of our public officials. Where is the shame in dismal and pathetic management? Is anyone ashamed of the incidence of abject failure? Shouldn’t there be more proactive management in the operations and goings on in Jamaica, especially as it affects our vulnerable citizens? What about regulatory oversight?

Since the executive director of the NSWMA has absolved herself of blame; who therefore is the responsible person? Is anyone in charge? Why isn’t there any accountability? Whose head will roll for ignoring and rejecting scholarly information on the management of the Riverton dump?

Sandra M Taylor Wiggan

sandra_wiggan@yahoo.co.uk