Reneto Adams, the US, and Huawei

YOU must wonder what the motivation was in respect of the decision by the United States, through its outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, last week, to ban six members of the former Crime Management Unit of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, and their families from entering the United States.

US authorities cited extrajudicial killings by the unit, but these were the same men who were arrested, charged, and freed by the courts, so what’s the big deal? Reneto Adams retired long ago and is in his seventies; one member of the team has since died, another has become a preacher, at least one is still in the force, and I’m not sure where the others are.

It seems strange that when US police kill black men and women, in the face of hard video evidence in many cases, the reaction is not what it ought to be. The US must examine its human rights abuses first before it can judge others. All lives really matter.

That leads me to another brewing matter, technological in nature… of an ongoing push by the US, started by outgoing President Donald Trump, to tarnish the efforts and capabilities of service provider Huawei, which, among other things, offers its goodies to the Jamaican market, and several others globally.

The many moves that have been made to discredit Huawei cannot be counted. As recent as last month, the State Department was in the process of lobbying countries in the Central American and Caribbean region to ban Huawei’s 5G technology. But why? Huawei is not even run by the Chinese Government. It was formed by one man 33 years ago, and is now successfully operated by individuals.

There are efforts to get the Jamaica Government to block Huawei from these shores, but I hope that the Holness Administration will push aside any kind of pressure, even if it seems that one high-ranking Jamaican official is working to toss the company aside.

This smacks of part of the Trump agenda saying it was robbed of the presidential election, when there is no evidence of that. Similarly, Huawei, the world’s top smartphone brand, is being accused of cybersecurity breaches that could allow China to spy on the US, when there is still no evidence of it. No security breach by the world’s largest information and communications technology provider has been reported anywhere, globally, while still boasting the best technology, and at the end of 2019 reported its annual revenue at just under US$123 billion, and an employment base of almost 200,000 people in 170 countries worldwide.

Sadly, this is a continuation of an economic warfare by the US and China, which will take the global community nowhere.

The pain of West Indies in Tests

Hopefully, by now, the West Indies would not have lost the second cricket Test match already against New Zealand in that country.

As a lover of the game, sacrificing sleep time is, to borrow a term from golf, par for the course. But when the result at day’s end is constant and consistent beatings, you have to consider how far love ought to go. The thing is, if I end this relationship, I could always get back my lover when improvements are on the horizon, or when they become reality.

But you have to wonder why the people charged with making things happen, positively, in the West Indies camp, appear to be so brainless. I’ve never heard of a dunce excelling in cricket, so we need to determine the ability and competence of the region’s cricketers if things are not to continue to end in disappointment.

The team made the same mistake of the recent series against England — winning tosses and inserting the opposition only for them to bat the Windies out of the game. Nobody seems to learn.

The habit of continuing with Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell as openers has developed into a major disease. And when you look at the batting order it is easy to see why the team cannot make it.

Wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich has been dropping more balls than catching them. His non-selection for the second Test was a blessing.

The bowlers lack an intimate touch with a coach who can use his own experience and develop their craft. The bowling coach now, Roddy Estwick, should focus on weightlifting or weight losing. Curtly Ambrose and Andy Roberts are waiting. No coach knows it like them.

If Head Coach Phil Simmons is behind some of the decisions we have been seeing, he should simply pack his bags. Desmond Haynes, the logical candidate of all the applicants last year, has to be the man. Too much fooling around has been going on. It has to stop.

The signs were there too, when the Ricky Skerritt administration went for Roger Harper as chairman of selectors — a waste of time. The chairman has tremendous power. Let no one tell you otherwise. But Harper will not take the tough, bold decisions that face him. He will not support the playing of people like Kieron Pollard, Andre Fletcher, Nick Pooran, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas, Sheldon Cotterell in Test cricket, even if he knows quite well that the dynamics of cricket have changed over time.

A windshield wipers’ big chest

SOMEONE could have told me that the cost of wiping one’s vehicle windshield by those young men on the street had gone up.

To my dismay, I was detained by a traffic light showing red at an intersection at Three Miles in St Andrew last Thursday, and was immediately swarmed by two young fellows, one, a boy of no more than 10, the other in his late teens.

They proceeded to wipe the windshield, which was clean anyway. So I thought to myself that giving them $100 would have been met with a smile broader than anything you would see from Oliver Samuels. Lo and behold, the estimated 10-year-old, with a serious look, suggested: “Bossy, ina dem ya time you cyaa gi we nutten less than $500, yu nuh.”

Oh boy! … all of $500 to wipe a clean windshield. Gladly, the light changed to something resembling a staple at Calabar High School. I had, in effect, saved $400. What a lesson! My approach to windshield wipers will, henceforth, take on a different complexion.

Work from home and traffic

WHY is there so much traffic on the streets of the Corporate Area, at peak hour or not, when so many companies have said that a majority of their workforces operate from home? A few weeks ago, J Wray & Nephew said that two thirds of its employees work from home. More recently, National Commercial Bank said that 62 per cent of its staff was doing business from home.

Other companies have said also that many of their staff stayed home and work. So why between the hours of 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm, in particular, is the traffic still as bad as before the arrival of the novel coronavirus?

It could not be a result of more visitors to Jamaica arriving, as numbers are down; the rain has eased somewhat since last week, and although there are senior potholes around, that should only slow, but not stop traffic flow.

Could it be that workers who operate from home decide to be on the street at those times regardless, or is it that those working from home do not drive? It is a strange situation. Last week while heading into the Corporate Area from Clarendon, the outgoing traffic in the Six Miles/Ferry region was brutal. And we still say so many people are working from home? I shudder to think what would happen if they were not