Golding flops Westmoreland squatters

If the stance had been taken by someone else, it would still be bad, yet not as dreadful.

But for the Opposition leader and president of the People’s National Party Mark Golding to have adopted the position that people who captured properties in Westmoreland and made it their home deserved to remain there, then he would have sunken to a low not in keeping with his own conduct.

Bertel Moore, the mayor of Savanna-la-Mar, may be forgiven for wanting to be too parochial, as head of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation, in mooting the point too, that the 27 people who have taken over land at Little Bay, Brighton, and Savanna Point, should remain there. But not so Golding.

You see, Golding is not just leader of Jamaica’s oldest political party, he is a lawyer of no mean order, and importantly in the scheme of things, an investor also… one who knows that investment is the oxygen that a country breathes in order to stay viable. And in this case, as determined by the Jamaican court, the real owner of the property is a United States citizen, Kathleen Eugster, who, along with her husband, John, purchased it, legitimately, and over which John was killed 18 years ago. We are now told that Eugster needs the land to put up a US$5-billion project from which several Jamaicans will no doubt benefit with work.

One of the problems we have in Jamaica is that people just see land not being used, start planting a patch of callaloo, or pepper seedlings, realise that they grow progressively and no one but himself reaped it, then proceed to press along by putting up structures, room by room, and thinking that after a few years of freedom from the ‘capitalist oppressors’, or ‘big man’, they have the right to be called rightful owners.

So what is the message being sent to future investors?

I readily agree that land ought to be made available to citizens of this island who desire to build their houses and raise families. But not at any cost. Laws must be observed and respected. And this is where such an influential individual as Golding comes in. He knows better, or should know better at any rate. At his level, he needs not drop his standards to plead a case that is non-existent.

By making people believe that land is theirs, when it is not, is like being an accessory to an unlawful act. Golding has told the squatters that they have a right to the property, but they have no such right. They broke the law, and must suffer the consequences. We should not encourage the free-for-all mentality any longer in this country, certainly not for a fistful of votes.

A fine man, is Karl Samuda

As he prepared to speak in the Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives last Tuesday, veteran Member of Parliament and Cabinet minister Karl Samuda hinted that his days in Gordon House, the seat of the Jamaican Parliament, may be numbered.

Well, you may say that everyone who sits in Gordon House should realise that their days are also numbered, for we know not at what point the Great Architect of the Universe will invite us to lay our heads on the other side. But Samuda, who turned 80 on February 8 this year, would have given the notice to his landlords at Duke Street based upon the time he has spent at the famous [infamous to some] place where so many laws have been crafted.

Samuda is a lovely man…always good to have around you in a conversation over a few drinks. His knowledge of Jamaican life and customs is impeccable. He, like a few of his colleagues in Parliament, speaks his mind freely, many times openly, and is usually quite respectful of others.

Whenever he decides to leave the House of Representatives, and the Cabinet, he will be missed. Not many can boast about his achievements, having served both the Jamaica Labour Party, and the People’s National Party as MP. He would have sat in JLP Cabinets led by Bruce Golding, and Andrew Holness, as a minister of state in Eddie Seaga’s, and also PJ Patterson’s PNP Administration.

Although he lost to Dr Ken McNeill when he represented the JLP in St Andrew North Western in 1976, Samuda took control of the seat in 1980, and has held onto it since, including the 1993 election for the PNP, which is a remarkable 42-year expression of confidence in him by the people of that constituency.

By the way, could Samuda be giving us a hint that Prime Minister Holness is nearing a Cabinet reshuffle? By July maybe, after Kamina Johnson Smith becomes the next Commonwealth Secretary General?

Labour shortage or not?

Maybe it did not come from the mouth of Prime Minister Holness as it ought to have, but his comments about a possible shortage of skilled labour to undertake such major projects like the one to be done by RIU Hotel group soon, has woken up the ants.

I have checked with quite a few contractors and builders involved in the construction industry, and the reactions to the prime minister’s assertions have been a mixed bag of damn nonsense, to bald reality.

I am aware that when major developers from China, France, or Spain set out to do structural projects in Jamaica, they usually want to bring in their own people to run certain aspects of the operation. Challenges, too, are there, in respect of the attitude of some Jamaican construction workers, as employers charge that they drag their feet, a claim the workers dismiss as false, countering that they often work under slavery-like conditions, and for measly wages.

As the Jamaica economy grows, the demand for labour, skilled labour in particular, will be greater. This would mean that training agencies like HEART, which falls under the direct responsibility of the prime minister, must be able to churn out the necessary skilled people, or else foreign is where Jamaica must look. Now, even if they are to come here, few people from foreign lands will be attracted by Jamaica’s rates of pay, so that’s another issue.

The best thing arising from this verbal skirmish though, is that another hotel will be built in Jamaica, which will redound to the greater benefit of the economy. RIU’s decision to add another property, this time in Trelawny, to the six that it now has in Jamaica is an indication that the hotel chain has found more confidence in this island and what it has to offer. Important too, is that unlike the fuss surrounding squatters capturing lands in Westmoreland, the Spanish investors do not have to engage in a similar fight.

The service that Jamaica’s hotels provide for guests from near and far is impeccable… I dare say the best in the Caribbean, as one who has visited all islands in the region.

By the time construction begins on the RIU Trelawny property, hopefully there will be no disruptions caused by insufficiently skilled people, nor any protest by some who believe that they should be a part of the workforce, though they may be deemed not as qualified to be a part of the important investment.

Handling violence at school

One of the worst things to happen to children is for them to witness physical confrontation at schools – their place of learning.

In Jamaica, many of our children are already exposed to violent acts at home involving their parents or guardians. Frequently too, they are the subject of beatings and other forms of physical punishments, even if they do nothing to deserve that kind of treatment.

So when you beat up children and expect them to be better individuals when they get older, you continue to fool yourself. And to compound things, those who advocate the ‘spare the rod, spoil the child’ nonsense, are still stuck in their days of the slavery mentality to realise that when you hit children, you are merely laying the foundation for violence and crime to flourish in years to come.

That unfortunate incident at Coronaldi Primary School in St James last month brought home the fact of how violent Jamaicans are. A security guard, whose job it is to protect the children at the institution, was attacked by a man who reports said had gone there to pick up his stepchild, but apparently did not follow the rules of the institution, which led to the physical confrontation, in full view of the young ones.

We now see where the matter has been sent to mediation before the next court date on Wednesday, May 4, and hopefully, the man seen beating the hell out of the guard will come to his senses, beg for mercy and sign up for anger management classes.

People often pay scant regard to security guards in this country. They behave as if guards are not human, and so, they proceed to show disrespect to them quite frequently. Again, it comes down to a view that seems to have gained traction, that many in this country believe they are better than security guards, maybe because some employers of guards have them working for such long hours, pay them so very little, and treat them so bad.

Better must come.