Dear Editor,

The headline ‘Jamaica Broilers takes flight from Haiti’, published in the Jamaica Observer on September 30, jumped out at me. The journalist’s choice of words is not innocent. The impression one gets is that of an individual who flees a country and is happy to escape with his/her life.

I have a great regard for Jamaica Broilers, unlike Member of Parliament (MP) Lothan Cousins. I believe that they are good corporate citizens. When they cut the price of chicken by $12.50 per kilogram, effective August 18, 2022, the MP for Clarendon South Western could only see “another three-card trick…to prop up the Government”. Partisan politics could not allow him to see the disinterested benevolence of the company.

When they decided to set up shop in Haiti in 2012 I thought it was an excellent idea. Our Caribbean neighbour is only 50 minutes away and has a much larger population than us (11.4 million). Although a company has to look at its bottom line, it was to the benefit of the Haitian economy and its people. Now, a decade later, they have had to pull up stumps. The project was just untenable. No matter how benevolent a company is, it has to make hard decisions after a 44 per cent drop in revenue and skyrocketing losses of $364.51 million. Employees must be able to live in peace and go to work without fear.

Fortunately, revenue from their US operation grew by 26 per cent and revenue from their Jamaican operation grew by 38 per cent.

I have been to Haiti on four occasions, all between 1974 and 1977. I have no desire to go there now. I saw a peaceful country and a hospitable people. A Haitian friend told me on my visit, “Your president [he meant prime minister] is joking with crime.” I asked a Canadian resident about crime. He told me this: “The greatest threat is to be held up by a woman in the streets of Port-au-Prince.” He meant that the greatest threat I faced was being propositioned by a prostitute. I asked about rape. My hostess was dumbfounded at my question because a woman could walk without fear along the dark roads of Diquini at 4:30 in the morning.

There was Reynolds Haiti Mines and tourists came from North America and France. I remember one year waiting to check in for my flight back to Jamaica and I saw a Frenchman, all smiles, vaunting the advantages of Airbus. He had no care in the world. I remember hearing of the rice cultivation in Artibonite and the vegetable cultivation in Kenscoff. I remember, in a period of shortages in Jamaica, taking advantage of a visit to stock up on toothpaste, soap, and batteries. All these now seem to be things of the distant past.

My heart bleeds for the first independent republic in the Americas. However, if I seem nostalgic, it is to declare to Jamaicans that we could easily be in the same situation if we allow the anarchists and “suicidal jihadists” (to quote Guardian Life President Eric Hosin) to have their way. Too many people in this country are Jamaicans only in name. How come the guy who went to school with you is your enemy? How come the people who live in the lane that runs parallel to yours are your enemies? How come people who vote for the other party are your enemies? How come we have invisible boundaries beyond which you dare not go on pain of death?

Investments pour into countries with educated populations and where there is a semblance of law and order. Unlike many Jamaicans, I have no qualms about investments from abroad and foreign banks. I have nothing against the Spanish and Chinese owning businesses in Jamaica. It is not the primary role of Government to provide jobs. Their role is to create a climate in which entrepreneurs — local and foreign — are motivated to establish operations on the island. We don’t have a clue of how good things could be. We could have investments not only from Spain and China but from France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, etc. All this after the prospective investors are apprised of Jamaican culture and our labour laws.

As I said, Jamaica could go down the Haitian route if we are not careful. Entrepreneurs, even local, do not invest in countries/communities with a high crime rate.

But so sad for the country whose cars bore the expression: “Perle des Antilles” on their licence plates.

I wish the principals of Jamaica Broilers all the best in their Jamaican and US operations. Perhaps they could think of the Dominican Republic next.

Norman W M Thompson

norms74160@gmail.com