Several years ago I overheard a young woman saying to her friend, “Me, mi dear. Mi nah work anywhere whey mi can’t tief.” She was a cashier.

In a March 10, 2016 Jamaica Observer column, the late Barbara Gloudon wrote: “My late, great friend and brother by long association Professor Rex Nettleford has left behind a warehouse of pungent statements to remind us, as a nation, of the many failings which have been holding us back from the opportunity to fulfil our greatest possibilities.

“His famous ‘buttuh in a Benz’ has survived the passing of time and still remains a reproach of failure to recognise the true identity of who we really are. Another phrase, less quoted, is another source of caution. ‘Our hearts are laced with larceny.’ It might not represent everyone, but we have to admit that there are too many of us with a fondness for thievery — a habit which is taking us backward not forward.

“If so many see nothing wrong in making off with what is not ours, even if it is only a ‘lickle something’, how can we hope to prosper? Not every Jamaican carries larceny in their hearts, of course. Unfortunately, however, there is an unhealthy number of fellow citizens who are dedicated to the pursuit of ill-gotten gain and continue to defend it saying, ‘Ah nuh nutten!’ “

My friend and colleague wrote these words some seven years ago and, alas, they continue to ring true even to this day. Some sociologists and academic practitioners have alluded to the assertion that too many of us are beset with the Anancy psyche which we inherited from our ancestors who hailed from the African continent. According to a Jamaica Information Service post, “In Jamaica folk tradition, Anancy is a mischievous spider who is always tricking persons to get what he wants. Stories about this character have origins in the Akan culture in Africa. These were transmitted to Jamaica from that continent with the slaves who were transported to Jamaica in the transatlantic slave trade.”

Those of us who are 60 years and older will recall that in our childhood days we revelled in the wily and sometimes conniving antics of the spiderman with sticky fingers as our elders told us stories of his many exploits. It remains to be seen or determined how much these tales of “jinalship” and “bandoolooism” have infiltrated our national psyche to the extent that in today’s Jamaica Anancyism has become a national pastime, even while Anancy himself is one of our unofficial national heroes.

The alleged shenanigans at Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL), among other financial entities, including private companies and public bodies, have clearly affirmed that Anancy is alive and well and kicking up a storm. Indeed, it took this latest scandal involving a national icon and international sport superstar Usain St Leo Bolt, in which he is supposed to have been robbed of millions of United States dollars to give this larceny-sick nation a wake-up call and for us to realise that it cannot be business as usual. All well-thinking citizens should hold Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke to their words of assurance that no stone will be left unturned in bringing to book the miscreants who have been part and parcel of this major scam which may well end up in the Guinness World Records or Ripley’s Believe It or Not!

Larceny, which is the theft of personal property, is rampant in Jamaica. One of the most common is praedial larceny that has seen many farmers losing their valuable livestock and food produce to unconscionable thieves who former agriculture minister, the late Roger Clarke, disparagingly dubbed “two-foot puss”. To date, successive governments and law enforcement bodies have failed to come up with an effective and sufficiently punitive response to this egregious crime, which is being committed daily in this country. Most of these farmers are relatively poor individuals with very little education who have turned to the soil or raising domestic animals to not only feed themselves and the nation but to better the lives of themselves and their families. And let us not forget that many a university graduate or successful professional owe their upward climb along the socio-economic ladder to a hard-working farmer who has to wake up before daylight in the morning to go tend to his livestock or crops. To put it bluntly, these thieves should face the full brunt of the law and be named and shamed publicly.

However, there is a culture in Jamaica whereby just about everybody is a hustler, and in this context it is alright to steal so long as you do not get caught. Yes, as Gloudon had opined, “Ah nuh nutten. Man haffi eat bread.” There is also the perception that it is only the “little tief” that gets caught and is duly punished, while the “big tief”, most times, gets off scot-free, especially if he or she is from uptown, is a politician, or has certain “connections”. Readers will recall that highly discussed story about an incident at King’s House when a man was caught stealing some fruit and he was severely punished by the court. Meanwhile, others steal millions from the public coffers and get a slap on the wrist or are allowed to disappear below the radar with their ill-gotten gains.

That is why this SSL saga is not likely to be a nine-day wonder but will remain uppermost in the thoughts of most Jamaicans until justice is fully served and poor Bolt is able to get back his hard-earned money that he obtained through his blood, sweat, and tears. As Jamaicans like to say, “God nah sleep.”

In the meantime, this country needs to seriously, once and for all, revisit the burning issue of values and attitudes/character education, which should be fully infused in our education system from basic school to the tertiary level. Honesty, integrity, and conscientiousness, among other desirable qualities, must be instilled in our people from an early age so as to counter the Anancy mentality.

Lloyd B Smith has been involved in Jamaican media for the past 47 years. He has also served as a Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. He hails from western Jamaica, where he is popularly known as the Governor. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or lbsmith4@gmail.com.