Dear Editor,

The conditions of our cemeteries and bridges are symptomatic of the levels of corruption and bad governance in our country.

In the 50s and 60s the condition of bridges and cemeteries was a pleasant view to our eyes. The May Pen Cemetery in Kingston was a landmark, an excellent example of a well-kept resting place for those who had passed on.

Fast-track to today and one would prefer that the Forestry Department takes over most of the cemeteries across the island. Our founding fathers made sure that critical bridges were constructed and maintained as an important part of our physical infrastructure network to improve the country’s production and productivity.

With less resources, gross domestic product (GDP), and debt, Jamaica, in the past, was able to construct and maintain its bridges and cemeteries. So where did the country fall down on its responsibilities, vision, and commitment to maintain these critical parts of our infrastructure? It cannot be that we lack the financial resources to address the problem; after all, this 2024-2025 budget marks the second year in which our expenditure has reached over $1 trillion.

The trillion-dollar budget is not the problem, it is the possibility of losing 12 per cent — as stated by corruption watch dog agencies — of the budget to the corrupt practices of the Government, its agents and agencies. This 12 per cent is enough to bring all at-risk bridges and overgrown cemeteries to required standards.

Over the past 10 years, our leaders’ priorities have not been to use the national budget to improve the quality of life of the people but to load the political plate of the corrupt and the connected for them to “eat a food”. We saw in the auditor general’s report that the three ministries, including the ministry headed by the prime minister, that has responsibility for maintenance of bridges account for over $1 trillion spent over a period. Yet in that same period the Rock bridge in Falmouth; Springvale bridge in Church Pen, St Catherine; Troy bridge in Trelawny; Longwood bridge in Westmoreland; and Woodside bridge in Hanover remained inaccessible to traffic because of funding issues.

These governance and corruption issues will remain as long as impeachment legislation remains on the back burner. It has been over 2000 days since the prime minister promised that he would have brought the legislation to Parliament within his first 100 days in office. Since then the Integrity Commission said it is investigating six Members of Parliament for self-enrichment from our public purse; meanwhile, our cemeteries are being turned into forests, our bridges have been falling apart, and our ranking on the corruption perception index is increasing.

A country cannot progress in this kind of environment.

Fernández Smith

fgeesmith@yahoo.com