You cannot ask or depend on the majority to take a side that often benefits what is considered a minority. This stance has been the innately selfish mindset of many who have not taken the time to understand “what is being discussed” for many years. And so, knee-jerk comments, immovable institutional memories and conventions, and, worse, what I have repeated as “the doctrine of doing nothing” prevails.

In other words, many Jamaicans adopt the view that, “It’s not my circus, and not my monkey.”

Do you need to be blind to care about people who are blind? If you are seen caring about blind people, is the assumption that you’re only preparing for your said blindness?

It’s time we wake up, Jamaica, and move past these insular thinking patterns, for many of our people have been and continue to suffer under the weight of insularity.

As a result, and regrettably, it is often the brash, unsubstantiated, uninformed opinions that now reign supreme amid the comments sections in traditional and social media that bludgeon rational arguments not being a fact or beneficial to the people.

For example, “I’m only here for the comments,” or “I’ll circle back, too early for the comments.”

We have to start liberating our minds and walking in the direction of constant change, especially if we expect our little island to continue to punch above our weight class as a global titan.

Over the past 20 years we have had little progress with gender equality, providing adequate health care and mental health counselling services, growing agriculture, monetising our culture and creative industries, ensuring a globally competitive education, creating meaningful economic growth, and the effectiveness of our political processes.

Yet, I do not blame our people, because a nation is motivated by examples from those in leadership. I’m most disappointed with many of my colleagues in Parliament who have only become tokens. Whenever I raise these issues, they say, “Good, Lisa, tell them,” or “I read your article last week. It was so good, can’t wait for next week,” as if they think I’m writing a gossip column.

Let us take, for example, our health-care system which I have been writing about for some time. It seems all our discussions about how bad our health care system is continues to be a mainstay, with both political sides pointing to what’s wrong, emphasising problems rather than solutions.

In my experience at public hospitals, our citizens are subjected to prolonged situations which can be avoided if both sides decide to put the health of our citizenry first, rather than getting elected or stay in power. So now, health care is the political public relations show, with the PNP holding press conferences and having prospective members of Parliament exposing inadequate health-care facilities and the crisis within the communities they seek to represent, saying the Government “is out of touch with reality”.

Ergo, the Ministry of Health and Wellness had doubled down with the country’s “top performing minister” — as concluded by national polls — responding that he acknowledges that patients are having difficulties; however, he could not fathom how the Opposition “could be claiming that somehow the public health system has not seen the greatest level of reform since Independence”.

While Caesar fiddles, Rome continues to burn

For decades we stood by and watched with our eyes wide shut as the sugar cane and banana industries died slowly. Both sides seemed afraid to pull the plug on sugar cane. Why? Because of the sugar belt votes. “Remember, the cane farmers are sympathetic to us,” were the whispers in both political camps.

Instead of being proactive, we didn’t prepare, have any post-planning, or seriously replace the crops or the yields with anything. Worse, we have neither upgraded the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) or our training facilities to meet international competitive standards. Therefore, we continue to produce ‘samples’, rather than substantial produce, or even one product to compete globally on an accurate scale.

So the Dominican Republic beats us in the region with a 21st century agricultural industry from the primary product, manufacturing, and export of banana and plantain chips.

Value-added export agriculture should be our focus to save the livelihood of the largest pool of our labour force. There are over 200,000 farmers in Jamaica.

I’ve spoken on these topics since the start of my political journey. Now, nearly two decades later, and I’m still here. Imagine if we all did and made more bipartisan decisions to implement just one of them. Jamaica would be further ahead.

We need proactive, operationalised approaches that are courageous, strategic, and efficient. However, political and tribal one-upmanship continues to permeate attitudes that invariably lead to stalemates, which see the doctrine of doing nothing prevailing.

We are one year away from a possible general election and, for all intense purposes, Comrades and Labourites have retreated to the comforts of their propagandising echo chambers. Regardless of these political activities, as leaders, we must immediately commence a process of strategic global repositioning ourselves based on an accurate “foresighting” of global opportunities and a careful analysis of the goods and services in which we have or can develop a sustained competitive advantage in a rapidly changing world.

Our unique value-added agricultural, cultural, and entertainment products and services from our people’s talent can grow our economy and improve the socio-economic fabric within communities. We must train our people with the skill sets and give them incentives for the tools of trade so they can invest in these niches. To succeed in exporting any one of these products at even a 1 per cent world market share would transform Jamaica into the country for which we all yearn.

We have been operating with our eyes wide shut for too long, relying on the residual spin-offs of Brand Jamaica without stimulating its sustainability with realistic resources and enterprising government policy. There is fierce urgency now calling on us to change our old habits. Let’s employ the doctrine of doing something.

Lisa Hanna

Lisa Hanna is Member of Parliament for St Ann South Eastern, People’s National Party spokesperson on foreign affairs and foreign trade, and a former Cabinet member.