Dear Editor,

The Emancipendence holidays are behind us, and while I worked on both holidays, I have to admit that I felt the Emancipation Day spirit more than that of Independence Day.

Let’s backtrack to the first day of Independence, August 6, 1962. Old records show that the crowd was in a jubilant mood. No longer did we have to pay fealty to the British, who was responsible for putting Jamaica under enslavement and colonialism. We were able to chart our course as a free people, to finally have a country where children will never have to bear the social injustices that our forefathers bore, such as being overworked, underpaid, and judged by their skin and hair length instead of their skills and character.

But none of that happened in totality.

Instead, the first hiccup was that the constitution still recognises the man who sits on the throne in Buckingham Palace with the governor general as his agent. Even more poignant is that the current constitution, as well as the future one being planned, gives too much power to the prime minister, effectively making the holder a five-year führer who will only be changed by an election on a date determined by said five-year führer when politically convenient. And added to that, the prime minister is also a Member of Parliament, meaning that there is very little separation, if any, between the executive and legislative. Even though the governor general and soon-to-be president is the de jure executive, the de facto boss sits in Jamaica House and Gordon House.

This power embedded in the seat of the prime minister has resulted in the political violence which simmered in the ‘60s and exploded in the ‘70s, the beginning of our high murder rate. No longer were the people united in ensuring that we have a country where all are treated and dealt with equally before the law, instead they were fighting for one political strongman or the other.

The end result? Our country is riddled with crime. And the foot soldiers of the undeclared civil war have exchanged their political colours for organised crime.

This doesn’t mean that there isn’t a single good thing happening in Jamaica. We have sporting stars such as Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. We are at a strategic location along air and sea routes. Our tourism industry is the strongest in the Caribbean. We have reggae and dancehall. And we have people who are innovative.

But it ultimately means little, as our government is occupied by two parties who are only interested in power, and the wealthy cares very little about what happens outside their homes and businesses unless it affects them. We are similar to most African countries, in that we have a lot of natural and human resources we can use, but the Government fails to utilise them to their maximum potential and a society that is constantly at war with itself and does not know what it wants.

While I think that a study should be done on Jamaica’s progress as a State since Independence, I believe that we may have made some bad choices that will make most of the 62 years free of British rule lost years, and the country is now at a three-way crossroads: one leading to dictatorship and kleptocracy, one leading to civil war, and the other to a republic in which the people can finally see the prosperity that this country has to offer and partake in it.

Sadly, the pessimist in me thinks that Jamaica stands a better chance of going down the first two roads.

Marcus White

whitemarc918@gmail.com