WESTERN BUREAU — Montego Bay’s business and political leaders yesterday urged residents of that north shore city, and the island as a whole, to recognise that Jamaicans need to unite if the country is to survive as a truly independent and successful nation for another 40 years.

Mark Kerr-Jarrett, president of the city’s chamber of commerce and industry, was among those leaders, and his challenge to Jamaicans was for them to decide whether they were going to be a part of the solution or the problem.

“Let us, at this time, perform a truthful self-analysis and ask ourselves, ‘am I part of the problem or part of the solution’ because ladies and gentlemen, there can be no neutral territory when it comes to nation building,” Kerr-Jarrett said.

The chamber president was speaking at the annual civic ceremony put on by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission to celebrate Jamaica’s Independence.

According to Kerr-Jarrett, the adults of today need to ensure that the Jamaica passed to the adults of tomorrow is better than they received it.

“We have to recognise that the Lord… has indeed blessed Jamaica with an abundance of resources — land, water, climate and, most important, a most resilient people. It is now our job to recommit to steward these talents responsibly and make a significant return on this investment. Otherwise, we will continue on the roller coaster of economic survival, merely surviving and never truly thriving,” he said.

But to attain this, he said, we needed to exercise discipline, commitment and hard work.

“For us to experience the renewal we all truly desire, let us all resolve that by the grace of God and much discipline, commitment and hard work we will not turn this nation over to our children in the same or worse condition that we received it. Otherwise, our existence has been futile and our heritage squandered,” he said.

Montego Bay’s mayor, Hugh Solomon, echoed Kerr-Jarrett’s comments.

“It is important that Jamaicans at home and abroad come together each year to reflect and celebrate this historical occasion of our independence,” Solomon said. “During this time of reflection we should take time to analyse and acknowledge from where it has brought us and where it will take us in years to come.

“I firmly believe in the people of this country. I believe that we all possess the ability to unite and advance in a spirit of national unity with the intent of bettering our nation and aiding in its development.”

However, the mayor said we had to start looking at August 6 as more than “just another holiday”.

“It is a celebration of our heritage, our culture and our liberation from colonialism and we need to be united in our efforts to preserve these things,” Solomon said.

“As a developing country, we have had to continue to have our share of struggle. But I believe that if our founding fathers died believing in the strength and the will of their fellow Jamaicans and the ability to lift up Jamaica and overcome adversity, we should honour their memory by proving them right.”

Lawyer and Opposition politician Clive Mullings said Jamaicans need also to evaluate our failures over the last 40 years.

“As we celebrate 40 years of Independence as a nation, we need to reflect not only on our successes but also on our failures so that we may learn and resolve not to repeat them,” Mullings said.

“As we embrace this new creed of globalisation, perceived by many as a panacea of our problems, we must ensure that we do not whittle away our remaining culture with the mistaken belief that self-indulgence and the pursuit of pleasure are the measures of success when in fact they are impostors.”

Added Mullings: “It is our independence of thought, inspired by the indomitable Jamaican spirit that will bring us through our difficulties. It is love of country, not love of self which will bring unity that we all crave.”

The ceremony, which lasted about an hour-and-a-half, was without incident save for a rather loud mouthed, temperamental man believed to be of unsound mind who at one point peppered a small group of people with profanity. Another man eventually chased him from the Sam Sharpe Square where the ceremony was held.