I wish we could dump the existing cabinet and replace it with one of pure technocrats !

I do not believe that Jamaica will ever realize its true potential with our existing political system and maybe its time to look outside the box.

For the most part the cabinet is made up of elected members, many of which have no specialized education or training in their area of responsibilities.

Maybe its high time we run an experiment where portfolio ministers making up the cabinet are professionals in their area of assignment.

So for example the Minister of Mining and Energy would be an Professional Engineer and his state minister would also have some experience in engineering.

The Minister of works would be Civil Engineer with years of experience in this field.

The minister of finance would have had at least 10 years experience in finance with some in Global Finance and a track record of stellar performance.

Someone will tell you  no sah it cannot happen the constitutions does not allow for this to take place.

I say well this is what we the people want, all 2.7 million of us, so amend the constitutions to allow for this to take place, so we can give this country a fighting  chance of survival !

If Jamaicans really cared, we would have revolted already

There is a tendency to believe that those who are critical of you are either bad-minded  or or don’t care about you at all . In most cases this could so far from the truth. The fact is most people tend to be critical of you because they care and know you are capable of doing better than you are doing today.

If as a people we truly cared about this country, we would not sit back year after year and take the crap that is feed to us on a daily basis, which is making our lives a living hell.

In many countries around the world, you could not dare waste state resources as it done in a poor country as Jamaica without feeling the wrath of the people.

Nothing appears to get done in this country until people get angry and block roads and light fire under the tail of their elected representative, which is proof that this method of activism works in the Jamaican environment.

In many countries around the world where such flagrant waste of state resources would have taken place, the people could not give a @#$# about which party is in power, that is not important, what is important is that wanton waste is taking place with state resources and they are suffering.

They consider their welfare above that of the party in power and does what is necessary to ensure they benefit from the resources of the country by forcing the elected leader to come in line.

We may lose a few tourist for few months, but lets not lose sight of the bigger picture, we need a better Jamaica for Jamaicans and other would be welcomed to enjoy it also.

I am therefore advocating civil unrest, well I say yes, so long as that unrest is focused on the greater good and there is no rioting and or looting.

Jamaicans are  liken the frog in the boiling water.

If the frog is thrown in a pot of boiling water it immediately jumps out, if the frog however is placed in a pot of cold water which is slowly heated the frog will remain in the pot until it dies, that is where Jamaica is today.

Crime is killing them so we are silent .

Crime is killing them, so we continue to remain silent

The numbers keep rising, but we continue to remain silent

It comes next door, but we are still safe, so we remain silent

When we become a victim and if we survive, we then pack our bags and leave.

The pressure keeps rising everyday, but we choose to remain silent and do nothing, if we continue along this trend, soon we will be silent forever !

I am not sure how longer people are going to believe that we are

1. Turning the corner
2. Things will get better soon
3. We are on the path to recovery
4. The numbers are heading in the right direction
5. The IMF program will fix our problem.

I have been hearing this crap from in the 1970’s and 40 years later we are still hearing the same bullshit.

If we do nothing, 40 years from now, we will hear the same thing again.

Frankly enough is enough !

Jamaica needs a new direction in no way am I advocating a overthrow of the government, instead I am saying we cannot simply sit and wait for elections to act, we must act when the country is not headed in the right direction.

After all the talking, what are we going to do about those expensive phone bills

Jamaica is know as a bunch of talkers, we are on the talk shows everyday and all we seem to do is talk m talk and more talk.

It was recently revealed that talk was not cheap under the PNP, having heard reports that 11 Cabinet Minister and Junior Minister has racked up a total of $5m for telephone calls in a single 12 month period.

Jamaicans have been on talk shows, writing in the papers etc, but what definitive actions, will we take as a nation  to ensure that someone pays for this mistake.

I expect what we will do is to fume and then move and and guess what they know all of this, just allow it to blow over and move unto the next big thing.

We continue to fail to hold people accountable and this is the reason we keep having these issues.

May the lord help us.

Chikv has made my life a living hell !

I was knocked over my the Chikv virus on October 7 and was not able to go to work until October 13, 2014. In effect I lost 4 working days due to this sickness.

While I have been back to work with a little soreness here and there, I observed that on Monday of this week, the joint pains have been increasingly worse.

Both knees are barely able to support me, my elbow feels like it has been smashed with a baseball bat and my right hand is virtually useless for lifting any sort of weight due to pain and soreness in the shoulder.

I never thought that after three weeks I would have still been experiencing the debilitating effects of the Chkiv and brings into sharp focus the health and welfare of those who have already contracted it and the overall effect on productivity.

I cannot walk for extended periods without the ankle becoming swollen and cannot grasp objects to tightly, so a simple task such and wringing out a rag become a project and a timely one at that.

This brings me to the possible impact on workers productivity levels as I have spoken to a number of people who do manual labour and based on the pain they are feeling, many are unable to perform at the rate the were able to before the onset of the Chikv.

It therefore stands to reason that the losses we have seen so far due to absenteeism , will be  small  when compared the efficiency losses over the longterm given the fact that many who have since return to work cannot operate at the levels they were used to.

This loss is a creeping loss in the the impact is not immediately felt, but within a few months, the full effects will begin to set in.

For me I have been using a combination of pain medication and muscle rubs to try and ease the pain, but I have not seen much changes. I was advised late yesterday afternoon to go on a regiment of boiled papaya leaves tea and see what impact that has, so I think I will give it a shot.

The long and short is the effects after the Chikv has left is worse than when I had the virus and that is indeed worrying !

Rapid Bus Transit System – TransMilenio

Rather interesting bus system, which has been in place in Columbia for at least 5 years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxmqyF5M_rw

Mammoth Phone bills by PNP Ministers and State Ministers

The Access to information act was used by RJR to obtain phone bills for government minister as well as their Junior ministers and the numbers were jaw dropping.

The total cellular phone bills for the minister and state minister for the period July 2013 – June this year was a whopping , mind boggling $5m !

The top four phone bills were as follows.

1. Arnaldo Brown $1.06m  ( June 2014 bill was $430,000)
2. Phillip Paulwell  $930,000
3. Bobby Pickersgill ~ $800,000
4. Dr Fenton Ferguson $734,000

So our cash strapped government, which cannot find money to attend to the most basic needs of the country, continues to spend recklessly  on the things them deem important, while the population continues to suffer in silence .

I would love to hear an explanation from the Prime Minister of this country, why a poor country like Jamaica is spending so much on cellular phone calls .

To avoid roaming charges when I travel to the USA for example, I simply get a USA number and have persons call me on this and in that way I pay nothing for roaming charges.

I am sure if they look hard enough they can get international phone plans for a fraction of what we( yes we the tax payers) are doling out for these minister phone call.

I am sure one of the explanations that will be coming is ” The JLP in there 4 years spent $ Xm so by comparison, we are doing better.

The PNP government continues to demonstrate a lack of fiscal responsibility in these tough times, while asking all of us to hold strain, now tell me how unfair and how unjust is that request in light of these findings.

Why is the Government passing all these IMF Tests ?

The IMF said last week that the performance of the PNP government under the 4 yr extended program is nothing short of miraculous and has encouraged the government to stay the course.

This government have not failed a single IMF test since the start of the program and does not intend to fail a single one, so  why is Jay not happy and why is he not congratulating the government. I am sure someone would say ” A bet u if dem did a fail the IMF test dem im would a b d first to knock them”.

The fact is the government have been given some benchmark albeit with extensions and fair is fair, they have achieved the benchmarks that have been set. So after grudgingly admitted that the GOJ has done well in relation to the set IMF, (which does not necessarily translated into economic benefit for the people, as we have seen from the poll results)  the question I ask, is why is the government passing all these test.

The answer is surprisingly simple, the government is being held ACCOUNTABLE by a small team based in Washington !

Now let’s us in a very simplistic way look at how this has been achieved.

1. The government approaches the IMF and say we need support
2. The IMF says put forward a credible plan, we will review and see if it meets our requirements.
3. The government submits the plan, its reviewed and approved and the government is promised a set amount of funds over time as it meets very specific guidelines and a series of 16 quarterly test.
4. So the IMF gives Jamaica very specific targets for each quarter over a 4 yr period.
5. The government executes and  submits its performance reports to the IMF
6. IMF reviews each report and gives a grade if pass you get money, if no pass no money.
7. Government gets funding for each passing score.
8. New targets are set, work is done, reports are submitted, reviewed and judgement is made.

So what the above points to is what is called ACCOUNTABILITY, if you say you are going do something, you do it and we will check to see if you did what you say you were going to do, when you said you were going to do it.

How does the Jamaica population addresses the matter of accountability ?

Well let’s examine the process of accountability from the Jamaican population. Its now 2015 and the political parties are jostling for political power.

1. A manifesto is prepared ( let’s call this a credible plan like that for the IMF)
2. The plan is unveiled  under much fanfare to the jubilant supporters.
3. The manifesto is reviewed by political analyst and commentators and a few members of the population and given a passing grade.
4. The party wins at the polls and the work begins.
5. A budget is prepared which typically speaks to extracting more from the country along with a few promises.
6. There are no quarterly reviews, there are no timelines where certain things must happen.
7. There are no formal feedback mechanism in place for the government to provide info the people.
8. Feedback when given are at the party’s annual conference where ” feel good things are mentioned”
9. Where failure occurs , you hear nothing , we simply move unto to something else. The manifesto is thrown in the garbage and no one goes back to say you promised this and failed to deliver.
10. The entire country fails and the only real review is the next election, when they are rewarded or dumped and the cycle repeats itself.

So the government pass the IMF test because those six or so people in Washington, holds the entire government accountable.

The adult voting population of about 1.6 million does not hold the government accountable to the “credible” plan they said they would have executed and the end result is there for all to see.

Nothing will change in this country until all us , supporters or not demand certain changes that will ensure that once our politicians are held accountable and where they fail the Prime Minister cannot save them.

Is Jamaica ready for this type of change ?

Why does Jamaica continue to fail so badly ?

There are many who are of the belief that our continued failure as a country is grounded in the fact that we do not hold our leader and/or ourselves accountable.

Every time the country need a service or services , we hear the cry of tough times and no money is available to do what we elect leaders to do. What is ironic however, is as soon as these very leaders need something done badly, something which in their interest, the money magically appears and that which is required gets done.

These leaders then go before Parliament or on the political platform and explain the reason for their decision, which in most cases is hogwash, but the partisan Jamaican populations buys the crap, lock, stock and barrel, why ?

Are we that stupid or is that we are so blinded by our loyalty for a political party, that we will defend that which is wrong just by the mere fact that the opposing side or civil society is critical of that act.

The recent deportation of Abu Bakr is one such case, where we take $4m to hire a private jet to deport a 74 yr old sick man,  because we believe he could conspire to overthrow the now unpopular PNP government.

In fact Abu Bakr in an interview last week with Nationwide said ” Jamaicans would have to be idiots to believe the National Security Minister when he said, I could radicalize the country in a few days”.

Peter Bunting have sounded and acted not like the good business man he is known to be , went unto to say words to the effect ” The JLP in 2011 spent over $9m on deportation, but we will spend less than that this year, which is a testament to fiscal prudence on the part of this government”.

What Peter Bunting is suggesting here, is, we have a budget and we shall use it and guess what even with the $4m for Bakr, we shall spend less than the JLP” . This was greeted with sustained desk pounding and applause from a bunch of parliamentarians, who would have gone to their constituents the next day and tell them, we cannot get you water as their is no money to do so.

Folks, so even if we could have spent less, the government was not willing to do so because they have a budget and have not yet exceeded that budget. They could not careless about you and I and how those unused funds could have been diverted to some other area, no sir, to hell with all us , let’s spend the money.

Peter Bunting is a shrewd and successful businessman and his success has not come about by recklessness on his part, but by fiscal prudence and wise decision making.

Its a pity that he is/has not been able to make that translation, when it comes unto the tax payers money.

What is even worst is the behaviour of his fellow parliamentarian and the those Jamaican who choose to support the wanton waste of our money in these  difficult times.

I want anyone of them to come tell me crap about belt sighting including the Prime Minister. I am done listening to these folks, I don’t want to hear words instead I want to see actions to show they are serious and so far that has been sadly lacking.

Why do you think the PNP Government is passing the IMF ?

They are passing because a few  guys,  a few guys from Washington holds ALL of them accountable !

So the key to get good performance is to hold our politicians and by extension the government accountable.

So why does Jamaican continue to fail, its because WE the population fails to hold them accountable.

Now why is that so hard ?

Stay at home and deal with the government you elected

More and more Jamaicans are finding it increasing difficult to run away from the mess they created at home due to the freedom of expression and choice of government.

On the other hand more and more countries are seeking to protect their interest and are seeking to keep out Jamaicans and other nationals who are running away to seek a better life in their countries.

In the Caribbean region for example, so folks when they arrive on the shoes of other Caribbean countries are being told in no uncertain terms to ” stay at home and live under the government you’all elected, we aint need to all u here”..

Its a damned shae what the PNP has taken Jamaican to after almost 21 yrs of unbroken steward ship. 18.5 yrs first, which was interrupted by a JLP win in 2007  and another 2yrs since 2012.

Jamaica needs a real government

Government needs to pay close attention to radical Trinidadian nationals

With recent  news emerging of at least 4 Trinidadian nationals joining the terrorist organization called ISIS and fighting on their behalf, I am encouraging the national security minister to pay keen attention to what is taking place.

The intelligence arm of the National Security Ministry must step up its surveillance program to ensure we can identify radicalized Trinidadians nationals and ensure they do not set foot in this country.

Mr Bunting if you have not already done so, please activate the anti-terrorism plans and ensure that these radicals are place on no fly list, so they cannot enter this country.

I urge you sir not to wait for something to happen, but instead act with some level on urgency on what could be a clear and present danger.

Given Abu Bakrs expulsion from Jamaica, we could see a backlash from radicals in Trinidad and we must be prepared for this.

A word to the wise is enough