THE national dump is ablaze again and city Kingston smothered in smog. It is not just unhealthy; it is a reminder of the relatively small things that we have not been able to manage in our 53rd year as an independent nation.

And all this is happening at a time when we are trying to sell ourselves as a viable destination to investors whose resources we need to grow a stagnant economy.

If we equate this situation to the human development cycle, it means that we are not yet potty-trained. We are still pooping in our pants and unable to clean up after ourselves.

When Lucea Mayor Wynter McIntosh pronounced recently that he would shoot stray dogs, which he attempted to blame for his town’s trash problem, I did a little research and was surprised to find that the population of the entire parish is 68,000; the population of the capital is under 6,000.

The mayor seems proud of his title, his ceremonial attire, and what he sees as the power of his office, but is unable to keep a small town clean.

In many countries, including those with which we do business, there are apartment, townhouse or condominium complexes with more than 6,000 residents, and trash collection is the seamless exercise that such a basic function should be.

The World Bank tells us that “the overall goal of urban solid waste management is to collect, treat and dispose of solid waste generated by all urban population groups in an environmentally and socially satisfactory manner using the most economical means available”.

This requires strategic planning which starts with the “formulation of long-term goals based on the local urban needs, followed by a mediumand short-term action plan to meet the goals.

The strategy and action plan should identify a clear set of integrated actions, responsible parties and needed human, physical and financial resources. Opportunities and concepts for private sector involvement are commonly included among the examined options, as the private sector’s costs and productivity output require special consideration”.

The people who are responsible for solid waste disposal must understand this. Our medium- /long-term goal, for example, has to be the relocation of the Riverton dump.

It does not belong in such close proximity to our commercial centres and residential communities. Mayor McIntosh is emblematic of too many of our public servants — heavy on appearance but bereft of the knowledge or competence to carry out their responsibility.

This, incidentally, is not the exclusive domain of the public sector. The more I listen to our private sector leaders, the more I am convinced that many of them have little to offer in terms of their ability to be genuinely enterprising.

Many are just profilers who can function only in an environment where they are monopolies or have limited competition, and that is rapidly disappearing across sectors.

In the meantime, the strategy seems to be to use Government’s dysfunction to deflect from their own irrelevance. It is getting easier to see ourselves for what we are: illusionists.

For weeks now, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has been demonstrating just what I mean.

With a painful budget just released, the dump burning, disrupting schools, and straining the health care system, this would be an opportune time for an effective and credible Opposition party to launch a blistering attack on the Government, or even call for general elections. But the party is deadlocked in a fascinating battle to destroy itself.

Even the most determinedly naïve among us should be able to see that the struggle has nothing to do with what is best for the country.

It is a game that is about power, entitlement, and personal ambitions. The diehards, those incapable of thinking for themselves, are among those who cannot see.

One reader, for example, was livid three weeks ago, because I named all the JLP senators who signed the undated letters of resignation, the situation that is now at the centre of the party’s struggle for survival.

His comments were strident but lacked understanding that Senate positions are among our highest public offices.

I am therefore at liberty to name all of them and as often as I like. I will, and I am encouraging others to do the same for now and for posterity to prevent revisionism down the road.

For another reader who suggests that I am a PNP strategist, note that I have no issue with being either a strategist for the PNP or the JLP.

The difference is that I would tell the public in keeping with the tenets of my training and a personal commitment to authenticity. A part of the struggle that we face on all counts is between reality and illusion.

Much of our economic, social and political history, going back to plantation slavery, has been about fraud and deception. Plantation slavery was not just a violation of human rights and dignity, it was criminal fraud against our people.

Long after Emancipation, we continue to promote people for reasons other than competence and to hold back others for the same reasons.

Institutions that should have been focused on liberating our people were designed, instead, to continue our oppression.

It is little wonder that 177 years after Emancipation and a halfcentury after Independence, we are trapped in debt and desperation.

The simmering tension now – that we would rather not acknowledge — is the result of people realising what has been perpetuated on us. Local media and other vested institutions no longer control the narratives.

The forces of globalisation — travel and communication technology — have dismantled that, and we are seeing the unvarnished truth.

It is reminiscent of American journalist Jimmy Breslin’s words in his book, Notes from Impeachment Summer, 1975: “Mirrors and blue smoke, beautiful blue smoke rolling over the surface of highly polished mirrors… If somebody tells you how to look, there can be seen in the smoke great, magnificent shapes, castles and kingdoms…” A few people might still see castles, but our citizens are choking in smoke and they know where it is coming from. Grace Virtue, PhD, is a social justice advocate.