Sunday Brew — November 15, 2020
Kamala Harris’s missed opportunity
There are clear indications that United States Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris does not have a civil relationship with her father, retired Stanford University Professor Donald… which is sad!
This at a time when Jamaicans in the United States, who played a major role in the removal of Donald Trump and Mike Pence from office as US president and vice-president, respectively, would be looking to have a claim, with authority, on someone who is connected to Jamaica — a country that is linked to greatness in every corner that you could venture.
Harris has not missed an opportunity to highlight her link to India, the birthplace of her mother, who emigrated to the USA several decades ago where she met Donald Harris, later got married, and bore two daughters, methinks, from sexual escapades that meant the world to them at the time.
But when it comes to Jamaica, she is usually mum, although she will be forced to state clearly, quite soon, her position on her father and the Jamaican contact, what with so many aggressive journalists lined up to step further into her personal life.
It is sad that for a vice-president-elect she seems unrepentant in trying to settle what has been rampant for some time. Now that she virtually occupies that office, it must be incumbent upon her to lead the way in mending the fences of discord that exist between the two. It simply cannot be a situation where forgiveness, if that is what is required, cannot be offered.
Until that time, Jamaicans cannot, with any amount of credibility, claim Harris as a daughter of the soil, and her visits as a youngster to the sections of St Ann North Western, where her father has his home base, would have counted for nothing.
Cop’s murder another stain on Jamaica
(Kirk Plummer)
The killing of a policeman by a mob in Clarendon on the night of Saturday, September 7, has received the condemnation that it deserves from most. But it goes beyond that.
Here, based upon reports, Constable Kirk Plummer was a representative of law and order, who chose to do what he swore to — serve, protect and reassure — only for others who have their own agendas to cut a dream short.
I have no issue with the slain man’s private life, from his days at the GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport, to when he became a seasoned member of the force … as some time wasters on social media are putting forward. My interest lies in how cruel people of this country can become when it relates to their fellowmen.
Sometime ago, I made the point that Jamaicans were not entirely nice people, and some individuals took exception to that. But then, how can we talk about being nice people when we kill over 1,000 of our own each year, with disdain?
If we are so nice to one another, and care about their welfare, as is being pushed across all platforms, why then are we so brutal? And that’s only part of the problem. When you travel on the roads, the attitude of other drivers, in particular, taxi and minibus operators, supports the point that we are making a mockery of the word ‘nice’.
If somebody ‘bad drives’ you, and should, naturally, apologise, you can bet that you will be met with the kind of adjectives that the Oxford Dictionary is still investigating. In addition, suggestions that you do impractical things to your mother, dead or alive, are often thrown into the mix.
But back to Constable Plummer….what a brutal way to attack anyone, worse, a law enforcer? I have always felt that anyone who kills, or contributes to the death of a representative of law and order must be given a tougher punishment than the ordinary.
In this case, even the promoter of the party should be charged with being an accessory to murder, because if the event was not being held, and past its time, it is unlikely that the constable would have died.
Why can’t Jamaicans hear? The State leadership says get-togethers should be limited to a certain number of people, and must cease by a certain time, yet some people remain hard of hearing. The tomfoolery must stop. The law must be supreme.
What about that due diligence?
Whatever happened to the findings of the due diligence exercise which the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission (BGLC) said would have been completed by the end of October into the operations of controversial China-based service provider, Genlot?
The nation was told in mid-October that the exercise would have been done in another two weeks. It was being done by two North America-based companies, the Commission stated then, which seemed odd at the time, what with local agencies, the Financial Investigations Division, and the National Intelligence Bureau, both capable of doing such exercises, as they have done before with other applicants.
In recent weeks, United States ambassador to Jamaica, the outspoken Donald Tapia, expressed concern about Genlot being used as a service provider for Mahoe Gaming, which has been granted a licence to operate a second lottery in Jamaica.
Interestingly, the two firms contracted by the BGLC — Gaming Labs International, and Spectrum International — are based in the USA, so we wait, and we wait, and we wait.
My hope is that Jamaica does not find itself in the middle of a war between the USA and China, over a matter that has been approved locally with unusual haste, leading now to something that should have been done at the very beginning (due diligence) instead of now, at the back end.
One fine day, I hope that a certain highly-placed individual in politics will shed some light on this whole affair.
Chris Williams move a good shot
There are some people who are uniquely suited to perform certain roles in society, that even after a belated start, they can catch up in a profound way, and make their marks that will eventually lead to tangible results.
The selection of Chris Williams, a solid Jamaica College man, and one of the principals of Proven Investments Ltd, as chairman of the newly formed Professional Football Jamaica Ltd, comes at a time when Jamaica continues to be dogged by inept leadership at the level of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), and only such an injection of creative brilliance can restore credibility to local football.
Although his role will be confined to the Premier League, which was originally scheduled to start this weekend, his ability could be used to prepare the nation for the football take-off that it has yearned for. Apart from the energy invested by Captain Horace Burrell, the now deceased president of the JFF, that guided Jamaica to its historic participation in the World Cup in 1998, Jamaica’s football has not grown.
In fact, should someone of the stature and ability of Williams step forward and take over the leadership of the JFF from the present pack of jokers, there is no doubt that Jamaica’s football will see life again.
Only then will you see that jackpot at the end of the rainbow and it would erase what is happening now in Saudi Arabia, where the delegation seemed to have gone on a pilgrimage. Why in God’s name is the JFF president, two vice-presidents, manager of this, manager of that, coach of this, and that… are all packed up in Saudi Arabia for two friendly matches? What is that costing, at a time when the players are still fussing about getting money owed to them? Can you imagine if it was a trip to the World Cup? Even newly-found sweethearts would be there.
There are some people who are uniquely suited to perform certain roles in society, that even after a belated start, they can catch up in a profound way, and make their marks that will eventually lead to tangible results.
The selection of Chris Williams, a solid Jamaica College man, and one of the principals of Proven Investments Ltd, as chairman of the newly formed Professional Football Jamaica Ltd, comes at a time when Jamaica continues to be dogged by inept leadership at the level of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), and only such an injection of creative brilliance can restore credibility to local football.
Although his role will be confined to the Premier League, which was originally scheduled to start this weekend, his ability could be used to prepare the nation for the football take-off that it has yearned for. Apart from the energy invested by Captain Horace Burrell, the now deceased president of the JFF, that guided Jamaica to its historic participation in the World Cup in 1998, Jamaica’s football has not grown.
In fact, should someone of the stature and ability of Williams step forward and take over the leadership of the JFF from the present pack of jokers, there is no doubt that Jamaica’s football will see life again.
Only then will you see that jackpot at the end of the rainbow and it would erase what is happening now in Saudi Arabia, where the delegation seemed to have gone on a pilgrimage. Why in God’s name is the JFF president, two vice-presidents, manager of this, manager of that, coach of this, and that… are all packed up in Saudi Arabia for two friendly matches? What is that costing, at a time when the players are still fussing about getting money owed to them? Can you imagine if it was a trip to the World Cup? Even newly-found sweethearts would be there.