The shame of the NHT

The National Housing Trust (NHT) was not established by the great Michael Manley while he served as Jamaica’s fourth prime minister to cater to poor people alone. Let us be clear about that.

It was set up to enable Jamaicans who contribute from their salaries and wages, those who are self-employed or employed by others, to be able to afford houses at reasonable rates.

But what has been going on in recent days has been nothing short of shameful, and the term ‘reasonable’ has a new meaning.

The latest construction project to have fallen under the microscope, the Ruthven Towers development, is offering units, apartments, at $27.7 million for one bedroom, and $37.7 million for two-bedroom units. That is scandalous.

And, yes, there are those who will say that the housing estate, located in what has been described as a “prime” area, close to the St Andrew capital of Half-Way-Tree and bordering bustling New Kingston, has as extras – shops, a tennis court, swimming pool, among others.

But, come on, man, why should a one-bedroom or two-bedroom unit be sold for such high price tags?

We are told that 86 units were built in the first phase of development, and others will be constructed in the second. But it still cannot cost so much to set up.

The fact is, if people had the cash up front they could build those same structures for 60 per cent less than what they are selling for.

And the NHT can do it too. Some people, although they are compelled to contribute to the NHT, will never benefit from getting houses, as their wages and salaries cannot qualify them to become homeowners under the system that prevails at the State agency.

The truth, though, is that the NHT, which regularly bails out the Government of the day, any day, with budgetary propping up, can afford to build far more housing units for the people of this country from the scores of billions of dollars that it has storing up for God knows what.

The prime minister is responsible for the NHT.

He, like most of the political representatives in Jamaica’s Parliament and outside of it, want to see more Jamaicans owning homes. I am sure of that.

But Mr Holness will have to demonstrate that he means business by not only making those solutions available, but doing so in a way in which the people can afford to purchase them, and proceed to live in comfort, if not style.

The mess called West Indies cricket

If anyone thinks that the performance by the poorly selected T20 World Cup team was disastrous, I am willing to wager a ‘smalls’ that the Test team chosen to tour Sri Lanka will not produce better results.

For the selectors, led by the outdated Chairman Roger Harper, just do not get it. Harper leads a team that does not move with the times and refuses to accept the fact that T20 cricket has evolved, and it is not just a game whereby batsmen — I refuse to say batters — just go for big shots overhead, but the finer points of technical batting are applied.

That is why teams like India, New Zealand, and Pakistan, for example, are so good. All their cricketers who participate in T20 cricket also play the longest version of the game…Test cricket. It is because the selectors in those countries are smart and wise.

In the West Indies, the selectors would rather send a non-performing, boring player like Kraigg Brathwaite to Sri Lanka as skipper of the Test team, and allow him to tag along with other batsmen and bowlers who do not know how to play the game. How many of the cricketers who participated in the T20 World Cup have gone to Sri Lanka for the Test matches? Just two — Jason Holder, the world’s top all-rounder, and Roston Chase, a batsman who can bowl. Foolishness! What is the story with opening batsman Evin Lewis, middle order strokemakers Shimron Hetmyer, and Nick Pooran, who are all better than the others going to Sri Lanka.

Why do the selectors continue to insult us by persisting with Cornwall, who cannot bat, bowl, or field, while ignoring natural spinners Haydn Walsh and Akeal Hosein?

Like the T20 World Cup, we are going to see a kind of embarrassment in Sri Lanka that this region can do without. But, then, who cares?

Where are others like Reneto Adams, Radcliffe Lewis?

Last week, I had the opportunity again to catch up with long-time friends and former stalwarts of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Reneto Adams and Radcliffe Lewis, who both retired at the rank of senior superintendent.

Simultaneously, I also had the pleasure to converse with a man I have admired for ages, Assistant Commissioner of Police Devon Watkis, and then it struck me… where have all the well-known members of the force, who refused to put up with the foolishness of gunmen, gone?

In their time, Adams and Lewis were not only feared, but respected. Adams was more pronounced, though Lewis was also in the mix, especially with keeping things down on the streets.

Watkis, too, has been involved in some high-profile prosecutions in his, I suspect, over 40-year service to the constabulary.

Nowadays, though, there is a glaring absence of a ‘big name’ crime-fighter who can drive fear in criminals who, sadly, are on the rise, despite the constabulary undergoing some amount of modernisation and upgrading of its apparatus.

Apart from Adams, Lewis, and Watkis, the police force has seen the names of crime-fighters like Keith ”Trinity” Gardner, regrettably now blind, Tony Hewitt (deceased), Cornwall ”Bigga” Ford, Isiah Laing, Derrick ”Cowboy/Clappie” Knight, Hector ”Bingie” White, Wyatt ”Spur” Williams, Karate Georgie, Donald Pusey, Arthur “Stitch” Martin, and others, who would make those carrying guns not approved by the Firearm Licensing Authority, cower.

The emergence of the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) would have cramped the style and approach of some crimefighters, but they need not worry if what they undertake in their operations is legitimate.

We have some hardened criminals out there who are heartless, and who can be tamed only with fire. The fight against dangerous criminals has been long and painful. Only Wednesday, while doing an interview from home, I heard the sound of gunshots six times, and later learned that a young man had been shot dead.

The reality is that, day after day, crime is getting closer to home, and there are no solutions in sight. It’s time again for some characters of the force to step out and be identified.

I remember one night there was a wake at a location in Spanish Town, and around 11:50 the deejay on the sound system announced the arrival of Adams.

Within seconds it was like the parting of the Red Sea, and more. What was a crowd of hundreds, in a short time was reduced to scores. That is called impact. We can go back there.

Sixth form foolishness

The Ministry of Education appears to be confused about the implementation of its mandatory sixth form programme for secondary schools.

How else can it be when even those who are operational heads of their schools — principals — do not even know what their bosses at the ministry are doing? To want to implement a sixth form for all secondary schools is a recipe for disaster.

It is absolute nonsense…pure foolishness. It seems that the ministry likes to do experiments, as if we are all in a chemistry class.

First, it was the Career Advancement Programme (CAP), which was riddled with hiccups at the start, and then when things sort of levelled off, that programme was scrapped.

Well, let’s look at the sixth form programme.

Why would you want to send students who were not successful in even one, two, or three subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level to do Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) subjects which are far more difficult?

If they could not manage the work in grades 10 and 11, how will they be able to cope in grades 12 and 13?

Somehow, some bright people at the ministry do not get it.

Instead of sentencing teenagers to two years’ imprisonment in a ‘foreign’ classroom, the ministry should do a full-scale assessment of those not so academically inclined, to see what is best for them.

Not everybody in life will become, or can become teachers, university lecturers, medical practitioners, lawyers, biologists and more, which require a strong dose of academic medicine.

There are some who, after completing the 11th grade, do not need many CSEC subjects or training to get into what they had chosen to do as professions in the first place.

Skills such as carpentry, masonry, electrical installation, welding, plumbing … all important professions, can be taken on long before the time comes for young people to step into a sixth form classroom.

The education ministry needs also to, as the saying goes, think outside the box, and move in an unorthodox way to maximise the potential of students.

For example, there are many out there who are inclined to become professional sports personalities and music artistes.

While subjects like English language, French, Spanish, mathematics, and principles of accounts may be good to have, acquiring all may not be necessary to allow some to realise their economic dreams.