“We have squandered our Independence.” Journalist extraordinaire Wilmot “Motty” Perkins (now deceased), who, among other things, was known for his feistiness, forthrightness, and fearlessness, often expressed this view on his massively popular talk show, Perkins Online. Many callers agreed with him. I disagree with those who hug this position.

Admittedly, Jamaica has made several unforced errors in her almost 62 years of Independence. Are these own-goals sufficient to reduce us to the detritus of squanderers of political independence or that of international castaways? I say, resoundingly, no!

Optimal use of the opportunity called Independence is not a ‘press button issue’, as we say in the streets. Economic, political and social ups and downs are inevitable consequences which gnaw at the progress, or lack thereof, of countries. Geographical position, cultural mores, social and political histories, national aspirational quotient, educational attainment, stakeholder-ship, and especially political leadership are some of the big factors which some political scholars say help determine the pace of embrace of Independence.

Perkins said, for example, that Jamaica plummeted from being one of the most peaceful countries in the world up to 1962 and rapidly degenerated to being one of the most murderous. This is a powerful point. It is a fact. Some time ago I noted here that, “In 1962 the murder rate in Jamaica was 3.9 per 100,000 — one of the lowest in the world. Forty-three years later, in 2005, our murder rate was 64 per 100,000 — one of the highest in the world. Dr Peter Phillips was the minister of national security in 2005. On Phillips’s watch murders peaked at 1,674 in 2005.”

Should Jamaica be relegated to the ignominious category of squanderers of Independence due to the fact of our abnormal murder rate? I think not!

On the frontier of crime and violence we have faltered tragically. I accept that. I accept, too, that the primary responsibility of a State is the preservation of its borders and the protection of those within them. Is the realisation of a State’s ability to preserve its borders and protect those within it a process or a snap of the finger act? Hundreds of years of evidence suggest the former is reality and the latter fantasy.

States take many years, sometimes many decades, before they are able to meet this most critical criterion of adequately protecting its borders and those within it. State security is not an Abracadabra business. Violence and different types of displacement, frequently domestic, and sometimes external, are costly and sometimes bloody precursors to the accomplishment of the benchmark of State security.

One-eyed politics was the major reason for the massive upsurge in murders and several other major crimes post Jamaica gaining independence. The sore festered and burst.

Long ago, I said here that, “Unfriendly banter, nasty epithets, and vitriol which graduated into stone-throwing and distribution of assorted weapons, inclusive of Molotov cocktails, thereafter, involving guns, were the thorns from which political violence germinated.” The sore exploded, for example, in the sordid 1976 State of Emergency, which lasted for almost a year, and the bloody October 30, 1980 General Election, in which just under 850 Jamaicans were killed. Other atrocities took place while either party was at the wheel.

“So, Perkins was right,” some will doubtless shout. I say, no. Why? Jamaica, unlike some other countries which became independent especially in the last six decades or so, has made consequential strides in the taming of crime and violence. These important strides have been made especially in the last 10 years. “Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still,” says the Chinese proverb. I agree.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), for example, has been equipped with several cutting-edge technologies to fight crime. Working conditions and pay for police personnel have improved considerably. And training of the police is now on par with many developed countries.

Many months ago, I said here that the JCF of today is not the same as 10 years ago. Dozens of other well-thinking Jamaicans have expressed similar sentiments in traditional and on social media. The dreaded Suppression of Crime Act, introduced by the People’s National Party (PNP) in the 70s, and which was in effect for some 20 years, has been repealed. The practice of the police investigating themselves has been halted with the advent of the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom). This is a civilian-staffed State agency tasked to undertake investigations concerning actions by members of the security forces and other agents of the State that result in death or injury to individuals or the abuse of the rights of individuals, and for connected matters. It was established by the Bruce Golding Administration.

The police today are more mobile than any other time since Independence. Jamaica is not standing still regarding the taming of the crime monster. During especially the last seven years the Andrew Holness-led Administration has made unprecedented investments of various types to improve our security forces. These include massive investments in shipping vessels to patrol our borders. Simultaneously, our courts are being modernised. These are consequential advances.

Consider this: “Jamaica’s homicide rate is continuing its downward trend. The latest statistics from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) show that murders are now down 14 per cent so far this year.” (Nationwide News Network, July 16, 2024)

Our high crime rate is severely costly. The Economist of March 20, 2008 stated that: “If Caribbean countries were able to reduce crime levels to those similar to Costa Rica (with a homicide rate of 8.1/100,000), their rates of economic growth would increase notably. In the cases of Jamaica and Haiti, gross domestic product [GDP] growth would be boosted by a massive 5.4 per cent annually; growth in the Dominican Republic would be 1.8 percentage points higher; and Guyana’s economy would grow by an additional 1.7 points per year.”

Abnormal rates of crime and violence are millstones around our collective necks. These cannot be solved in the blink of an eye. It just is not possible.

Without doubt, the recent and continual reduction in murders and other major crimes show significant progress. We are not standing still. Were we to backslide, however, the ignominy of squanderers of Independence may then be apposite.

Mess of pottage?

Perkins regularly argued also that we sold especially our economic independence for the “equivalent of a mess of pottage”. Again this is a tremendously strong argument. The phrase alludes to Esau’s sale of his birthright for a meal (“mess”) of lentil stew (“pottage”) in Genesis 25: 29–34 and connotes short-sightedness and misplaced priorities.

The fact is, Jamaica achieved impressive economic growth in the first 10½ years post-Independence while the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) was in Jamaica House. The Jamaican economy in the 60s was a model for other developing countries regionally and internationally. Jamaica’s economic ascendency was, however, smashed to pieces by the wrecking ball of Michael Manley’s PNP.

Some will, doubtless, trumpet: “But, Higgins, you contradict yourself, because you said here last Sunday that, ‘Manley genuinely loved the Jamaican people.’ ” I don’t recoil from that position. For those who get a mighty adrenalin rush from gotchas, they need to note that I also said: “By 1988 Manley had discarded the burden of democratic socialism.” Manley himself said he had a Damascus Road-type experience.

Consider this: “The Michael Manley who visited the United States in 1990 had cast aside his Che Guevara bush jacket in favour of a suit. The free market had replaced his party’s ‘ten steps to socialism’. President Bush was happy to bless a sinner who had apparently repented, and he went out of his way to praise the ‘first-class job’ that Manley was doing as prime minister of Jamaica. It takes style and gall to change sides successfully, and Manley had plenty of both. He turned on a reporter, who seemed puzzled that the old leftie had become a free marketer, and said: ‘Is your outlook on everything the same as it was 10 years ago?’ “ (The Economist, March 1997)

Manley did have some very good ideas. I believe many of Manley’s failures were due to his own bad decisions. And, I think too, Manley was surrounded by an oversupply of low-voltage thinkers. Many of them were blinded by ideology. Some, for example, wanted Jamaica to become a communist State, something which I believe is alien to our nature.

“But, Higgins, they did not know better at the time,” some will bellow. I disagree. Most of these misleaders were well-credentialled. Many of them studied at some of the best centres of learning globally. They knew about alternative and workable models of growth and development yet they helped to pursue a path which landed Jamaica near the edge of a great precipice. We are still recovering from their catastrophic errors today.

I have said it here before, but it bears repeating as some among us are still busy spreading a false narrative: Economic growth is not an abstract matter, the preserve of individuals like economists and the so-called big man.

This kind of oratory betrays our national interests and should be democratically repudiated at every opportunity. It is this kind of deception or what some psychologists called stinking thinking, which resulted in the precipitous decline in the 70s and the 90s. Manley ideas for social restructuring were necessary, but minus a strong economic base they were destined to flat-line sooner than later. There is objective evidence of external interference in our internal politics. That did not help Manley, either.

Came to our senses

Check this: “By 2013 Jamaica’s public debt had reached a historic high of about 147 per cent of GDP, making it one of the most-indebted countries in the world,” says the International Monetary Fund (IMF). We were forced to start to think and behave reasonably after decades of foolishness and irrationality. We were forced to fast-track the economic recovery programme started by Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Finance and Public Service Minister Audley Shaw in 2010.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Peter Phillips were faithful to the implementation of the economic recovery programme, albeit under the watchful eye of the IMF. Today, the Holness Administration with Dr Nigel Clarke, the minister of finance and public service, are working hard to prevent a repeat of past mistakes.

Perkins died in February 2012. Was he right that we squandered our economic independence? No!

Authoritarian Playbook

‘Rotten seeds, rotten fruits — Incendiary words have consequences’ was the title of my column two Sundays ago. Several readers have responded that I unfairly misjudged former American President Donald J Trump. I wrongly made out a case, too, that Trump was a dictator-in-waiting, they say. More readers like them exist so I have responded here:

Political scholars agree that authoritarians share/exhibit seven characteristics. They aggrandise political authority. They politicise independent institutions. They quash dissent. They spread misinformation. They target vulnerable communities. They corrupt elections. They stoke violence.

Trump is guilty on all counts.

We must vigorously guard against authoritarian types taking office. These are dangerous misleaders.

Happy Independence, everyone!

Garfield Higgins is an educator, journalist, and a senior advisor to the minister of education and youth. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or higgins160@yahoo.com.

Labour Day work ongoing to improve Four Paths Police Station.

Peter Phillips

Bruce Golding

PERKINS…we have squandered our Independence

Michael Manley.