I went to the pharmacy yesterday with a relative of mine, there I saw and started reading the november 14-20th edition of "the economist". Now this in no way means I was genuinely interested in any magazine which should only really draw the attention of business leaders which sadly I am not, I was just bored. But upon looking through the table of contents my attention was drawn to an article which was simply titled "Gloomy Jamaica Unfixable?". When I saw this title I instantly said to myself, "so this article is basically saying we are screwed" but then I said, or maybe its offering solutions to the problem, or maybe its just commentary... Either way I had to read it - This is a decision which I do not regret in anyway.

To put it frankly it is commentary, but its very interesting commentary. It also manages to touch on alot of the things I've posted about in this journal, namely the Mr. Latibeaudiere and Rear Admiral Lewin... But I'll not get there yet, i'll start with the introduction. The article starts by stating that Bruce Golding and the JLP came into power, breaking an 18 year stay as the opposition party and it also speaks of the hopes that Jamaican citizens had that this might just be helpful in solving our economic problems (of course most knowledgable Jamaicans will say that this would've made no difference either way). Which was quite true, the fresh face which was provided by the JLP was supposed to brighten up and probably jumpstart the economy. The article further goes on to give statistics sayign that interest rates on loans we owe tops out at 20% and also that servicing these loans takes up about 60% of our national budget, yet again things which are entirely true.

But then the article takes a turn and goes back on Mr. Latibeaudiere, stating that our prime minister was constantly complaining about his (Latibeaudiere's) salary and housing allowance (by the way, up until he was fired this information was never truly made public). But the article also speaks about the policy disagreement between Latibeaudiere and the ruling party - which was believed to be the true reason why the the former governor lost his job. It then goes on to say that losing Latibeaudiere has also managed to hurt the current negotiations taking place between Jamaica and the IMF and also was the reason why Standard & Poor immediately downgraded Jamaica's credit rating.

The article goes on to speak about the loss of Rear Admiral Lewin and quotes the Admiral where he speaks about the need to "break the linkages between organised criminal networks, our politics, businesses, communities and I dare say my own service, the police". A problem which has constantly plagued Jamaica and everybody knows about. The article goes on to speak about Mark Shields the former deputy police-commissioner and the fact that he stated he believes that the force cannot be fixed and instead needs to be re-created with new staff. He cites the fact that many key officers have been failing polygraph tests showing how deep seated the issue of corruption is in Jamaica.

Many of you may be asking so why is it so important for me to restate the facts of an article that states what most Jamaicans have known their entire lives? Quite frankly, its because the problem has grown out of proportion, its no longer something that is exclusive to Jamaicans, the entire world knows of our problems and the reasons why we have them and that simply means that our problem has become uncontrollable. When an international magazine such as "the Economist" can state facts like this is everyday knowledge that everybody should know it means we have a problem and it needs to be fixed. The solution may be harsh, but its necessary - 2 party system (gone), police force (gone and renewed)... time for a revolution of our system.