"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10

The reality of the global financial meltdown and the range of its repercussions seem finally to have hit home by more sober discussions and the wide-based participants. The situation is desperate. Within the crisis is a Jamaica with its humongous debt and traditional income sources, such as bauxite/alumina, tourism, construction, considerably reduced.

Despite historical disappointments, hope was being engendered by the expressions of a unified approach by our political leaders. This has since been dampened by the two parties' separate town hall meetings and the resumption of the string of local elections. Political power still seems more important than a nation in crisis.

The way forward rests on the Parliament agreeing on a unified political approach, committing to the nation as its priority, addressing the debt, seeking to develop trust with the citizens and adopting a sensible pathway out of this crisis. At present, there is little public trust, distinct tribalism in the two major parties, no discernable commitment to the nation over party amid a country lurching under the global crisis and eager for direction.

Payday to payday

The lower-middle and working classes (the masses) are the usual bearers of the heaviest burden daily and in crises. They are familiar with payday to payday survival and among these, young people regrettably are the hardest hit and certainly the most exposed to being lured into crime.

This crisis is pervasive and already 20,000 persons have lost their jobs, prices are rising sharply, uncertainty is everywhere and avoiding total disaster is now the main goal. The drastic reduction in genuine remittances coming into the island poses an especial problem for the masses, adding more weight to the pressing burdens under which they exist.

The colonial tradition had established a pattern for investments which were focused on extracting while benefiting Jamaica was secondary. While investments since political independence have not expressly been extractive, their creation of jobs has been nowhere near proportional to the investment or profit extracted. Comforting was the thought that benefits would in time percolate down to the masses, engendering new jobs.

The trend has continued through 1999 when investments substantially increased. Much of these, however, were targeted to develop the infrastructure, for example, air/seaports, water/sewer systems, highways, etc. While the intent here is important, there were instances of flaws and some were unsupported by linked developments to maximise economic benefits, e.g., Highway 2000.

Some realities

Minister of Water and Housing Horace Chang recently reported that nearly one million Jamaicans, that is, more than a third of the population are squatters. It is instructive that many squatters on the north coast are employees in tourism, a minimum-wage sector. It is acknowledged that in general a small minority of those squatting have better options, but the majority have no choice.

It also seems obvious that many of these squatter settlements have been allowed because of the party political advantage from the constituency. The masses continue to be used as pawns. But the political manipulation of squatting has multiple and disgusting negatives which persists, for example; how could our political leaders, just for party benefit, hold the nation hostage by tolerating squatting on lands (across the street) reserved for the planned Emergency and Casualty Centre of the University Hospital of the West Indies?

The fact of tourism workers squatting is not only due to the shortage of housing in those areas (evidence of lack of proper planning) but the reality that the affordability of housing is an almost impossible challenge for them. The decline in tourists arrivals resulting from the crisis is being offset and new jobs hoped for by targeting a wide mix of countries while seeking locally to add new hotels in the hills. The situation, however, of the majority of tourism workers is indicative of the socio-economic reality of the working poor in Jamaica where wages usually do not cover the basics.

Tourism has been a major focus of development by succeeding governments, and while it's national contribution has been significant, yet as a direct employer it has definite limitations for many employees. Its linkages into agriculture, furniture manufacturing, etc, needs, therefore, to be more aggressively addressed as this should represent more rewarding areas for workers while strengthening local support for and earnings from the tourist industry.

Labour Minister Pearnel Charles, veteran parliamentarian as he is, seemed surprised on taking office to discover that 80 per cent of Jamaica's workforce is untrained, i.e., not certified in anything. But the fact that such a huge percentage of the workforce is untrained suggests, among other possibilities, a continuation of a colonial practice of ensuring substantial numbers of the workforce being affordable "hewers of wood and drawers of water", i.e., cheap basic labour.

The act of political independence in 1962 was to have changed this concept into a socio-political commitment to have each Jamaican able to reach his/her full potential. The fact that 47 years since independence this circumstance accustomed to colonialism is so impressively still with us and that such a huge number of Jamaicans in the workforce are still at the base of their God-given potential, is scandalous.

The masses readily recognise education as the means to personal development and upward vetical mobility. Colonialism by definition was elitist and its education system locally was focused on the provision of the most numerous jobs such as in the civil service, while specialist and high-level jobs were supplied by trained, select Jamaicans or nationals from the 'mother' country.

Continued elitism

The Gleaner's columnist, Peter Espeut, has convincingly and consistently commented on the negative effects of the continued elitism in Jamaica's education system, to the disadvantage of the masses. While the system has changed only marginally, there has been some deterioration as with higher numbers many children, largely from the masses, go through a deficient education system, functionally illiterate. This is a tremendous waste of our people and a source of confusion and frustration for these children.

An additional worry is with the increasing proliferation of universities and degree programmes and greater facilitated access, there is less concern for certificates and diplomas despite the obvious need at the market place and 80 per cent untrained of a workforce of 1.1 million. This issue must be addressed with a view of increasing the certification of the workforce.

The days of mass migration of working class Jamaican's are gone, and we have to take full responsibility for our citizens. The masses are major consumers for a narrow range of items relevant to daily living, but their wages are stretched to the limit by these and where applicable, utility payments. And these are the Jamaicans who, given the opportunity, have won fame for our country in music and athletics.

The masses in our country need more options to earn a reasonable living and fully employ their potential. We have mentioned the limitation of tourism and while its continued expansion is important, there is an urgent need for both government and the private sector to significantly increase support for micro-, small- and medium-size enterprises, to widen the range of options available to the disadvantaged masses. Our national plan and institutions must be oriented to give guidance to this sector (e.g., marketing) and practical linkages must be established with the research facilities in the universities, Scientific Research Council, relevant areas in the private sector, etc. Let us not repeat past mistakes by this time ensuring no 'one-size-fits-all' approach or make access prohibitive.

The absence of proper planning is resulting in the decline of working-class communities in the interior of the country and this is becoming more frequent as roads are built to bypass communities. Corresponding to such roads should be the return of commute and freight trains, which while linking important towns still service the interior and the farming communities. How can we declare interest in all our people when in an island with mostly small farmers we do not have a central marketing system?

Prosper best

Despite the immense stress of daily existence, the masses apparently are believed to prosper best without the facilities the human race hold to be essential. How else can we explain the seemingly deliberate lost or absence of public recreation (playing facilities, parks, etc) sites?

There was a time when residents of the over 600,000 population of metropolitan Kingston could relax at Gunboat and Buccaneer beaches on the Palisadoes peninsula. The same is true for many recreational sites around the island since lost to the public or not planned for. Was this for more important interests?

We are approaching national development with one hand figuratively tied behind our back so long as more than a third of our population remains in the cellar of their potential. Who will champion the cause of the masses?

Errol Hewitt is an information and communication technology planning consultant. He may be contacted at estahewitt@yahoo.com or feedback sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.