I like the principle that public servants must be held accountable for their performance. This is the reason given for the pressure put on former police commissioner Hardley Lewin which has led, we are told, to his resignation. But why is this principle being applied so selectively? Why is it that the police commissioner must resign because he has not reduced the murder rate (which he did not cause), while the persons who created the incubators of violence remain in place?

The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) promised us in their 2007 election manifesto that if they came to power they would 'Transform Political Garrisons' (Section 18.3). Well, they haven't! Why is it that no heads have rolled? Who is able to demand resignations for this failure, like the prime minister was able to demand Hardley Lewin's resignation? Certainly not the PNP, which has three times as many garrisons as the JLP; it was during their 18 years in power that the power of the dons flowered, that extortion and protection rackets spread outside of Kingston; the PNP has shown no interest in dismantling garrisons either.

The former commissioner called Tivoli Gardens 'The mother of all garrisons', and he knows what he is talking about. His position in Jamaica's military and civilian intelligence services over the past decades puts him in a position to know a lot, and he did not come into the job cold. I think he is a highly frustrated man.

A straw basket

Did the Government really expect the commissioner to reduce the incidence of murder in the country while leaving the mother and daughter garrisons intact, with their leadership intact, and with their political thugs intact and armed? Was he expected to break the drug networks and the gun-smuggling rings while their principals remain under political protection? I think Hardley Lewin was given a straw basket to carry water!

It could be even more sinister. I think Commissioner Lewin was taking steps to deal with the criminal gangs connected to politics in this country. I believe that some of his best efforts were being blocked. I think that there is rejoicing in the criminal and political underworld at his departure.

Having shown that he is prepared to require public servants to resign for non-performance, I would like to suggest to the prime minister some other folks who deserve to be given their walking papers much more so than Commissioner Lewin.

I believe that senior education officers in this country who preside over an incompetent education system which can't even teach one half of our Jamaican children to read should go!

I believe that the senior public officials who have allowed corruption to overtake the business of obtaining driver's licences and motor vehicle certificates of fitness should go!

I believe that the senior public officials who have put public policy in place that has led Jamaica to be drowning in plastic garbage should go!

I believe that the senior public officials who have allowed private companies to pollute Jamaica's rivers and the sea should go!

Excluding J'cans from public beaches

I believe that the senior public officials who have allowed Jamaicans to be excluded from our own beaches should go!

I believe that the senior environmental officials in this country who have presided over Jamaica having, at one time, the highest rate of deforestation in the world should go!

I believe that the senior public officials who have presided over Jamaica having the most overfished waters in the Caribbean - and probably the world - should go!

And the list could go on. The truth is that no heads will roll for any of these things, for most public officials follow the signals their political masters send them. If all Jamaicans could read, who would cut cane and weed bananas? The campaign contributions would dry up if the private sector was required to clean up its act and not pollute the environment. Jamaican tourism interests would rebel if, like Barbados, the Government recognised the rights of nationals to enjoy the beaches of their own country. As in centuries past, Jamaica is being run in the interest of a few, and the rest of us must get with the programme.

Goodbye, Commissioner Lewin. You tried, but you were never meant to succeed. You can put down your straw basket now.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.