The ‘Yah Man!’ October Editorial

Apparently, Ziggy Marley was right. Jamaicans do not want you to think about the problems of Jamaica especially because they want you to come be in the paradise they have created for you. Compared to countries in the same area code like Haiti and Cuba, Jamaica is a haven of sorts. Its economy – on an island just over 10,000 square miles – is just a few billion dollars less than Uganda which is about 24 times its size, for instance. But then this seemingly cogent proposition can be made specious when Equatorial Guinea is brought into the mix: It is small and yet is, at the same time, large. And just like that, we digress.

What does Jamaica have to do with the price of coffee? More importantly, what does the future hold for this nation? Lift the veil on the romantic getaways and beautiful beaches full of happy people and you’ll see that not all is well in paradise. For a country that is big on tourism; one that depends on tourists and all sorts of foreign cash infusion – remittances, bankers’ havens; expenditure on services or otherwise – its biggest problem is violent crime. The extremely visceral battle for spheres of influence by gangsters and warlords is mostly prevalent near Kingston, the capital city.

This, however, is not the worst part. It is common knowledge that just like the gangs in Brazil and the oligarchs in Russia, Jamaica’s political elite are betrothed to the gang culture in that part of the world. Of course, from a realistic and practical political perspective, a close link between the money centers and the representatives is inevitable. According to research, America’s biggest problem is not that Obama’s famous ‘Red and Blue America.’ The world’s foremost democracy is beholden to a small cabal of special interest groups and lobbyists. These have the money and unfortunately, many of the politicians – senators, congressmen, policy wonks, states and maybe even the American president – have to play to their tune.

Again, while Jamaica is not unique [Mexico, Columbia and Russia also sometimes protect their criminal elite], Bruce Golding, the recently resigned veteran prime minister will be remembered for refusing to hand over the brutal Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, leader of the Shower Posse gang to the United States. According to reports, Golding resisted Coke’s extradition for nine months and this strained relations with Washington. When Golding finally agreed to send Coke to the US, a hunt for the fugitive led to days of fighting in May 2010 that killed at least 73 civilians and three security officers. Coke was captured about a month later and extradited.

Although Golding firmly disassociated himself from the gangs, Jamaica observers know that its almost impossible to ascend the various political thrones in Kingston without some kind of relationship or pact with the gangs. Before he supposedly endorsed Golding for premiership, Coke thrived for two decades under the People’s National Party.

Golding is now gone – and in his place is a fresh prime minister. Not only is Andrew Holness only 39. The former education minister has come in at a time when he must organize elections, repair relationships with powerful international benefactors but especially ‘stare into Jamaica’s shadow of criminality’ as Prof. David Rowe of the University of Miami says. It will be up to Holness to extricate his party and also his country from the gangs and from the crime. It might, thus, behove us to say that this might be a little too much to put on the shoulders of one man. We expect Mr. Holness to deliver. We hope that he will do what he needs to do. Conversely, we understand that he might not even scratch the surface.

Will the new prime minister be as bold as we want him to be? After Barack Obama’s fall from grace, we cannot be too sure. On the other hand, maybe we should just temper our expectations. After all, just like his aforementioned bedfellow, Mr. Holness might actually surprise you. However, we know that interests run deep, political culture is inherent and things are not easy to change. Just ask those who run on hope and that ‘C’ word.

Dennis Matanda,
Editor