On Politics,Jamaica, West Indies...

"He noted that a bust of Winston Churchill had been moved from the Oval Office by Mr Obama when he took office, adding—with Trumpian deflection—that “some said” (though not Mr Johnson, obviously) that this was a snub by a “part-Kenyan” president with an “ancestral dislike of the British empire.”

Very interesting perspective. It's known the world over that former British colonies that are inhabited by people of colour don't have much positive things to say about our former colonizer. But the reality is, are we wrong? Jamaican slaves worked in hellish conditions to produce the money from sugar cane that paid for a lot of London's ports and fancy buildings. Slaves were beaten, mauled and raped into submission and the toughest and most unruly ones were dropped in Jamaica for death. You tell us to forget about it and move on, but the reason why many of our countries are still underdeveloped is because former administrators chose not to build up the infrastructures the colonies they were in charge of that did not directly benefit them . They often chose to spend the money themselves in the districts they lived in or send it back to London. Still, the British government refuses to give us our remittances and let their world know that their slaves in the West Indies made much of the money that built their lofty castles. It's been said that Jamaica helped build London, the prize sugar producing colony that became the apple of Britains eyes before independence. Our country was known for unruly yet physically strong and hardy slaves who could provide yields rivaling sugar producing colonies bigger than ourselves like Haiti, Cuba and Brazil. If the British government was prepared to treat their colonies disdainfully, they should have been intelligent enough to realize that you reap what you sew. To expect the rest of the world to run to the aid of a country that violently colonized half the world is one of the naivest mentalities I have ever come across. Just one word describes this belief: Arrogance. Don't ever forget that the US fought from independence from you, your wellbeing will never be their main interest. 

As a Jamaican I’ve often heard the term “you don’t look Jamaican.”. 

The first few months that I began living outside of Jamaica I was often confused, flabbergasted and sometimes even taken aback by this accusation. I was born and bred in Jamaica. My mother was born and raised in Jamaica as well as my father and all of my grandparents except my paternal grandfather were born in Jamaica. My grandfather, the only anomaly in my family was born in Jamaica to an Indo-Jamaican mother and Chinese Jamaican father but was sent back to China as a young boy. As was the tradition in those times, half Chinese boys born to Chinese fathers in Jamaica were sent to live in China to retain the Chinese culture. But all these accusations come down to one point. 

Jamaicans are not represented in the media as we see ourselves. We are represented by an image constructed by the Jamaican Tourist Board and Western Media.

 This image is that of the typical Rastafarian, who supposedly smokes weed all day, is dark skinned and unquestionably a descendant of Africa. The reality is only about 1.3% of Jamaica follows the Rastafari faith, 98% of Jamaicans are Christians with pockets of Hindus and Muslims living in Jamaica. Hinduism and Islam are not mainstream religions in Jamaica; although Indo-Jamaicans are the largest ethnic minority in Jamaica and have been living in the island since the 1800′s. The majority of Indo-Jamaicans are not Hindus. Most are Christian,as many converted to the religion during indentureship because British colonial administrators often lent no facilities or temples for Hindus to practice their faith and viewed the religion as a deterrant to the Christian mission they had began with slaves in Jamaica. 

The reality is Jamaicans come in all shapes colours and sizes. We are of Chinese, Indian, Arab, African, European descent and realistically the majority of us cannot trace our blood lines to one single ethnic group. Most Jamaicans who are visibly of African heritage have at least one ancestor who is not of African descent. There are little to no persons of pure African descent in Jamaica, and those who are,  are usually found mostly in the countryside excepting specific parishes that have historically been known to have a high percentage of Indo-Jamaicas (like Clarendon, Westmoreland and St . Catherine) and European Jamaicans of German, Irish and Scottish descent (Western Jamaica, ie Hanover, Westmoreland )

The external media however, represents us using a religious minority, probably because of the inherent mysticism of Rastafari and the fascination the Western world has with it. To people from countries like the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, the Rasta is the infamous “other”. Afrocentricity is a foreign lifestyle to individuals from the global north and as I have experienced, Blackness is seen as backwards and “uncivilized” in many of these countries like United States. The Rastaman is therefore an interesting rebel; he wears his hair in a fashion that distinctly goes against the grain of Eurocentric standards of beauty, he smokes copious amounts of cannabis and maintains an interesting speech pattern. He recognizes Ethiopia as a sacred land and tries his best to maintain his roots from Africa; the roots that were broken during the brutal institution of slavery. To him, he is a son of Africa that has been dislocated to Jamaica, he is not a Jamaican going BACK to Africa. The African history and culture becomes his lifestyle by choice, he makes the commitment to learn everything that was robbed by him during slavery and to teach his children to be proud of their heritage. 

My point here, is that in focusing solely on the Rastaman we lose sight of the diversity that is the real Jamaica. The world loses sight of the culture that Jamaicans love their country for; an ability to coexist with people who may not look like us but still see these people as our countrymen, family and persons we are equal to.  We forget about the Chinese and Indians who came and their profound influence on our business industry and cuisine. For example most Jamaicans eat curry chicken and remember the dish fondly as an inherent part of a quintessential Jamaican childhood. In doing this foreign media attempts to recreate the paradigm minority oppression that is a perpetual problem in countries like the USA. The difference is that in Jamaica, the relationship between the Black majority and the Asian/European and Arab minority is nowhere as tense. There are issues concerning privilege and class, undoubtedly but outright every day racism as it exists in places like the United States does not exist in Jamaica. It is common for people from different ethnic groups to intermarry, coexist and become best friends without the perpetual hangups of race that exist in the United States without the bat of an eyelid. As a Jamaican, I’ve become somewhat annoyed as to how limited the international image of Jamaicans  is and the refusal of foreign media outlets to do basic research and represent the real Jamaica; not the Jamaica they want to see. 

Along with this selective advertising, comes the constant representation of Jamaica as a country with no problems. I will, and always will maintain My country is a beautiful island yes, but we are also one of the poorest Caribbean countries. The resorts that are shown in advertisements are not the choice of vacation for the average Jamaican excepting the wealthy upper class. To be honest many of us are now living a hand to mouth existence since the IMF austerity regime began and people who I know that were strongly middle class can barely afford to buy the things they used to anymore. The reality is, life in Jamaica is not a dream, it’s difficult for us, it’s not the party you see every day. Although Caribbean people do party quite a lot what many people don’t know is malingering is a part of a culture of resistance that began on the plantation. Historically, slaves sought to upset their masters by abstaining from work on the plantation, refusing to work and having celebrations that retained their African dance forms, music and celebratory festivals. We are not lazy by choice as outsiders seem to think, we became lazy to resist backbreaking work in a grueling plantation economy where most males never lived past 30 because of the intensity of work that was required from them on the plantation. We are a resistant and valiant people because of the experiences of our past and the attitude of doing as we feel is often misinterpreted as arrogance rather than civil disobedience. 

Most importantly our party culture is world famous and tourists flock to the Caribbean to participate in it. We sell our party culture for profit but then again realistically that profit does not trickle down to the average Jamaican. It goes into the pockets of wealthy business conglomerates who grow richer by the day while the average Jamaican populace grows poorer. So you see, the point is, what you see in the media is not always true especially when individuals from said country don’t have the opportunity to express themselves independently. Jamaica does not have a fledgling film industry and the images of Jamaica exported to the world are controlled by upper class, wealthy individuals who are manipulating an image of Jamaica to sell a product that benefits them financially. So before you turn on the tv, and look at advertisements that promote Caribbean destinations, think about who creates the images that you are seeing, and realize that things are always deeper than they seem. 

I must make a point.....I respect Cubans because they stood up to American imperialism and fought for Caribbean independence. However, I do not respect the human rights abuses that have happened over the years and the turn that the Cuban revolution took. 

As A West Indian I occupy a space where I will always equivocally support the sovereignty of other Caribbean countries. Although it may be hard for Americans to comprehend and accept this, the US was trying to bring the same sort of imperialism, economic dependency and eternal enslavement that European metropoles once (mainly like Britain did in Jamaica and Spain did in Cuba) did in the Caribbean, and which we West Indians fought for freedom from. 

Just like the USA fought for freedom from the control of England, we have a right to fight for our freedom as West Indians from Americans in the USA. After living in the US I know Americans believe they are superior to us...you guys are more wealthy, your education system is ranked better than ours but let’s not forget one thing; you gained independence over 200 years ago, while most Caribbean countries are barely 75 years old. Comparing countries that have had less time to develop and different migration patterns is like comparing apples to oranges. Although you may love American capitalism, an intensely racial society and one that touts European superiority, most Caribbean people without a doubt would be miserable if they ever had to  lived that way Americans do. (and please realize that West Indians migrants living in the US don’t go for a LOVE of American culture but rather out of economic necessity and because of a lack of jobs in the islands).  We love our interracial relationships, family values, collective culture over American individualism, cultural warmth, organic chemical free food and unpolluted environments. 

It seems to me that all Americans can see in Cuba is a lack of democracy but many of you fail to see the lack in democracy in the way in which YOUR country treats small countries like mine. You force us to construct our economies the way YOU want it and to change our social structures to mimic yours through neocolonialist organizations like the IMF and World Bank , then you have the audacity to tell us we lack the intelligence to rule ourselves properly. This sort of arrogant rhetoric is no better than the slavedriving English who worked our ancestors to death on plantations. Just because it is packaged in a different medium does not mean the medicine is any less bitter. Over the past few years before I left Jamaica I have seen how IMF policies can pauperize a country; I have seen friends who I have known to be strongly middle class all my life fall into poverty and being barely able to buy groceries in one week, where before they were able to live a decent life. I myself have witnessed class reduction and a parent who was always able to provide for me at school barely being able to assist me in college and struggling to send me enough money because of a falling dollar that depreciates every day. What used to be 300 USD has become 150 USD.  If you want to talk about how your policies have negatively affected my country I could tell you all the details and they wouldn’t be very pretty. When America benefits you must realize that the third world suffers and more often than not this includes the Caribbean. The average middle class Jamaican like myself is reduced from having rice and peas every week to sufficing with boiled dumplings and barely having enough to support their children. 

Take heed that I am not only laying the blame on the IMF and the World Bank but some of the corrupt leaders in Jamaica who agree on these deals which negatively affect their people. But that is a story for another day. 

After seeing yet another incident of Jamaicans being mistreated in Trinidad I must say I have a few points to make about this constant interregional war.

1. As a Jamaican who has been to Trinidad twice i've noticed a lot (not all) Trinis are very arrogant because of the wealth oil has brought to the twin island republic. I've met some Trinis at UWI through friends who believe they are superior to Jamaicans. Some believe ALL Jamaicans are aggressive, ghetto or thieves. I have to say to the people who have adopted this mentality....you are extremely ignorant and know very little about Jamaica's social structure if you really believe ALL Jamaicans are living a life of extreme poverty in a wasteland of violence. Clearly you know very little about the effects of the Jamaican plantocracy and the existence of an EXTREMELY wealthy uptown whose residents personal net worth exceeds the average Trinidadians per capita income. As someone who went to a school with people from said neighbourhoods I have to say Trinis who spout this comment sound extremely ignorant when flinging this insult around. Uptown Jamaicans would generally not think much of you upon hearing this because the reality is the majority of them are richer than the average Trinidadian will ever be (and yes these are the same people who are known for notoriously loving Soca and flying to Port of Spain every year and paying for Carnival. Believe it or not, they are part of the hand that feeds your Carnival income and economy).This comment although extremely ugly is quite rampant among bourgeois/uptown Trinidadians who see a little Dancehall and begin to believe that everyone in Jamaica listens to Dancehall and lives in the areas seen in Dancehall videos, which then again spouts another fact. Trinidadians are blindly unaware that Dancehall is not viewed very favourably by most uptown Jamaicans. Dancehall itself,, as a musical genre is seen as crass, violent and lewd by the vast majority of rural and uptown Jamaicans. The fact that many Trinidadians don’t know this exposes to me the extent of ignorance many Trinis harbour about Jamaican culture. 

2.Trinidad and Tobago's crime rate rivals Jamaica's. This is like the pot calling the kettle black. Clearly many Trinis have never been to rural Jamaica and know nothing about the extremely conservative areas of our country where the crime rate is extremely low and is traditionally known as the heart of the authentic welcoming, loving Jamaican culture that tourists love. It seems that the vast majority of Trinidadians are only being exposed to Dancehall and only know about the inner cities of Jamaica that artistes in these songs sing about. Please take a trip around Jamaica (outside Kingston and tourist destinations) before you make wholesale judgements about a country that 

i. is much larger than yours

ii. had a very different colonial experience and thus has a very different social structure from yours.

3. Trinidadian officials should be ashamed for treating fellow Caribbean citizens in such an inhumane manner. After going through the airport in Trinidad and having to deal with said people I know myself that they are very rude, lack the professionalism of Jamaican customs officers and even treat fellow Trinidadians in this manner. I must also say the Trinidad has far worse race relations than Jamaica does. I have seen the ugly underbelly of the Black vs Indian binary in Trinidad, and I must say this does not exist in Jamaica. This relationship is very shocking to the average Jamaican, as Blacks and Indians in Jamaica have very good relations, frequently intermarry and generally get along. I have noticed that I have been profiled more by Indo-Trinidadian officials which is an offshoot of the racial tension in Trinidad, and also that darker skinned Jamaicans than me often receive worse treatment by Indo-Trinidadian officials. This is one aspect of Trinidad that bothers me a lot which i hope can change in the future. 

I understand that Trinidad does not rely on tourists as much as Jamaica because of your oil economy, but please, Trinidad needs to improve  the standard of customer service in national airports. For a country that has one of the highest per capita incomes in the Caribbean T&T should have the resources to be training officers at a higher standard. Customer service in Trinidad is generally far worse than in Jamaica because of the lack of having to rely on foreign tourists and not being forced to interact with outsiders like Jamaicans do. I have lived in MY own country and heard the comments about Jamaicans from uppity Trinis and I have ignored them. In Jamaican fashion like i was taught by my parents I treated said people with hospitality and made sure their stay in Jamaica was enjoyable,  tried my best to treat them well and keep them safe,  show them that they were stereotyping Jamaicans and know very little about authentic Jamaican culture that comes from the countryside. Clearly some Trinidadians have no idea of how massive urbanization in a short period of time has created vastly different rural and urban cultures and the litany of subcultures that exists within Jamaica. Trinidadians, we are not a monolith, believe it or not we are also a multicultural society like you and no, for the last time not all Jamaicans are dark skinned Black people. Yes, we have far more red people than you do, I should know I could never walk down a street in South and not hear someone sooting “REDZ!!!”

 There are Indo-Jamaicans, Chinese Jamaicans, Arab Jamaicans,White Jamaicans, (yes there are MORE White people in Jamaica THAN in Trinidad and we have a large Jewish population) and many mixed race Jamaicans. Please educate yourselves about your neighbour before you come with the high handed comments. 

4. Be careful of becoming too arrogant because of a non-renewable energy resource. One day oil will run out just like the bauxite Jamaica had that made us as rich as you will run out too/lose value. The world is changing and governments are looking towards reducing climate change and adopting sustainable forms of energy like solar, wave and hydroelectricity. One day Jamaica just might stop importing the oil that makes your country wealthy as well as the rest of your Caribbean brethren. I warn Trinidad about experiencing the same downfall that we did when we lost our status as the jewel of the Caribbean from the fallout of bauxite. We too were once very wealthy and relied on a non renewable resource, and when it lost value our country descended deeper into crime, violence and excessive migration. 

5. At the end of the day, if Jamaicans did not buy your products, your country would not be as rich. And trust me, the day is coming where Jamaica will change. My generation is tired of the lack of progress and me like others are going 2 be working tirelessly to change and fix our country. Wealth is not a permanent state of affairs and sometimes it can be fleeting (take our national history as an example) Just a word of advice , shape up your attitude before it gets too late, because when oil loses it's value (as it is right now, since Iran restarted production) and Trinidad loses its mainstay, many Jamaicans will not take kindly to Trinidadians running into Jamaica for jobs (as it was in the past before Trinidad hit oil ) and when (and it will) it redevelops. Jamaicans tend not to forget very easily and may become very vindictive and begin to treat Trinidadians looking for jobs in Jamaica the same way the authorities in Trinidad have been treating us.  If you want respect, you must give it. Life is a two way street, and about giving and taking. Please remember that you are not the Gods of the Caribbean and oil does not guarantee immortality. As Jamaica fell, trust that one day it will also rise. 

6. Lastly I have met and am very close friends with quite a few Trinis. I believe that good non judgemental Trinis exist, and you would find that Trinis from the south have much more in common with rural Jamaicans than you might believe. The same goes for Jamaican uptowners and POS bougie brethren; their attitudes are quite similar. The reality is in both countries there are class distinctions, crime, multiculturalism and world famous music. It is better for us to appreciate our similarities rather than concentrate on our differences to foster unity which we need so badly, look at what is happening with Puerto Rico and Cuba. I love Trinidad very much, it’s a country I could see myself living in happily, the food, friendliness of the people and cultural diversity is quite nice, BUT what I don’t love is the way SOME (not all Trinidadians) stereotype my country without having been there. There is a lot to Jamaica, much more than crime and poverty, some of you just might find that you ever came to Jamaica you may fall in love with it, i’ve known several Trinis who have. 

And last but not least, at the end of the day, please remember that we are all West indians and we're better off together than apart. 

It is not a surprise to me or any of the young Jamaicans on and off the island, what is going on with this February 29 elections. 

Once again, we are seeing a repeat of the same endless cycle of poverty that has gripped Jamaica since our independence in 1962. 

To outsiders, Jamaica is marketed as a top notch tourist destination with bountiful beaches, so called happy go lucky locals who apparently smoke weed (or ganja) as we call it all day and lie around in drug induced splendour. 

This is a detrimental and damaging utopia that is halting progress in our society. The reality is that the majority of people who are not part of uptown Jamaica are struggling financially. It has also created a sort of fool’s paradise to some residents even within the island. At a time where the UNDP classifies Jamaica as having a poverty rate at 19.9% (http://www.jm.undp.org/) many Jamaican teens and young adults are actively trying to flee the island. Why is this? 

Simply, there are no jobs. 

The only jobs that exist are those to which the bourgeoisie society of uptown caters to which includes medicine and business. There are actually too many lawyers in the island right now as most medical school rejects join the Law department in hope of having a profession that pays them a decent salary. 

The reality is , if you aspire to be an engineer or any other innovative non traditional profession in Jamaica you will remain jobless for some time after exiting the university of the West Indies or, which many youth are trying to escape you will have to suffice with an extremely low paying job. This means that you do not make enough money to be able to rent or live in a home outside of your parents house and are thus relegated to living at home or in shoddy conditions. 

Now this is a common pattern in Jamaica, to find students returning to live home with parents after graduation. Whereas in North American culture this would be considered a bit strange, in the Caribbean and Jamaica it is somewhat normal. This is because unlike Western culture, Caribbean culture emphasizes the group and the family. Family is one of the most important things in Jamaican and Caribbean culture, whereas in the USA individualism is prized. West Indians are known for very strong family ties and the idea of looking out for one another regardless where we are in the world. This group mentality often even occurs more strongly in Indo-Jamaican and Indo-Caribbean families as well as Caribbean Chinese and Jamaican chinese families. The onus in these families that are often business oriented is that all the people who contribute to the family business live in the same home to cut costs, and since they all work at the same place it saves money to go to the family workplace together as one. This is extremely common in Chinese Jamaican families as when teens reach adolescence, they exit UWI and often work for their parents in Chinese restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets or wholesales until they find a job. Or for Indo-Caribbean families they work alongside their parents in the hardware store (big up to the Banhan family) or whatever other family business that they generally own in rural  or urban Jamaica (most Indo-Jamaicans originate from Clarendon, St Catherine and Westmoreland but relocate to Kingston for better opportunities and better schools). 

This pattern is however, reflective of the poor policies that our government creates. Which is a result of political corruption, massive brain drain and the inability of two warring parties to work together for the progress of the island. 

As usual, right before elections we see the constant emerging pattern of some sort of economic development. 

1. There are a wider variety of jobs on the market at the moment, Caribbean Jobs Online and Caribbean jobs recently put out posts for engineers which is a huge sign of progress. Jamaica has not manufactured or exported any product on a wide scale for the better part of ten years. In addition, like what is going in in Trinidad and Tobago, our main natural resource lost value on the market. When we lost the wealth we depended on from bauxite the Jamaican government decided to sell our national bauxite company to a foreign European buyer which further incensed Jamaicans; once again we were being owned by a White European entity; extremely reminiscent of slavery and colonialism. Additionally we lost the rights to operate and maintain this plant which was a source of income to our government and people. Sadly instead of using this money for education and forward thinking policies; our government wasted the profit as we see happening in Trinidad after Kamla Persad Bissessar has left and her party has been accused of isolating funds for personal use. At this point Jamaica was one of the economic powerhouses of the Caribbean, as we profited largely from the Alumina we exported. As a matter of fact I am not 22 and I cannot remember a time when Jamaica produced or manufactured anything on a large scale. 

2. There is a large impetus for economic reform that has been the work of The Minister of Finance Peter Phillips with the help of CAPRI and one of the most influential economists of the time at the moment Dr. Damien King. 

3. The government seems (i use this word with a grain of salt) to be actually working very hard on the logistics hub and the film industry.

BUT.

Before we begin to celebrate and jump for joy, let us remember one thing. 

This has happened many times before an election. 

It is characteristic of the party in place to expedite development the year before election in order to create a false sense of security amongst the populace. Usually when the party who wins using this strategy comes into power, during the next term, for the beginning of the 5 year stint there is usually a fall off of all the projects they began and every promise that is made. Once again, there is a descent into an extreme amount of crime and violence, where there is at least one murder a day, robberies and theft where people from the uptown areas of Jamaica are targeted. Because these are the members of society that have jobs, the large amount of young men who lack jobs sometimes turn to crime to feed their families if they do not get a chance to migrate. 

The government feeds off of this cycle and uses these young men to create garrisons and strongholds where they gain a certain amount of seats each year. Thus persons living in inner city communities become political pawns of the two ruling parties who are the JLP and the PNP. 

The reality is that, we are now at a place in Jamaica where our government is not working for us, they are working for themselves. They have began to enrich their lives, send their children to schools abroad for a good education that they know their government does not provide and leave the majority of the Jamaican people in poverty. Where there was a rich Brown and White burgeosie during and after slavery there is a wealthy Black burgeosie in Jamaica now that is profiting off of the misery of the Black majority they keep in poverty and uneducated to maintain their power. This group is often guilty of incensing the Black majority by accusing the JLP of being the Brown plantocratic party, that will not cater to them even though at the very same time the PNP is devoid of progress. This form of mental control has not seemed to end, as I have seen the same tactics being used with Portia, claiming that her Blackness is a reason for her unpopularity. The reality is, she is unpopular because she has not achieved much and now is using patty and bagjuice to buy poor voters. The PNP utilizes a historic event and instills fear in the Black majority, to prevent party rotation, to maintain their corrupt rule at the times they are incompetent and prevent any sort of national progress. Because the reality is, if their pawns are educated, who will vote for them? It definitely wont be the uptown Jamaicans who are educated; they can see through their lies. 

Now I am not a JLP supporter, I support the leader who is the best at the time. As much as people may say that Andrew Holness is not charismatic, he seems to be a better leader than Portia to me. He seems to be better educated and I am not coming from a position from “he is not from standpipe”. How I see it is Andrew was probably an A student maybe albeit he was shy and followed the rules but he was a more effective test taker while Portia was a B- student but popular student in her group whether it be the athletes, dancer or whatever Portia was good at. Yes, we no longer have a leader that is the whole package, which is the Manley or the PJ, but we have to learn to choose the best of what we have and put Jamaica before our personal wants/party favours. What some Jamaicans need to understand is that good leadership is not based only on charisma, swagger, charm and the ability to lie through your teeth. We have got to get to the point where we choose substance over flash and charm. Good leadership and economic development can only flourish where WITh swagger, there is ability, capacity, and a well educated leader who can navigate international and Caribbean politics to make sure Jamaica is safe. It really is time to do away with this swag over utility argument; it has gotten us nowhere. 

They are also able to do this because, we as Jamaicans simply are not united. The strong class division that occurs in our society, is dividing us. We the educated middle and upper class are not demanding that our government put in place policies to educate the large groups of poor people in Jamaica. Instead of fixing our island, we migrate to the USA, Canada, Australia, UK and never come back. Our way of dealing with national problem has become flight instead of fight. I will admit that I am one of these Jamaicans, because I value my life, and my safety which is why I made the decision to leave. But additionally, I also left, to make sure that i have a job so that I can provide for my parents, because the way Jamaica is set up now, nothing is certain for them and additionally my sibling is critically ill at times, she cannot be left with the responsibility to financially support them. 

This is why I rally and challenge you, young educated Jamaicans in between the ages of 18-35 to get up and take a stand. This is why I have committed myself to helping to build schools in Jamaica. For once in our life, we need to go out and vote, force our government to educate those who need it. As a middle class Jamaican I can afford to pay my way through UWI, I don’t need government assistance. But the reality is, the amount of people in Jamaica that can afford to do this is falling rapidly. We are descending into the same gross economic inequality that we were at right after independence. Although I like what Mr Peter Phillips and Ronald Thwaites are doing, I cannot say that Portia has had great leadership. In a world with highly educated prime ministers, countries with excellent education and good infrastructure Miss Simpson Miller has failed to equip us with the tools to compete with such countries. We need more goal accomplishing leadership, that provides us with the skills we need to develop and sadly in the past term Miss Simpson Miller has not provided this. It is not personal Miss Simpson Miller, it is national. I do not hate you as a person