

Over two years ago, when then-finance minister Dr Nigel Clarke masterminded pay increases of between 200 and 300 per cent for parliamentarians, he also expressed the hope that the ‘attractive’ salaries would serve to draw more of Jamaica’s best talent into politics.
There is now a manifestation in at least one instance. Ambassador Audrey Marks’s confirmation that she will enter elective politics, thus adding more meat to her senatorial and ministerial appointment, is something that the country should find easy to embrace.
That she intends to represent the people of Manchester North East, instead of those whom she is more familiar with in St Mary, the parish of her birth, upbringing and early education, was somewhat of a surprise, although it has become more of the norm for candidates to run far away from where they originated.
Marks, as many of us know, started the bill payment service organisation, Paymaster, in Jamaica, and went on to serve as Jamaica’s senior diplomat, globally, having worn the nomenclature of Jamaica’s ambassador to the United States for longer, collectively, than most marriages last.

And, as stated by Dr Clarke, she is the kind of talent that you want to get involved in representational politics, unlike those who are quite dumb, disrespectful, lacking in knowledge, and cannot even express themselves for all to understand, often chopping the grammar tree down. She is no rabblerouser, and I know from my association with her, which goes way back with the St Mary history, that she has a genuine concern for the welfare and upward movement of people, generally.
Ambassador Marks has never thrown her straw hat into the political ring before, but if there is intent, then the start time can be anytime. The disadvantage is that, apparently, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) machinery has suffered engine damage in recent months, and the right mechanic must be engaged to fix it. She could be considered one such qualified individual.
I note with interest that when it was confirmed that she would be the JLP’s representative on the ballot, Dr Horace Chang, the party’s general secretary, and Member of Parliament for St Catherine South Central, Dr Andrew Wheatley, were the men who informed all from Christiana, the constituency’s main town.
They told the world that incumbent Audley Shaw was happy with the choice and would fully support Marks.

Strange though, that there were no utterances from Shaw, a hugely vocal man, who had originally backed the councillor for the Craig Head division in the constituency, over the principal of Holmwood Technical High School in the battle to see who faces Val Wint of the People’s National Party (PNP).
For the former ambassador’s sake, that issue must be clarified, as in order to make her job easier, Shaw must be a part of the apparatus that will make matters run as smoothly as they can. I wish her good luck, because she is a fine Jamaican who can make things happen.
The police owe Alando Gray much more than an apology
An apology issued by the Jamaica Constabulary Force for identifying a man, wrongly, for committing a murder, deserves much more than that.
In fact, a hefty financial compensation package should now be worked on by the Police, thereby avoiding an unnecessary drawn-out legal battle which is likely to begin soon, maybe already. Alando Gray, the resident of Portmore in St Catherine, deserves nothing less for the pain that he suffered in a matter that could have seen his relatives far advanced in making funeral preparations for him.
The construction worker is now forced to rebuild the rest of his life after he was fingered for killing a man in Portmore, and was thrown into the spotlight on the constabulary’s ‘Wanted Wednesdays’ promotion. He is henceforth cemented in a zone of humiliation, apprehension and even fear, for there are some fools on social media who would not even have noticed an apology from the police, but always remember the young man’s details posted by those charged to serve, protect and reassure.

The fact is that Gray chose to turn himself in at Mandeville Police Station, having been alerted of the ‘impossible’. It suggests that he did not trust the security personnel in his hometown. He was detained in Mandeville and transferred to Portmore station where he was bad-mouthed and, among other things, accused of being a murderer, while being kept in inhumane conditions at a lock-up, as all of these facilities across Jamaica are.
Watching Gray on television detailing his ordeal was sad. He even said that while he had heard of an apology, no one, at the time, had called him directly to say what fools the personnel involved in the faux pas were.
That matter brings to light something that I have been talking about for a long time: The move by the police force to eliminate, many without evidence, people they deem to have committed crimes, and became business for funeral operators, because they dared to engage the police in a shootout, or pointed a gun at them.
The police are seemingly tired of going through the process of capturing accused people and running their matters through the court. But that’s a dangerous thing to do, for even in Gray’s case, had he decided to go on the road to buy a box of curry goat or drink a liquor, he could have been cut down by a policeman who recognised his picture on ‘Wanted Wednesdays’ and decided to perform a certain procedure that would make him stop breathing in an instant.
If any group should get things right, it is the Jamaica Constabulary Force. And yes, I know that Jamaica has a dismal record of murders, but the Police cannot be a consenting party to it.

South Africa‘s cricket triumph has meaning
It’s now official. The South African cricket team members are no longer ‘chokers’, so dubbed from their and their predecessors’ over 30 years of failed attempts to win any of the championship titles on offer by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The fact that the team won the ICC Test Cricket Championship over a rough and rugged Australia team in the scheduled five-day encounter which climaxed in four, was a major statement for the team, led by a black man, Temba Bavuma, who had to fight off criticisms ranging from him being too short for the game, to those about his own capability to be a part of the team.
Bavuma’s leadership has also been spectacular. He has guided his team to victory in their last eight matches, and he does not know what it is like to lose a series.
Although South Africa may be regarded as the country with the most talented cricketers, along with India, their players have, collectively, fallen short of the mark in the 33 years since their return to international cricket in 1992, following their suspension in 1970 due to the country’s cruel Apartheid policies of racial segregation.
My only visit to South Africa in 2003 revealed to me how deep the talent flowed. I remember one match in particular being played at the University of Cape Town’s main ground, and had to ask if it was a state final, based on the quality of the players involved, only to find out that it was merely a warm-up match between faculties.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the now deceased head of the Anglican Church in Cape Town said to me during lunch one day, that while he had followed the fortunes of stars of the Caribbean, like Garfield Sobers, Viv Richards, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts and Brian Lara over time, he felt that South Africa had so many talented youth within the black communities, who, with encouragement and support, could achieve as much, if not more than the West Indian greats. He even mentioned one suburb which had over 500,000 inhabitants by unofficial estimates, most of them unemployed or uneducated, but full of natural talent.
Interestingly, that same day that Bavuma and his men thumped Australia where it hurt, their women’s team were completing a battering of the West Indies women in a One-Day international in Barbados, in the process, scoring their highest-ever total against their opponents. The West Indies are coached by Shane Deitz. Where is he from? Australia, of course…as Cricket West Indies continues to believe that the talent is not available in the Caribbean to get the job done.
What’s happening in St Mary?

Every day that I follow the news, I see and hear so many terrible acts of crime in the parish of my birth – St Mary. What is happening?
St Mary used to be the number two parish in Jamaica in terms of safety (behind Portland), but there has been a drastic shift of late. I am aware of challenges with praedial larceny, which has been the case since the 1960s, but incidents of murder, arson, larceny, rape and others seem to have been thrown more into the spotlight.
The good part is that the police, led by newly-appointed Superintendent Anthony Wallace, seem to be enjoying some amount of success in addressing the issues involved. Hopefully, more time can be spent on prevention than on putting the cure into gear.
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