The Pastor's Desk - Issues in the news

Oct 04, 2020

We woke up on Friday morning October 2, with the news that the President of the United States and his wife were tested positive for the corona virus. Whereas we are saddened by this and we pray that they will both recover well.

The president of the US will have access to the best doctors available to attend to him and his family and certainly they will receive the best attention that is possible. However it is God who heals and one would hope that we will never lose sight of this fact. It is also my hope that the experience of the president will give him a greater sense of empathy and solidarity with persons who are infected, once he pulls through this.

The response of the American people will be varied and that response concerns us as what happens in the US does have some impact on our life in Jamaica. Will it affect the outcome of the elections due in in November? Maybe it will and maybe it won’t. In any event this is a clear reminder of our finiteness as a human family and that all of us are vulnerable, and hence must look out for ourselves and our neighbours. This is what Jesus teaches.

There are two other matters I would like to comment on that are in the news. These are the key parliamentary committees and the management of COVID-19 in community spread.

The Andrew Holness government has decided that four of the parliamentary committees that the Bruce Golding led government had decided would be led by the opposition over ten years ago, a practice honoured by the PNP when the formed the government, will revert to being managed by Government parliamentarians. Two of these committees, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), and the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) remain under the chairmanship of the opposition. The primary aim of having opposition chairmanship was to keep the government on its toes and to maintain transparency. And that’s a good thing in any democracy. This worked well in the last administration as certain irregularities led to the resignation of two government ministers, from two key ministries. Prime minister’s Holness’ reason for the decision to remove these Committees from the opposition Management is that he has accused the opposition of using the committees to embarrass the government. Further, he stated, they did not hold meetings for four of these committees which he claims would not have led to the same outcome.

I agree with the Gleaner’s editorial of Friday Oct 2, that the reason offered by the PM is disingenuous, as other ways could have been found to hold the committee leaders to account. My other concern, is that the government having such a huge majority in parliament, (49-14), needs now more than ever to be very transparent. One could easily argue that the country will never know the truth about many things as the government will cover up its transgressions. We are yet to see how this will unfold, but I think it’s an unprogressive move and will further take off any sheen that was left on our democratic armour. 

Let me affirm the government for what it had been doing to manage the spread of the Corona virus in the country up to the announcement of the general elections. Once the elections were over and there was the announcement of community spread, all the assurances that the country had gathered the resources necessary to contain and manage the spread of the virus seemed to have vanished. Yes there were measures put in place, but more direct involvement of the state is needed. People have to be responsible, but the state needs to step up its compliance strategies. One area where people are most vulnerable is in public transportation. Do vehicles have sanitizers? Do driver and conductors and passengers wear masks, and are there sanctions for violations? Not all the time. Maybe this is one of the places where commuters may need to insist that if the vehicles
do not practice the protocol don’t take them. This is a public health decision. 

Finally, let us keep hope alive, God is indeed our refuge and strength. The events in the US and here in Jamaica, are not outside the will of God. We must however respond to the question, what is God calling each of us to do? How is God calling us to be? Let us heed God’s word and keep faith with it as the world changes around us.

Pastor