Mark Wignall | Kudos Holness administration

Beaming with pride but without the hint of a boast, a key part of the human component leading the super ministry; Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development, Robert Morgan recently told us that none other than the World Bank had showered praises on us.

It credited Jamaica for its swift national response following Hurricane Melissa, citing a “proactive contracting strategy that has drawn international recognition”. In brass-tacks terms it enabled the country to clear 85 per cent of blocked roads within four to five days after the hurricane. It is said that international observers were surprised.

There can be no effective relief after a disaster flattens the lives and the spirit of a people if speed is not efficiently deployed. It is useful to note that the prime minister was mentored by the late Eddie Seaga, who seemed to care little about earning kudos whenever he was in another of his huge main social and infrastructural projects.

I can tell you that not many people outside of construction and haulage knew that there was such a system in place where people, equipment and readiness were preset prior to potential damage and destruction. And magnum can be added to our opus as the minister tells us that those in other vulnerable regions want to adopt Jamaica’s model.

Quite possibly, and more than likely, PM Holness is looking at Seaga’s 100-day progress marker after Hurricane Gilbert in September 1988 and he wants to top it, especially scoring 100 per cent JPS reconnection by Christmas.

I have a friend living in a sleepy little district called Bonnet just outside of Guys Hill in St Catherine. It’s hill country and Melissa’s relentless downpour brought about significant land slippages in the area. “Still no light,” he texted me last Wednesday. So, there’s that.

Districts like Bonnet where many folk farm cabbage, lettuce, string beans, tomatoes and tubers would be ideal candidates for Minister Green’s proposed hydroponics in reengineering small farming in Jamaica. Especially if the cooperative/ cost sharing model is utilised.

AND CONSIDER THE POLITICS

With all the talk from stakeholders from all sections of Jamaica and in the diaspora always mentioning building back Jamaica faster, smarter and more fitting to meet the most advanced in the digital age, there is also the political side which is always at play.

The World Bank has given the new ball to PM Holness and his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) team. Opposition Leader Mark Golding needs a change of gear, especially the protective cup for the delicate parts and new willows to replace the frayed ones. Surely the World Bank kudos could have been made in a silent diplomatic note and that would have been better for the People’s National Party (PNP).

This praise, like other World Bank praises before for our fiscally smart directions during the JLP’s run, makes it more difficult for the PNP to mount any sensible and believable criticisms and accusations about any hanky-panky from the JLP in the huge build-back phase which has not yet been fully assessed, especially for the workflow in rehousing.

The PNP President and Opposition Leader Mark Golding will be forced publicly to attach himself to the efforts of PM Holness and his team and ooze buckets of syrupy, sweet praise himself as he reaches high for altruism when we know that party politics and that noble objective cannot co-exist.

As international organisations, especially those capable and able to assist us over the next five years, stick around even just to see that new Jamaica, that in itself will be enough to bring us towards more than a psychological critical mass. In other words, the Jamaican Build Back footprint may grow and attain the international fame of the sporting and cultural giant that we are. Just as long as most of us rise to the challenge and never let up.

LEPTOSPIROSIS AND THE RASTAMAN

I was prepared to deal with the ticks later, I thought to myself, and I parted the tall grass and bushes while trudging up an impossible incline from a small village in St Catherine. It was in the mid-1980s and a few young men were taking me to a ganja field farther up the hill.

Later as we drank a few beers I had bought from a street vendor, the Rastaman living in a thatched contraption called a hut pointed out the four squares of ganja with buds ripening and told me that he was merely a caretaker for a ‘big man’ who owned the field, the herb stock and the huge profits to be made later.

“Di big problem me have now is rat. Dem big like dog and some a dem all crawl up pon mi a night time an waan chaw up mi big toe. Mi have mi flour, cornmeal and likkle snacks from dung di road and mi haffi wrap dem up wid bush and rope fi keep dem whey.”

After a few of us had a sacrament of sorts and prepared to leave, we made another date to meet again at the mountain top. The Rastaman had a few requests. He wore size 10 shoes. He wanted me to carry a tough, working, high-back pair of boots for him. He planned to scuff it up a bit before wearing it.

“If certain bad mind people si mi a wear new boot, dem wi come a mi hut and tief it. So, me rough it up and mi nuh haffi sharpen mi lass fi nobody.”

The other request was “Carry bout four or five gallon paint tin wid cover. Mi can keep mi flour, cornmeal, rice, bulla, bread and likkle snacks. Di rat dem caan touch dat. Mi nuh ready fi catch dat lepto something.”

Later that night, my wife had to help me in picking off silver ticks with their heads embedded in my skin close to my delicate parts.

Mark Wignall is a political and public affairs analyst. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com