It seems as if our Caribbean neighbour Trinidad, has
redefined CARICOM. CARCOM now means, “Carry Yu Money Cum, But Wi Can Do Wid out
Yu”. Many Jamaicans have been treated poorly when they visit Trinidad. This has
been reported in the media. Jamaicans visiting Trinidad are seen as a burden to
the Trinidadian state. Jamaicans are now not sure if they are CARICOM or CARIGO. Should we now replace the strong call for CARICOM to call for CARILEF.
I cannot believe that the Trinidadian government has been
subsidizing fuel for their manufacturers for a number of years now, while
we are buying their fuel at a premium price. So the Jamaican people have been
subsidizing the Trinidadian manufacturing sector while our manufacturing sector
has been falling apart?
We have been big on CARICOM but small on JamaicaCom and we have
paid dearly for it. We are big on the Caribbean Court of Justice but our
justice system like an old broken down and dilapidated building is still waiting
for that great overall to take place.
We go to CARICOM to have big talk yet we are not
communicating with our people enough. We talk and talk about CARICOM and yet very
little attention has been paid to crime in Jamaica. Our parliament is yet to come up with
a comprehensive plan to deal with this challenge.
Trinidad has approximately 1.2 million people while Jamaican
has 2.7 million people. Trinidad has one of the highest per capita income in
the Caribbean while Jamaicans struggles near the bottom of the economic ladder in the Caribbean. Jamaica
has a large market which Trinidad has made the best of. Jamaica still continues
to go down the road of poverty while Trinidad continues to climb the hill of prosperity. Trinidad is certainly having a carnival while
we prepare for a nine-night. What a life, what a country.
Jamaica Land we love.
