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INTRODUCTIONS
Masters of Ceremony, Mr. Oraine Wallace and Miss Tanisha Mattis, The Honourable Dr. Norman Dunn, MP – Minister of State, in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce. Mr. Phillip Armstrong - Chairman, Standards, Council Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ); Other Council Members; Dr. Velton Gooden - Executive Director of the BSJ. Dr. Lorice Edwards-Brown – Chief Executive Officer for the National Compliance and Regulatory Authority (NCRA); Other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
Notice that I did not come up
here and said ‘All Protocols Observed’.
I am at the Bureau of Standards and it is all about excellence today.
You will notice also that I have
left out one group. When I was in Trelawny as a child…. and you get yu nice plate
a food….. di nicest part was the meat. I use to leave the meat for last….. but by
di time I said, “for health strength and daily food” di meat disappeared. So
now you know I usually leave the meat for last – the best part of the meal.
The persons who I have left for
last - those who have served, and have served well. Today we are recognizing
them. Ladies and gentlemen let us put our hands together for the Bureau of
Standards Awardees 2019 and 2020.
It is said that the most
important asset in an organization is not listened on the balance. Ignore that
asset and your business can operate at a loss. That asset is your human
resource.
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RISE
Today as we are gathered here, it
is all about R.I.S.E. Recognizing Integrity Service and Excellence.
If each one of us, have that
embedded in our DNA and it becomes a part of our culture then this country
shall RISE from the ashes of crime, corruption, lack of respect for one another
and a place where everything is…. a no nutten.
We have economic challenges and
if Recognizing Integrity Service and Excellence does not form the foundation of
what we do in this country then Jamaica shall not RISE.
If Recognizing Integrity Service
and Excellence is not a part of every organization – be it public or private,
then we shall not rise from the depth of hell that we have been in for too long
now.
If Recognizing Integrity, Service
and Excellence does not form the basis of our educational system then education
by itself will take us nowhere.
The family is the basic social
unit of the society. Now, if within the family structure we do not Recognize
Integrity, Service and Excellence as the basis of developing our families, then
the family will become dysfunctional and so will the society.
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CORRUPTION AND CRIME
We are talking about integrity in
Jamaica…Integrity? The Director of losses operations and analytics at JPS,
Rasheed Anderson, said in 2018 that the light and power company estimates that
approximately 200,000 households and commercial entities are stealing
electricity. This compared to the approximately 600,000 legitimate customers. So,
the 600,000 pay for the 200,000. I am almost sure that figure is increasing by
the day.[1]
If children grow up seeing madda
a tief, fada a tief, den pickney no just join di tiefin line too. Di same Pickney
bright and pass 10 CXC, get first degree with honours and second degree with
distinction and them becomes a Judge, the Prime Minister, the Governor General,
or even a Bishop of Jamaica – more than likely tiefing will still be in his or
her DNA. What a country what a life!
We live in a country where a leader
in the private sector suggested that the most notorious criminal in this
country could be used to promote the need to take the Covid-19 vaccine. Sometimes
I wonder if it is the Covid-19 we should worry about.
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THAT OLD LADY WHO CHANGED THE DIRECTION
I must tell you this positive
story which has given me hope. An old lady called me one Sunday morning very
distressed about this matter of that notorious criminal and she begged me to do
something about it. She was horrified to believe that it would take a convicted
murderer to convince the people of this country to take the Covid-19 vaccine. I told her that she needs to do something
about it. She said to me, “Mr. Derby I am an old woman I cannot do anything”.
I told the old lady that she needs
to write me a letter sharing her thoughts about the matter, and I would share
it with the powers that be. She said to me, “Mr. Derby you are going to put my
name and make them come kill me”.
I said to myself that this lady
could not be worrying about her life now, because when death knocks you cannot
say that you are from Wait-A-Bit in Trelawny so death….Wait-A-Bit.
I told the lady to send me the
letter and I would not add her name. Her letter along with my comments was
posted on my Facebook page and also on my Bark Di Trute blog site. By Monday
morning she called me and said, “Mr. Derby, my letter is all over the place.
The Jamaica Observe carried the letter with my picture posted, and of course
they found the ugliest picture of me to post. Oh yes, I got calls from
politicians, church leaders and persons kept circulating that letter from that
old lady. Oh yes, each one of us can
make a difference and good people must start to unite with good people for the
good of this county to make a difference. That is a good way of Recognizing
Integrity, Service and Excellence. Let’s ensure that those who do not,
Recognize Integrity, Service and Excellence spend a very long time in her
majesty’s hotel. Recognizing awardees like you who have Integrity, You, who
have given Service and you have shown that Excellence has been your hallmark, that
is the way Jamaica shall RISE.
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WRONG EMPHASIS
Too many of us put far too much emphasis
on academic qualifications, money, power and fame. All these shall pass away
one day, because from the earth we came and to the earth we shall return.
Jamaica needs to RISE and we need
to start with our youths. We put our youngsters through an educational system where
many just memorize and regurgitate. You remember Big Boy; he would copy everything from somebody else’s examination
paper and he would also copy the person’s name. The Big Boy philosophy is still
alive.
Once upon a time they use to read
for their degrees at the University of the West Indies but now some just copy
and paste. It would be great if they could copy and paste integrity. However, you
cannot teach nor copy and paste integrity; you need to socialize our people so
that they become a person of integrity.
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A CHARACTER-BUILDING PROGRAMME FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Some of you might recall that I
was the head of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme here in Jamaica. A
programme where youngsters learnt to work as a team, give service and
participate in extra curricula activities. It is a character-building
programme. I am not for one moment saying that we should go back to that
programme which is linked to our colonial masters, but we need a character
building and recognition programme for young people in Jamaica. We give
successful business men OJs and others ODs and CDs but what national system do
we have in place to recognize our young people to encourage Integrity, Service
and Excellence?
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RECOGNIZING OUR WORKERS
We also need a formal system for
recognizing our workers in the public sector who give exceptional service and we
should reward them accordingly. Yu neva hear say encouragement sweetens labour?
Give them a title such as Gold Distinguished Worker…. Put a little sweetness
eena dem pocket man. One should not have to be promoted to be a manager when
you are not management material, simple because you perform well as a worker. We
sometimes reward a good worker by promoting him or her to a management
position. You end up removing that excellent worker from the workforce and making
him or her into a dysfunctional member of the management team.
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THE LAWS
In our country we have many laws.
There is one which I know you are all aware of…. the Public Bodies Management
and Accountability Act and also The Financial Administration and Audit Act. We
have the Auditor General and the Integrity Commission but the man on the street
will tell you that if you tief two ackee yu fool. Move off with all half a
billion and you are seen as a star. We should never forget that many wanted
Cash Plus and they ended up getting Cash Minus. We are still paying for that
today and the conceptualizes have gotten away scotch free as far as I know.
Let me not go any further for fear of being too controversial and I don’t want to make controversy kill the message. But I will say, those who have ears to hear, let them hear.
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THANKS FOR INVITING ME
I must thank you for inviting me
to share my thoughts with you. When I was called, I was asked to send something
about myself and I really did not know what to say. I do not walk around with
titles and honours; I am not perfect and I have made many mistakes and one such
mistake is sometimes I forget that I have to take care of myself. I would like
to believe though, that you have invited me because you wanted someone to say
it as it is, someone who has served and looked for no returns, someone who
enjoys serving and someone who would like to see this place be a better place.
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PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL OF CHURCHES
The President of the Council of
Churches, Rev. Newton Dixon told me, “Workers contribute some $70 billion
directly from their earnings (and then turn around and pay GCT, gas tax,
transfer tax and a multitude of others). You are 1.2 million strong which means
you help to support and provide for the other 1.7 million of our people who do
not or cannot work. You are our nation's most valuable asset! Yet, you are
still underpaid and overworked. It is note-worthy that you have survived but it
is no surprise because of your indomitable, never-say-die,
putting-up-resistance, "tun yuh han mek fashion" spirit. You prevail
with the strength of the Almighty One and the resilience and strength which
you've garnered from the trials and triumphs of your ancestors.
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KAVAN GAYLE
Mr. Kavan Gayle President of the Bustamante
Industrial Trade Union said to me, “We must always recognize the working class
for their contribution to the building of this country. They have worked with
class.
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DR. LOIS WALTERS
Dr. Lois C.A.
Walters, President Human Resource Manage Association of Jamaica in her message
to me says, “Recognizing employees & workers in the workspace for their
service excellence builds the foundational principles of integrity and trust.
Trust and honesty are the fabrics from which relationships of integrity in the
workforce are designed. RISE - that is, recognition, integrity, service and
excellence-is how we begin the process of repairing the damage done to our work
ethic and raise the low trust embedded in our culture and society.”
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I CHALLENGE THE BUREAU OF STANDARDS
I say I challenge the Bureau of
Standards to continue to do its work ….. I know that money is tight but
organizations like the Bureau of Standards Jamaica must get the needed funds to
serve this nation.
I know that you have worked on
the National Building Code and as far as I know it has not been incorporated
into the law as yet. We are still waiting.
I do hope that the various parish
councils and other organization are working with you so that you can carry out
the required tests to ensure that our buildings are properly built.
I would love you to play a
greater role in determining the standards for road construction and road
maintenance. Too often potholes that are fixed seem to last just for the next
rainy season.
I would love you to review the
packaging and labeling of goods in this country. Many things are not packaged
securely and person can therefore put foreign materials into these products.
Products such as flour if not
packed properly can be contaminated.
Proper labelling is required so
that we can know what we are eating.
We also need to encourage the state to stop importing electrical appliances which uses 60 cycles instead of 50 cycle electrical power as provided by the JPS.
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CLOSING
In closing I must say it was
great to be here. It is great to be in the company of persons who have helped
to ensure that standards are maintained. There are other standards which are
falling dramatically in this country but I don’t think that your mandate covers
those things. Things like common courtesies - good morning, excuse me, thanks –
words which seemed to have disappeared from our vocabulary.
Today I say especially to those
of you who have served. I know it is a rough road and a mighty long way to go. Those who are
retiring will realize that this society has lost respect for those who have
served but this society belongs to you as much as it belongs to the younger
generation. You must continue to make
your voices be heard.
I do hope that one of these days
that retirement will become an option for the retiree and the employer. The
days of denying our elderly a job is a form of discrimination. Politicians do
not retire so why should the rest of us.
To all of you, never give up. I
am an expert at not giving up. I once faced the gun and I never gave up...I
feigned a heart attack and I lived to tell the tale. I face death about two years ago and I never
gave up. They have tried to push me out of a job many times in the past, I
never gave up. Those who tried to push me have ended up pushing themselves out
of a job. I am still not giving up and why should you – only when the good Lord
is ready for you …then and only then you have to give up that last breath.
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TWO FROGS
Before I leave, I must tell you
the story of two frogs:
Two frogs fell in a deep bowl.
One was an optimistic soul,
But the other took the gloomy view.
"We shall drown", and he cried adieu.
So, with a last despairing cry,
he flung up his legs and said goodbye.
The other frog quoted with a merry grin,
"I can't get out, but I won't give in!"
I'll just swim around till my strength is spent,
then will I die the more content.
Bravely he swam till it would seem,
his struggles began to churn the cream.
On top of the butter at last he stopped,
and out of the bowl he gaily hopped.
What is the moral? 'Tis easily found -
if you can't hop out, keep swimming around.
Let’s continue to live in hope, hope backed by faith and
faith supported by action. We will never give up. Jamaica is too much a
beautiful place for us to give up on. Yes Jamaica, Jamaica, Jamaica Land we
Love.
Thanks for inviting me. I love you all. Walk Good my friend.
