A look at social development through an article review Continuous-Political-Mamaguy
- FOTEG
- Mar 9, 2020
- 2 min read
Norris Mitchell wrote an amazing article arguing that the government has not kept a laundry list of promises made to the people of Grenada for about two decades. Mr.Mitchell proved his point by providing multiple examples of broken promises, most of which have not elicited public outrage. Frustrated by the inaction of the public to the current government’s knack for not keeping promises, Mr. Mitchell calls the people a “docile population".
While I understand his view that the people are docile,I disagree with his characterization of the good people of Grenada. It seems that Mr. Mitchell forgot a significant part of our history, a moment that defined and reflects the stuff with which our people are made. I would like to respectfully remind him that Grenadians are capable of forcing revolutionary social change. For example, it was because of the people’s toughness that we got the People's Revolutionary Government (PRG) that was proclaimed on 13 March 1979. Grenadians are quite capable of holding their government accountable. Grenada is full of proud, strong, and determined people.
However, I share in some of the sentiments of Mr. Mitchell. I agree with him that the current state of things in the country cannot continue. I recently visited the island in January and was shocked with the unacceptable state of things. The culture of not keeping promises to the people can no longer be tolerated. If change does not come from “above” (the government), somehow, it would have to come from “below” (the people).
As a matter of interest, my dissatisfaction with the current state of development of the island arises from the kinds of policies approved by the government. For instance, I noticed that most development policies are particularly targeted toward the tourist industry as can be seen by the proliferation of hotels across the island. While I am not particularly opposed to these projects, I wonder if they will favour Grenadians in the long term. I am concerned that these projects are mainly funded by foreign investors with dubious interests. Moreover, the kinds of jobs offered in this industry do not offer long term security perks, such as health plans, educational saving plans for kids of employees, pensions, etc. In other words, the jobs trap people in a constant state of dependency from which there is no exit.
Mr. Mitchell needs to be commended for awakening us to the sad state of affairs in our country by providing us with a laundry list of unkept promises by the government. So what should we do? What is the way forward? I am alway fascinated by the “miracle” of Singapore, a small island nation without much resources that rose to build their country from a third world country to one of the most developed and prosperous countries in the world within a generation. Singapore accomplished this by investing in the education of their people.
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, Ms Marsha Clyne and not necessarily to the organization, committee or other group or individual of Friends Of The Earth Grenada
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