Senator Newby Calls For ‘Era of Reasonableness’ in Jamaica

Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, Senator Warren Newby, has said that it is time for Jamaicans to seek to be reasonable with each other, again.
“In this new era, the eminent credibility will be judged by its willingness to sacrifice for the good of the people, its willingness to reject populist policies with short term gain, and to accept the fact that we cannot wantonly and lasciviously spend taxpayers’ money,” Senator Newby said.
“Government must stick to its core services and deliver them with the highest standards of professionalism, efficiency and effectiveness” he added.
Senator Newby made the remarks during the official opening of the Junction Care Centre, Junction, St. Elizabeth on Wednesday (April 22).
He said that if leaders are going to be calling on people to sacrifice, they must be willing to sacrifice, first.
He stated that there is a need for transformation and a return to the concept that no man is an island and no man can stand alone, as well as a return to the concepts of strong communities to build a strong nation,that youths are the future and people are a country’s most valuable resource.
“The new era requires the factors of production, entrepreneurship, labour and capital to accept reasonableness. Wage negotiations cannot perpetually be about stick ups. It cannot be about strikes and industrial actions, while still sitting at the table: But, at the same time, one cannot be reporting super normal profits and our workers cannot afford the basic necessities of life. It is time for us to be reasonable again”, he suggested.
Senator Newby said that Jamaica needs to move to collectivism and return to dialogue and consensus building, all of which must be predicated on the principle of openness.
“This new era requires positive engagement and diplomacy. We cannot shout orders at each other. We must sit and have reasonable discourse, come to consensus, because it is Jamaica that will suffer in the long run if we are not able to achieve these things,” he said.
The genesis of the dilemma that Jamaica finds itself in, given the current global economic crisis, is not economical but cultural, Senator Newby said.
In spite of the popular view that Jamaicans are a highly productive people, they have not been so, as they have not embraced the good values and attitudes that represented what Jamaica was in the past.
“These are indeed hard times, but if we bond together as families and as communities, we will come to recognise that this too will pass. If we accept that if we are reasonable to each other, Jamaica would be in a better position for having passed this way” he stated.
The Junction Care Centre which began operating in March, 2009, was established out of a resolution passed in 2007 by the Parish Care Committee, St. Elizabeth, to set up outreach centres in Junction and Santa Cruz to cater to the needs of mentally challenged and homeless people in these areas.
The centre is located on the grounds of the Junction Health Centre and is equipped with a kitchen, an office for visiting health care professionals, a sick bay, a recreation room, male and female bathrooms, a laundry area and a storeroom, all made possible by donations from the business community, tradesmen and small farmers in the Junction community.
These facilities allow the volunteers of the centre to provide once per week hygienic care, a hot meal, medical attention, counselling and Christian fellowship to homeless and mentally challenged persons in Junction and surrounding areas.