This month marks the 10th anniversary of the April gas riots in Jamaica, in 1999. It was a watershed event in the development of our nation. Therefore, the analysis I did of the contribution of the Jamaican Church to nation building ended in 1999, hence the title of my first book, Rebellion to Riot. In the book, I looked at the leading role the Jamaican Church played in nation building from the time of the so-called Morant Bay Rebellion in 1865 to 1999, the time of the April gas riots.

One thinking behind the book was that protests were used by the oppressed people to call attention to the hardships they were experiencing, and following these protests, the Jamaican Church usually becomes re-energised, agitating for the betterment of the Jamaican people by instituting programmes for the progress of the nation, while the governing authorities becomes more responsive to the needs of the people.

After the Sam Sharpe-led 1831 passive resistance, then followed the Emancipation Act, and the Baptist Church responded with free villages which empowered persons of African origin by providing housing and other amenities. After the Paul Bogle-led 1865 protest, Britain installed a more responsive government, and the churches built many high schools. Similar changes took place after 1938 labour riots, which was the 100th anniversary of political emancipation.

There have been three gas riots (1979, 1985 and 1999). And what was the response of the Jamaican Church in 1999? I recall being part of the Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU) delegation, led by then president Rev Jeffrey McKenzie, that met with then Prime Minister P.J. Patterson. We spoke cordially and candidly to the prime minister about what we thought were the problems and offered some solutions. Subsequently, the church leaders met among ourselves and the Rev Dr Burchell Taylor of Bethel Baptist Church, Bishop Peter Morgan of the Covenant Community and I presented papers on how the Church should respond to the April riots. It was decided that there needed to be a seminar with community and national leaders in October 2000. However, that meeting never happened. What has changed for the betterment of the majority of Jamaicans since then?

I remember one of the suggestions I made in 1999 was that we needed to accept a lower interest rate on savings. Ten years later, we are talking about high interest rate.

One of the recommendations in the book Rebellion to Riot was that there should be a reconstituting of the Senate, with representatives from mass-based organisations plus the 14 custodes, in order that the Senate would be more representative of the whole country and deepen our democracy. However, the prevailing thinking in the Government is to have Jamaicans living overseas in the Senate.

Infrastructural development

There is talk about a gas tax for infrastructural development but increasing the gas tax would lead to another round of price increases, inflation and devaluation of our currency. Last year, Britain lowered the gas tax but we are thinking of increasing it.

As a nation, we are experiencing economic difficulties and a couple months ago Dr Wesley Hughes of the Planning Institute of Jamaica remarked about the increasing incidents of malnutrition, and it was as if "a nuh nutten". The Jamaican Church did not articulate a position. In addition, we are planning for the effects of the economic situation, but the planning is not data-driven. In Britain, they have projected the number of persons who are likely to become homeless due to the economic problems in the country. Where are our projections about the likely impact on persons who are poor and those losing their jobs, etc?

Let us learn the lessons from the 1999 April gas riots.

Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church and author of 'Rebellion to Riot: The Church in Nation Building'. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.