The following article was submitted by the Public Theology Forum, an ecumenical group of ministers and theologians.

Over the years since Independence, Jamaica has consistently behaved like an intoxicated taxi driver who disobeys all of the road codes in a mad rush to nowhere. The dents on the vehicle symbolise how many accidents he has caused along the way. The absence of insurance papers and outdated licence disc confirm his capacity to corrupt anyone who will allow him to continue with his reckless behaviour.

The public has reported this driver to the authorities many times. Every five to ten years, this driver loses his licence, only for the same car to be seen on the road being driven by another intoxicated driver looking just like the last one! He is regularly seen with the car shut off and blocking traffic during peak-time traffic, holding up others from getting on with their lives. This driver owes so many persons money that he can only buy $300 petrol at a time, but he drives as if he has a full tank. It is no surprise, then, that he is always running out of fuel.

a very dangerous place

The present era is a very dangerous place to be. The current public discourse seems to suggest that we are running on empty during the worst of times! The three issues that have made the headlines over the past few weeks reveal how dangerously we are living as a nation. The ongoing 'Dudus saga' speaks volumes not so much about observing due judicial process, as the depth of attachment that our political system has with the criminal world. What a time for the police chief to throw in the towel - when criminal mayhem is sweeping the nation! How many more commissioners of police and security ministers must we experience before we come to our senses that nothing less than a united effort is needed to overcome this monster of crime?

The resignation of Derick Latibeaudiere as governor of the Bank of Jamaica, and who was also the nation's chief negotiator with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), speaks volumes about the disunity in the financial governance of the nation.

We have a government and opposition overseeing the management of a declining nation. Costly blunders by successive regimes have led the nation down the blind alleyway of economic deception. In spite of the global economic crisis, many of our woes have been made right here in Jamaica through leaders who are corrupt, cowardly, unprincipled, amoral and duplicitous!

This crisis was a long time in the making. How long has this nation been racking up debts and living beyond its means without the necessary collateral to underwrite the risk? We should never be surprised by Standard and Poor's 'CCC' rating, down from 'CCC+'. We have elected, nurtured and encouraged different governments with big appetites for borrowing and spending. Where have the billions of dollars gone since Independence? Should we not have seen state-of-the-art dams around the country that would prevent us from experiencing regular water lock-offs? Since we do not have oil, should we not have invested in a reliable train service that links the main towns of this nation, and to transport goods and passengers?

After 47 years of independence, should we not have built sufficient, quality schools that graduate literate and skilled students? Was this too much to ask for? We still have too many students who passed through our educational system and are ill-equipped to join the productive labour force because they are functionally illiterate. Sadly, some of the money that was intended for national development has been siphoned off by corrupt officials. Very few have been held accountable. The message that we have consistently communicated over the years is that you can get away with corruption. It depends on how well connected you are, how high up you are in the political system, and how wealthy you are in employing a top-notch lawyer to defend your case.

CRUDE DISPLAY OF EXTRAVAGANCE

In spite of our economic crisis, some of our citizens who have accumulated their wealth are displaying outrageous lifestyles, with resources that did not legitimately belong to them but to the people of Jamaica. Some acquire wealth through unpaid taxes that should have built hospitals and increased agricultural production. Some become wealthy from unpaid loans, charging exorbitant prices for basic commodities that the poor can hardly afford. Some have engaged in the illegal drug trade and have laundered their money through various creative ways of making them look legitimate and respectable.

It is no wonder that Jamaica, today, has become associated with crude displays of extravagance and decadence. Sadly, these citizens know that they can get away with such behaviour because some sections of our security forces are too compromised to be able to knock on their doors. Former Security Minister Derrick Smith recently stated that this government would need another 10 years to make a dent on crime! God help us if we have to wait so long! Is it too much to ask for a well-equipped security force to secure 2.7 million people? Have we become so used to accepting mediocre standards from such an essential service?

Not far from some awesome palaces in gated communities that house one or two persons are settlements of human squalor. There is a de facto national developmental policy to promote two Jamaicas, and there appears to be no clear evidence that there is a national will to 'change course'. The lifestyles of the well off, contrasted with the poor, do not suggest that the nation has reached the tipping point for radical change in the economic order.

LACK OF NATIONAL CONSENSUS

Our behaviour exhibits the attitude of the people on the Titanic, partying from midnight till morning, ignorant of the impending disaster that awaited them. The absence of a national will to turn Jamaica around is due, in part, to our tribalistic capacity to put government into power by default. It is not because the overwhelming majority have voted for the party in power, but rather that we tend to vote against the failures of the incumbents. Our leaders need to know that there is a deepening and pervasive sense of despair, fatigue and defeat that has taken over the land.

Sadly, in spite of our predicament, we are not able to find national consensus on the extent of our errors and the willpower to overcome them. Apart from a few notable exceptions in The Gleaner, Observer and Sunday Herald, investigative journalism is hard to find at a time when there is so much deception and corruption. Nothing short of a social revolution is needed to set things right. The same sense of urgency that citizens have found to take direct action to get bad roads fixed must also be used to say "enough" to the entrenched corruption and inefficiencies. A critical mass of citizens' power movement that eschews PNP and JLP bias is required, in which the views of ordinary people will become directly involved in the nation's decision-making process. This new citizen movement would not buy into the media spin and propaganda that is being fed to the public as news. The signs of the times point to a serious day of reckoning that is coming, and none shall escape the judgement.

We long for a new day to break out in this land when we will stop running on empty.