Jamaica worries about storms calling each year

Jamaica on Tuesday celebrated 62 years of independence from Britain with one eye on its legendary athletes at the summer Olympics in France and another on the 2024 storm season following the devastation wrought on the northern Caribbean nation by superstorm Beryl early last month.

Saying that the country has systems in place to deal with most crises, Prime Minister Andrew Holness told the nation that the one the island of nearly three million is struggling to deal with is the changing patterns of the global system and the sheer scale and level of destruction increasingly powerful storms pose to the country.

As his cabinet bestowed national honors on entertainment superstars Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, the legendary Third World Bank and Pat Chin of VP Records among others, Holness said storms seem to have set their sights on Jamaica in the past decade and this is a major source of stress for authorities.

“Almost every year for the last eight years we have been faced with global crises, including a pandemic, and extreme weather events that have seriously affected our island. We must all develop the understanding that we live in an era where governments must deal with multiple crises, which overlap and occur frequently,” he said, noting that “at 62, Jamaica must be able to stand on its own two feet and face the challenges and uncertainties of this era of globalized world and the changing climate.”

Beryl lashed Jamaica last month, causing extensive damage to the agricultural sector, felling hundreds of utility poles and damaging dozens of state and private buildings. Neighboring Caribbean nations rushed teams of electricity linesmen to Jamaica to assist with restoration even as the main utility company faced withering criticism from Holness, the main opposition and some residents who had to deal with no power up to as recently as last week. General elections are scheduled for next year and Holness and his governing Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) are anxious to put on a show at this week’s celebrations to rally supporters around the party.

“We have built a new system of government that is more robust, self-reliant, and strategic. In fact, that is what it means to be independent — the ability to withstand shocks and deal with crises without having to rely or be dependent on the resources of others or be indebted to others. In 2020, Jamaica was impacted by a global pandemic which derailed our growth and employment and increased our debt. Within two years, Jamaica had recovered its growth and employment and was back on track with reducing its debt. This is not by accident,” he said, boasting that the relatively quick recovery has much to do with systems authorities have put in place in recent years.

Jamaica and Trinidad were the first among the 15-nation Caribbean Community to win independence from Britain back in 1962, followed by Guyana and Barbados four years later. Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados and Dominica have since moved on to become republics while Jamaica is in the middle of current efforts to amend its constitution to dump the British monarchy and become a republic as well.

As if on cue, Governor General Sir Patrick Allen said in his independence day message that the time has come to complete the island’s independence in full. “Time come to sever ties with the British Monarchy and become a fully sovereign nation, with the executive and judicial branches of our State being institutions of our own creation, in keeping with our vision of the future as a proud and independent people. Our head of state is the King of England and our final court, the UK Privy Council, a colonial institution in England that makes orders in the name of the King and is inaccessible to ordinary Jamaicans. It is time to reaffirm our national identity and assert the confidence to shape our own destiny,” he said.