Don't knock that money spent on CWC

[Karl]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Don't knock that money spent on CWC</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Dennis Morrison
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>Speculation about the likely effect of Cricket World Cup (CWC) on the political fortunes of the governing party has become a major point of discussion by political analysts.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=70 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Dennis Morrison </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>At one stage, it was thought that a successful competition would bring big political gains for that party. More recently, however, the Opposition has said the government would not get any bounce out of this major cricketing event.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Because we are in an election year it is hard to resist the temptation to assess the political spin-off of such a mega event. The Opposition party's campaigners would also be casting their minds back to the 2002 general election when some analysts argued that the successful hosting of the World Junior Athletics Championships gave the PNP a fillip.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Popular mobilisation for a national effort was seen to work to the benefit of the governing party. It is in this context that some people have been tormented by a certain ambivalence about Cricket World Cup.<P class=StoryText align=justify>On the one hand, there is anxiety about the need for a general clean-up, as people everywhere feel obliged to do when welcoming visitors. This would have been heightened by the realisation that CWC is an event on the scale of the Olympic Games or World Cup Football. It was reflected in the outburst by Mayor McKenzie that Kingston was not ready, and the determination of the church group which has mobilised thousands of its members for the islandwide clean-up.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Other people seem to have a vicarious, or even a plain wish for the event to be a failure for Jamaica. In one breath, public agencies are chastised for failing to do the necessary preparations and for the last-minute rush. Without missing a beat, the same critics then bemoan the expenditure being made to upgrade critical services in time for the event. It is either that the government has waited for CWC to do the essential upgrading of hospitals and other health services, or that the money should be spent on more urgent matters because it is being wasted on the preparations for cricket.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The same voices that blasted Prime Minister Simpson Miller when she announced the $600-million clean-up programme last September have subsequently lambasted the government for not having carried out the programmes on time.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=330 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Representatives from Hope 2007 sprucing up sections of Kingston. </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Political partisans from the Opposition side, fearing that the programme would gain mileage for the governing party, shouted the loudest, but then berated public officials as the event grew closer and the clean-up work stalled. The posture has shifted again in the last days before the opening ceremony. Word is that protests are now being planned to coincide with the arrival of the officials, the international press and the cricket teams.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Putting aside partisan posturing, there can be no doubt that CWC has served as

[Karl]

RE: Don't knock that money spent on CWC

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Playing with our balls in Cricket World Cup</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Mark Wignall
Thursday, March 08, 2007
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=86 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Mark Wignall</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Whether you sit on a broken-down, old seat in the bleachers of Jamaican society, or life has given you a better view from the grandstand at the top, one thing is certain - this country belongs to us and we all have a vested interest not only in watching the game, but in preparing a pitch which makes for a keenly contested and profitable game.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Jamaica is a highly politicised country where the garrison phenomenon is just as alive in Cherry Gardens as it is in Rema. In recent times, discussion of CWC 2007 has taken on tones which seem to have some correlation to our tribal choices. If we consider ourselves PNP, Cricket World Cup is better than good, it is a godsend.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Those who are JLP to the bone need to find something sinfully wrong with Jamaica "wasting" close to $9 billion on building a stadium in Trelawny, refurbishing Sabina Park and attending to infrastructure said to represent those essential support services.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Those who fall outside the tribal rantings have a difficult time. Any position pro, con or in-between will be immediately taken as proof that one is PNP, JLP or "having no conviction".
I agree with colleague columnist Christopher Burns that the matter is a done deal and whether one agrees or disagrees with the expenditure, the hosting and the tournament, the only sensible thing to do is support it.<P class=StoryText align=justify>For my part, I have already made up my mind which political party I will not be voting for at the next elections. Events which took place around October of last year told me that after voting PNP:1976, JLP:1980, JLP: 1986 (local), JLP: 1989, PNP: 1993, PNP: 1997, PNP: 2002, my next vote will not be going to the ruling administration.<P class=StoryText align=justify>That said, my views on CWC are based on the simple fact that this country has never identified a basic minimum in the delivery of services to its people, nor has the present administration ever articulated its position in meeting these bare-bone requirements and maintaining them. As a result of this, most services to the people of this country are in a shambles.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The argument raised by colleague columnist Dr Henley Morgan in his criticism of super teacher Hyacinth Bennett is to me, a most disingenuous one and surprising, coming from the highly respected entrepreneur, academic and public commentator.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Dr Morgan is one of those Jamaicans who has put his money where his mouth is.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Going against all odds, Henley moved his business offices from uptown Jamaica to one of the most violent and depressed inner-city garrisons, Arnett Gardens. I believe that Henley was at first impressed with what he saw as the Herculean efforts of Dr Omar Davies in trying to bring order to a community and constituency (South St Andrew) which at the best of times is always on the edge of erupting in a direction where none of us wants to go.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Recently, Hyacinth Bennett criticised those Christians who decided to assist in cleaning up sections of the country in preparation for CWC 2007. In this country we tend to believe that anything godly is good. "Godly", in this sense, can mean no more than an utterance from the mouth saying something like "I am praying for