So I've been listening to Jamaicans For Justice and their cronies calling for the resignation of Alison Anderson-McLean - the CEO of the Child Development Agency and June Spencer-Jarrett - head of the Correction Services, based on the findings in the Armandale Report.
Seriously, come on JFJ, why are you calling for Misses Mclean & Jarrett's resignation.. theirs is a situation in perpetuation for the last 40 years! The Jamaican 'child care' system is nothing but a joke! In fact to call it 'child care' is actually a contradictory term. Most of the buildings in which these homes are housed are in the most dilapidated condition. They are not fit to house animals much less people. As for Juveniles in correctional institutions, that is just inhumane. Don't tell me that after 40-odd years of independence and loans from every possible international market and international institution, the Jamaican government couldn't conduct an overall of the system to include the buildings and the people that are placed in these institutions to administer support to the children?
Unless I seriously wanted to punish any child for merely being born, I would not consider, not even for a moment to commit him to such an horror.
I am not saying that these ladies are blameless in the situation. By joining the Public Service in their respective capacities, they vowed to make a difference to the system. If that difference meant just speaking up about the conditions they encountered in the conduct of their daily duties, then they should have spoken up. But to try to lay the blame squarely at the feet of the ladies is just wrong. If anyone should take the blame, it is the government of Jamaica, and I am not just referring to the current government but all governments of the past...
If a system had been put in place to refurbish these 'homes' over the years, then my God, Armandale would have more than one bathroom! Girls would not have to suffer the indignity of 'going' in a bucket and have the bucket stay beside them for the entire night before they can get rid of it and certainly 23 girls would not be sleeping in a quarter suited for only 14 girls!!!
Regardless of how 'bad' these girls are (and having done community work, I know that they can be bad), no-one deserves to live in such conditions. Can you imagine being in a fire and no-one can find the key to let you out of a furnace and you stand there and scream until those screams turn into shrieks and then only a wimper?????
I cannot even imagine the horror that faced those girls and I can only hope that no-one else suffers the same fate!
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