Caribbean Brain Drain Part II

The Jamaica Gleaner business commentator, Aubyn Hill, discusses the latest wave of departures and the sentiments that lead Jamaican professionals to leave their country.

Crime and "Five Flights"

When people are driven out by crime, they tend to wash their feet of the country. The particular incident or set of incidents that caused them to leave remain awfully fresh for a very long time in their minds. They take all their assets - education, experience and cash (after selling all tangible non-cash assets) as well as their goodwill - and leave for good. When people leave under this kind of criminal duress, they, at best, remain silent about Jamaica and some become almost anti-Jamaican in their sentiments. Our fellow countrymen who leave because of crime harbour a sadness in their hearts for the country and serious antipathy to those whom they believe should have protected them from criminals.

These new emigrants wonder out aloud why the leaders of our country, particularly the political leaders from both parties, have allowed the criminal networks to develop to the point where they have a seeming stranglehold on the welfare and the death of our citizens.

Those leaving no longer want to deal with or live in a country where the criminal-political nexus is so strong that criminals believe they can get away with anything - including the death of upright and honest citizens.

The power of the state must be used to protect law-abiding Jamaicans in order to keep our most capable countrymen and women safely at home in Jamaica.