I am not one to articulate what the Government of the day is doing as it relates to development, but I was pleasantly surprised that a female friend of mine continues to say that since the Labour Party became the government she cannot or has “not seen any progress”.
I asked if she was aware of the changes in the education sector, from the non-payment of facility fees to the payment for subjects like Maths and English at the exam level, the first students into secondary school getting allowances of $ 500, the added stipend to teachers, a free computer for every student, plus the advent of changing some schools to embrace technical and vocational learning as a means to enhance the educational opportunities for all students – and, believe it or not, she told me she was not aware.
I asked her about the government’s increase in pension payments improvement for seniors and what has happened in the health sector, the ongoing road works and so on, but she seemed lost too on the finishing of the St Jude’s hospital and the constitution of a Halls of Justice and all the concessions that farmers and fishers have gotten of late, resulting in the claim that every farmer’s house in Choiseul has a 1,000-gallon water tank for Christmas this year.
I also asked if she knew that cooking gas was subsidized by the government and she had no idea.
I say all that to make the point that if relevant information is not disseminated to all with ears to hear, then we are falling short.
There is a thinking that because of the connectivity to social media, all persons are informed. But the truth is that many people only listen to music or are hooked on entertainment and seldom listen to the news, and some of these topics are not ‘roro’ or ‘gossip’ topics enough to attract their interest or attention.
This has left me to believe that those responsible for disseminating information are doing a poor job, but have not realized that some persons are not targeted or considered in their information networking.
We have a mixed society — some are creole in nature, some are learned, some are not-too-bright, some need to be spoon-fed, and some just don’t pay attention and in the midst of all of that is misinformation and propaganda intended to mislead.
We also follow trends, see things from an external perspective and don’t indulge in participating consultations, or meetings of any type.
Information, especially if necessary, has to reach everyone and no one should have to say they didn’t know or they never heard or have no idea. We all must know, at all times, what is going on — especially if they are positive developments.
No stone should be left unturned to inform everyone. We can’t leave anything to chance because detractors prey on such persons. Nobody should be unaware or misled and like with a census, all persons should be included. So, those employed to perform that task must wake up from their sleep, put on their thinking caps and serve their purpose.
This is one of the reasons that elections are sometimes lost because ruling parties assume that people are following the progress of the day to make informed choices, but that’s only possible if they are informed.
There are a lot of distractions, a lot of bread and butter issues to deal with on a daily basis, so I say: if you are paid to do a job, do it wisely — and correctly. If not, the results of the next general election can disappoint those who took things for granted.
Just mark my words…