The Editor, Sir:

I sit here with a leaking roof and ponder the city of Kingston. My wife (a Jamaican national) and I have purchased a home here and plan not to leave, but to come to Jamaica from the United States for our retirement.

I read The Gleaner online daily and read the complaints from just about everyone.

For those old enough to remember, a cartoon drawn by Gene Kelly - POGO - often touched on the political and environmental issues in the U.S., but what Pogo said then, applies equally today to both the U.S. and Jamaica: "We have met the enemy and it is us!"

Jamaica is a beautiful place with wonderful people and a government and establishment that constantly cripples and injures itself by its own greed and politics.

Cripples its own people

You argue about the most stupid things, when you should be pulling together to keep your people fed, housed and safe. Your government cripples its own people by the outrageous tariffs charged on imports, making everything much more expensive for everyone and increasing the cost of living four-fold.

There is no reason why goods should cost more here than in the U.S., except that your greed penalises the people that the government supposedly is protecting.

Your law enforcement branches use antiquated laws in a modern world and would never be tolerated in a developed country. Why are you doing this to yourselves?

Kickbacks

The politicians are more interested in kickbacks and power than the good of their constituents, and this goes for both your socialist and progressive parties.

They look as alike as peas in a pod from the outside. Neither do what they promise and neither change the systems for the good of the public.

I wish those in power would wake up and truly help those they serve make it easier to live here, so you won't see all of those emigration sales in the wanted advertisements. Jamaica should be one of the most desirable places in the Central American region, not a country vying for Third World status. Wake up, please, before you ruin your beautiful country and destroy your people.

I am, etc.,

Dr. JOHN LEGOWIK

legowik@earthlink.net

16 Throne Circle, Queen Hill

Saint Andrew

Via Go-Jamaica