WHERE ARE THE BLACK BUSINESSPEOPLE?

Recently, your columnist Linton Gordon made some comments about Jamaicans being covetous of the success of the Chinese in Jamaica. On a recent visit to Jamaica I was shocked to see the extent of ownership of small ordinary retail business by Chinese and nationals of Far Eastern countries. Where have all the Jamaican black business people gone? More to the point, I suggest that Mr Gordon or your newspaper should have been bringing to the public’s attention the takeover by the people of the East. You should have been exploring why it is that so many Jamaicans have given up their shops and supermarkets, as if they have suddenly been struck by an acute disease, the realization of uselessness or incompetence. From Moneague to Discovery Bay, from Alexandria to Bamboo, from Ocho Rios to Runaway Bay, even in Buff Bay Portland, almost all the shops and wholesale operations are in the hands of new migrants. Where have all the black people gone who used to be able to run little businesses selling rice and flour, cornmeal and saltfish, chicken back and eggs. I was alarmed that people I spoke to didn’t seem to notice what was happening and didn’t seem to mind. In Ocho Rios itself, out of more than 12 little supermarkets there was only one run by black people. And there was hardly a black owner of the tourist shops. Mr Gordon, I am not ‘grudgeful’ of any of these new arrivants nor I am a racist in any form. I simply ask what HAS HAPPENED AND WHO OWNS Jamaica. A young man I met in Ocho Rios who is involved with sport and cultural events told me that he has noticed that the new merchant class contribute to nothing. They are not in the Chamber of Commerce, the charity clubs like Kiwanis and Rotary, they are not at social events and they give nothing, sponsor nothing, in the communities from which they so greatly benefit. Don’t their customers notice that too? I would really like to know if these merchants and their families all have work permits. Why would work permits be given to shop assistants, cashiers and packers, when unemployment in Jamaica is 15 percent? Do they pay their taxes and deductions. Meaning, are deductions paid over to the NIS and NHT for family members working in these establishments and for the security guards they employ. And since they often do not give bills and also change US dollars, is GCT being recorded and paid? I think these are important issues that should have been raised by Mr Gordon and in the national media because although I did not go to Kingston on this visit I have heard it’s the same everywhere on the island.