Basil Walters Thursday, May 29, 2014
CITING an urgency to arrest the swelling tide of anti-social attitudes in the society, former Prime Minister PJ Patterson says the time has come for a renewed look at the values and attitudes campaign he introduced 20 years ago.
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| PATTERSON... there is a growing sense of alienation and greater distrust of leadership in politics, in our legal system, our national institutions, corporate business, and in the church |
In his address to members of the Rotary Club of Spanish Town at the Police Officers' Club in St Andrew on Tuesday, Patterson said the aim of the campaign was to develop a national strategy and programme of action to promote attitudinal change and social renewal.
"I spoke then of the growing tide of social incivility, indiscipline, disorder, disrespect for each other, the fight against corruption in all its forms and the critical need to promote integrity in every facet of national endeavour. Every speaker at the launch of that original campaign emphasised the need to
arrest moral decline in our country and enunciated compelling reasons to stem this growing tide.
"Twenty years later, even those who doubted the validity of the plea or contended that the call was driven by partisan political motives, now openly admit its national urgency as our condition has deteriorated beyond belief," Patterson told the Rotarians.
"In spite of the efforts that began at that time, we have seen a massive increase in crime and violence; drug warfare is more rampant, the urban ghettos have spread across our countryside and elsewhere, our ethical standards have fallen. Today, there is a growing sense of alienation and greater distrust of leadership in politics, in our legal system, our national institutions, corporate business, even in the church. This means, ladies and gentlemen, we are at the extreme edge of the precipice," Patterson lamented. more
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