Michael BURKE
Thursday, March 26, 2015 Â Â Â
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We are approaching Holy Week on the Christian calendar of most churches and this coming Sunday is Palm Sunday. There is a similarity between the Holy Week observances of Palm Sunday and Good Friday on the one hand, and the strong demands being made for alternative energy on the other. Alternative energy is in the news again in light of the Riverton fire and the talk of the use of garbage for energy.
I consider myself a part of the campaign for alternative energy, and I am a member of the Jamaica Solar Energy Association. Many in the sector bemoan the obstacles caused by the exclusive licence granted to the Jamaica Public Service, the light and power monopoly. I have asked myself why not organise an all-island protest to ensure that the JPS exclusive licence is revoked and all roadblocks impeding the total implementation of alternative energy are removed.
But suppose this happens before the alternative energy sector is able to provide consistent electricity, as it might not yet have got its act together. The same people would angrily complain that it was better when JPS had an exclusive licence. And that is when many would realise that JPS has got at least one thing right. How many recall the scheduled power cuts of days gone by? Have we all conveniently forgotten this? Light and power is now at least 90 per cent consistent.
Indeed, all the way back in August 1994, when I wrote columns for the now defunct Jamaica Herald, I wrote one entitled 'Tired of the Be-Sick Unit', a play on the words 'B6 Unit', which was always being given as the cause for the power cuts. But today, were it not for the fact that JPS suspends the service of some for unpaid bills, most young people would not know the experience of power cuts.
And this would be thrown in the face of the leaders of the alternative energy revolution if they cannot match JPS immediately. Never mind the fact that most of us bemoan the high price of electricity due to the high price of oil, despite the reduction and because of the tax imposed by the Government. They would seek out the alternative energy advocates. "You were one of them," they would say, as the Jews said to Peter who denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed.
Five days before he was crucified, Jesus Christ made a triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where the crowds threw palms at his feet. By the Friday, the same crowds, on the urgings of the Pharisees and Scribes, shouted: "Crucify him! Crucify him!"
Two weeks ago, in response to my article, one person asked in Jamaica Observer online, who told me that it was the same crowd? Does the responder believe that the population in Jerusalem was so large then that it could have been two different sets of Jews? I do not share that view.
This detail as to whether the crowds were the same or different is very important to make my point that people from all over the world in all ages tend to be fickle and can change opinions literally from one minute to the next. Indeed, this is precisely my point when it comes to the fight to change the entire country to alternative energy.
The price of electricity is very high and oil generators are pollutants to the environment. The recent Riverton fire has given a wider set of people a taste of what some who live in the vicinity of power plants experience every day. In any event, there is a growing ferment in the Jamaican society that might make strong demands that the Government revoke the JPS exclusive licence. My concern is that the ferment may reach a high pitch to the level that is hard to control.
And anyone in the leadership of the alternative energy revolution would be very popular in the beginning, just as Moses was before the flight into the desert, especially if total alternative energy is achieved. Moses led the people into the desert and the people followed him. When the Jews felt the first pangs of hunger at Meribah in the desert, they grumbled that they were better off in Egypt in slavery as they had their fleshpots of meat to eat. Was this the same set of Jews who had followed Moses into the desert or were they a different set?
If the ferment for all forms of alternative energy becomes very demanding, the Government, bearing in mind that they are politicians who face elections every so often, might accede to the request. If alternative energy does not provide consistent electricity the anger among Jamaicans would be like the difference between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Again, this is a reaction that alternative energy enthusiasts should reflect on.
Here in Jamaica, many of the same people who celebrated political independence in 1962 have since bemoaned that we were better off as a colony of Great Britain. True, we hear this more often from those born after political independence. Very few people explain to the young people what we did not have before 1962 and what we do have today. History is no longer a compulsory subject in high schools and this does not help.
Politicians all over the world have experienced "Palm Sunday and "Good Friday", having been elected by a landslide in one election and massively defeated in the next. It happened here in Jamaica to many politicians over the years, some of whom are still alive. Certainly national heroes -- the late Sir Alexander Bustamante and the late Norman Manley -- experienced this. So did the late Michael Manley. Former prime minister of Great Britain, the late Harold Wilson, said that a week can be as long as a year in politics.
So it is not expedient to make any large-scale demands for a total revocation of the JPS licence. Let's do this thing gradually. It is best to achieve alternative energy the way in which the now obsolete satellite dishes were installed in Jamaica. At first, a few people had them, but thousands eventually ignored the law, practically forcing the Government to change the law. But this does not mean that the alternative energy sector should drag its feet.
ekrubm765@yahoo.com
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