





ONE of Jamaica's most senior church leaders has warned that economic and monetary policies shaped by market forces alone, with little regard for the social reality of the marginalised, will have negative consequences for the country.







In a sermon delivered at the Kingston Parish Church on January 1, Rt Rev Robert Thompson, Anglican Suffragan Bishop of Kingston, noted that despite the lessons of history, successive governments had excluded the poor in the formulation of the social contract.







"To our peril, we continue to ignore the voices that speak about these social disparities," he said.







"Since we are told that the economy will loom largely in our nation's business this year, it would be wise to remind ourselves that the word economy comes from the Greek word for 'housekeeping'," said Bishop Thompson.







"If we accept this, it means that economics, regardless of party colours, is primarily about the decisions we make so as to create a habitat where everyone feels he or she belongs. This household, this national habitat, this place we call home, Jamaica land we love, is the place where none of us can say we have no need of the other. And if this is such a place, then we require from our leaders good housekeeping practices," he said.







That, he argued, will guarantee that this common life we share promotes the kind of stability that will allow the members of the household to grow, flourish and act in useful and productive ways.



"A functioning household does not give priority to one group over another," he said, adding that 'housekeeping' is about how we use our intelligence to balance the needs of those involved and to secure trust between them.







"This year, as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of nationhood, is a good time to remind our leaders, and ourselves, that an economic policy that wanders too far from the basic objectives of good housekeeping will always be a recipe for social dislocation," said Bishop Thompson.







"In other words, the good housekeeper will bear in mind the damage that manifestly results from an economic climate, which is reduced to a search for maximised profit independent of the social reality."







He said the African word 'Ubuntu' could teach us something we have all forgotten about, our interdependence.







'Ubuntu', he explained, means, 'My humanity is bound up with your humanity, I cannot be me without you, neither can you be you without me.' I am a person because I belong. I participate, I share.







Added Bishop Thompson: "When you don't believe you belong, you are not likely to make sacrifices for the greater good. I hope our new prime minister will be someone who promotes the 'Ubuntu spirit' by being open and available to others while, at the same time, affirming their self-worth. Nothing short of that will work in the Jamaica of today."







Declaring that he was no economist, and was therefore in no position to advise on economic matters, Bishop Thompson said if our economic and monetary policies are shaped by market forces alone, no one will benefit in the long run.







"We can try to insulate ourselves, but in the end, the wall that separates will come crashing," he warned.







He reminded his congregation that Jesus frequently pointed out in the Gospel, that only when we are prepared to live our lives through the eyes of the poor will we make different economic arrangements.







"It never fails to amaze me, that when successive governments speak about a social contract, the poor are usually excluded from the equation," said the bishop. "We make a terrible mistake when we assume that the poor have nothing to contribute to the social capital.







"History teaches us that when the gap grows between the rich and the poor, when the middle gets increasingly squeezed, and those at the bottom are almost completely forgotten, social bonds begin to unravel and resentment sets in," he said. "The poor must not be seen as the subject of our benevolence, but as part of the social capital for national development."





