Johnson Smith urges diaspora to ‘help us build’ Jamaica

Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, has indicated that the Jamaican diaspora is not an unattached observer of Jamaica’s development, but an active participant in shaping the future of the country.

Johnson Smith was speaking on Saturday night at the Jamaica Organization of New Jersey Independence Gala, at which she and several others were honoured.

The gala was held to mark Jamaica’s 64th anniversary of Independence.

In a wide-ranging speech in which she extolled the contributions of Jamaicans living overseas to the development of Jamaica, the foreign affairs minister, who has responsibility for diaspora affairs, said the Jamaica of tomorrow “is ours to build”.

“Whether your contribution is your capital, your knowledge, your professional expertise, your business networks, your advocacy — or simply your time — there is a role for you in that work. I therefore invite you, as you remain connected to Jamaica, [to] also help us build the country to which you, your children and your grandchildren will always be able to return,” she said.

The minister said the diaspora should not only embrace the challenges, but work with the Government to unlock opportunities.

“This is where I believe we can continue to reimagine the role of the diaspora,” she said.

Johnson Smith said that in Hurricane Melissa’s immediate aftermath, “Jamaicans overseas responded as you have so often responded before — with generosity, philanthropy and relief”.

She added: “That assistance was invaluable. But reconstruction also gives us the opportunity to move the relationship to another level: From relief to rebuilding. From giving to investing and creating wealth. From supporting Jamaica, to participating directly in her development.”

She noted that rebuilding will require capital, engineering, architecture, construction management, technology, logistics and other specialised skills.

She added that it would also require new suppliers, businesses and innovation in housing, energy, water, transportation and disaster resilience.

“And across the Jamaican diaspora, much of that capital, knowledge, experience and entrepreneurial capacity already exists,” she said.

“So there must be a place in this national effort for the Jamaican engineer working right here in New Jersey; for the architect, planner or project manager who has spent decades developing expertise overseas; for the entrepreneur who can establish a business or partner with a Jamaican firm; for the investor seeking credible opportunities at home; and for the second- and third-generation Jamaican who may never have lived on the island but wants to contribute meaningfully to its future.

“We must also use reconstruction to build stronger commercial connections between Jamaican businesses at home and Jamaican businesses overseas — to open supply chains, transfer technology, create partnerships, expand markets, and enable our small and medium-sized businesses to participate in the enormous programme of work ahead.”

She said the diaspora should embrace this challenge as the next frontier of diaspora engagement.

“Our relationship has never been measurable simply by remittances — as I know some try to do — or even by the assistance mobilised when Jamaica faces crisis.

“Increasingly, we can work towards measuring that relationship by businesses created, investments made, expertise transferred, partnerships formed, and opportunities created for Jamaicans at home and abroad.

“And Government’s responsibility in that partnership is to make it easier for you to identify credible opportunities, navigate our institutions, invest with confidence, and connect your skills and resources with the areas where Jamaica needs them most,” said the minister.

Johnson Smith said Independence in 1962 represented the assumption of responsibility for building the nation’s own future.

Sixty-four years later, she posited, that responsibility belongs not only to the Jamaicans who live on the island, but to the wider Jamaican family across the world.

“So, when I tell you tonight that the Jamaica of today is not the Jamaica many of you left, I want to tell you something even more important. I look forward to the next chapter of our partnership as, together, we build a safer, stronger, more resilient and more prosperous Jamaica.

“For all the damage Hurricane Melissa caused, it has compelled us to confront long-standing questions about how we build, where we build, and how effectively the State delivers the infrastructure a modern, resilient Jamaica requires.”

Johnson Smith said that was why the Government established the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority.

“Its mandate is not simply to replace what Melissa destroyed. It is to ensure that the Jamaica which emerges is stronger than the Jamaica which entered the storm: with more resilient roads and bridges, safer housing, stronger public infrastructure, better land-use planning, and communities better able to withstand future shocks. And this is where I believe we can continue to reimagine the role of the diaspora,” she said.

editorial@gleanerjm.com