Rasta Government

Could be fiction, but doesn't have to be. Close blood relatives getting killed will change anybody, any time. Happens over and over, all over the world. Many gang leaders and master criminals were bright kids from influential, if not wealthy families. These traits run in families. The intelligence, ambition, hard work and force of character in their family members can also make the criminal a good student when they are young. Forget the positive family influence. It can be just by genetics alone. Unfortunately that same success and ambition makes the family a target. Then the young student learns the hard way that life hard; and turns to crime in anger, heartbreak and frustration. It's a kind of post-traumatic stress. They then end up using that same brains and force of character to become master criminals, first for revenge, then later for money and influence. I can think of more than one case like this in Jamaica, just off the top of my head. One killed in prison and the...

Don't forget what and WHO makes a project cost estimate. The bids are supposed to be competitive but we all know it's just a few hands in Jamaica that can put together a costing for a good sized project. The quantities have to be transparent. But who comes up with the rates? The much-vaunted estimator? These people are so few that they don't even have to be colluding to affect construction prices for most good size projects. If just a few of them lean on each other for professional guidance that's it. Then Jamaica's construction prices are as high as anyone can guess. And who benefits? Who pays the estimator? The developer right? Who's incentives are aligned? On many big housing projects the developer is also the contractor. So when the costs go sky high, he's made his profit before a single house is sold. Again, these houses that are listed in the estimate as costing $9 mill and selling for $12 mil, don't cost $3.5 mil to build. Just add up th...