Jamaicans say independence has been ‘mismanaged’

Jamaica will mark 63 years of independence tomorrow, but for some Jamaicans, the freedom their grandparents once celebrated still feels unfinished.

While the national colours hang from stalls and corners, the sentiment on the ground is far less festive. Some say the country's greatest symbolic victory, freedom from colonial rule, has yet to deliver its most basic promises - stability, ownership, and self-governance.

Christine Archer, a long-time vendor at Jubilee Market, wore black, green, and gold but her tone was firm and far from patriotic.

"Mi woulda still vote fi it (independence)," she told THE STAR. "But look how we mismanage it. We get independence, but we never build a nation."

"The dream was valid, but di follow-through? Might as well dem did mek we tan wid [Queen] Elizabeth."

She recalled a saying passed down from her grandmother: "Independence without control is like turn goat loose inna people farm. One goat mash up yuh whole field if yuh cyaan manage it. A dat happen to Jamaica."

For Archer, the vote for independence wasn't the mistake, but rather the decades that followed.

"We bleach out wi culture, mash up wi values and still haffi beg visa to leave wi own land," she said. "Mi ancestors must a roll inna dem grave and a say all a that for this?"

Across the stalls, the same frustration echoed. Some vendors shook their heads, others laughed bitterly. But nearly all questioned whether true independence had ever arrived.

Charles Samuels, a vendor in his 60s, stood beside a rusted cart plastered with old political posters.

"Tell mi one ting we run," he said. "Food import, foreign currency, education, banking, everything we rely pan come from outside."

"We get freedom, but at what cost? Di country full a tief and scammer."

Blossom Sinclair recalled being six years old when the Jamaican flag was raised for the first time in 1962.

"People paint fence, cook food, wave flag, even cry," she said. "It did feel like freedom." But now, she says the tone has changed.

"Young people more excited bout Dream Weekend than Grand Gala. Wi pass down di date, but wi nuh pass down di mission."

She still takes her grandchildren to the official celebrations, but says they spend most of the time on their phones.

"Mi nuh blame dem. Is we drop di baton. Wi get freedom and run wid hype not development."

Some vendors suggested the country may have rushed into independence without laying the groundwork for self-sufficiency.

"Maybe we shoulda wait," one woman said. "Look how Cayman and Bermuda operate under Elizabeth still dem economies strong."

Still, most agreed the idea of independence wasn't the issue, it was the execution. The transfer of power did not come with a clear direction.

"Jamaica got independence," Archer said, "but we never get liberation. Is like we tek down di Union Jack and stop deh so."

Jamaica became the first English-speaking Caribbean country to gain independence on August 6, 1962, a historic moment that symbolised self-rule after more than 300 years of British control. But for many vendors, that symbolic break has not yet materialised into the structural or economic transformation they hoped for.

As another Independence Day approaches, the disconnect between ritual and reality feels wider than ever. Flags still wave but beneath them, the dream many believed in, lies fractured, forgotten, or still out of reach.

"Wi get di day," one vendor said, "but wi still a wait pon di dream."