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Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Dear Editor,
In two different editions of your newspaper (Mark Wignall and Pepperpot), I have noted the suggestion that I have a source" ("sources"?) in the Ministry of Finance, making me more informed on issues than the three Cabinet ministers assigned to that Ministry. It would seem that this allegation has arisen from the issues I have raised, within and without Parliament, in my capacity as Opposition spokesman on finance and planning.
Let me begin by categorically denying this spurious allegation. It is ironic that while I was minister I was often accused of "dominating" my technicians, but now I need a "mole" to know what's going on.
Perhaps the allegation should be ignored but I have decided to comment on it as it reveals a great deal about the state of our media as well as the general absence of analytic capabilities in the society. In terms of what passes for "analysis" in the media, very little is based on a review and assessment of data and information. Rather, whole columns are dedicated to the latest word on the "cocktail circuit", or just plain verandah "suss".
This is unforgiveable in a context where government ministries and state agencies are obliged to publish the most recent data on a timely basis, providing members of the public with that which is needed to pose the right questions and to draw logical conclusions. For example, on a monthly basis, various government agencies provide data on the NIR, the fiscal accounts and inflation, just to name a few areas.
The tragedy is that even while our "analysts" continue to rely on leaks and gossip, there are people abroad who systematically track the country's progress (or lack thereof) by using the very data we produce. Too many of our opinion leaders either do not have the competence, or are too mentally lazy, to "mine" available data.
A specific recent example would be the CPI data for December 2007, which I received electronically on the evening of Wednesday, January 23. Within a couple of hours, I had analysed the main tables and issued a statement on behalf of the Opposition, indicating some of the implications of the inflation out-turn for December and for calendar year 2007. Even as I write this piece, no writer in either of our two major dailies has even reported the results, much less provided an assessment.
A second example relates to the much-hyped Constituency Development Fund, which was a major plank of the present administration's campaign platform. The prime minister committed the allocation of 2.5 per cent of total expenditure to this Fund, beginning April 1, 2008. This commitment was repeated, even after being in office for a period. From the moment of the initial announcement, I publicly stated that this commitment could not be met, as the resources, amounting to over 1 per cent of GDP, just did not exist. Now that the prime minister has confirmed my initial assessment, I wonder whether it will be said that I had "inside information".
Finally, in at least one instance, I must confess to having a "source" at the "highest levels" in the government. In early December, Minister Tufton announced in Parliament a major concessionary loan for the export banana sector. I sought from him details of this loan but he was not able to oblige.
Against that background, I was then forced to write, in a letter dated December 3, to a senior member of the political directorate seeking "further and better particulars". To this person's credit, he responded on December 10, answering most of my questions. I was somewhat surprised that, during the Standing Finance Committee looking at the Supplementary Estimates on December 19, neither the minister of finance nor his officials seemed to be in possession of the information which had been provided to me over a week before.
I am able to cite this example publicly as I doubt that anyone would dare to suggest that the prime minister, the person with whom I had been in correspondence, was leaking information to me.
In closing, Mr Editor, I recall that during the 1960s the late Malcolm X cited as a major deficiency of Afro-Americans the reluctance to read, relying too much on hearsay. He was reported to have expressed the damning view that "if you want to hide something from my fellow Afro-Americans, put it in a book". I do not know if Malcolm X actually made this comment, but I would simply substitute "Jamaicans" for "Afro-Americans".
Omar Davies
Kingston
Dear Editor,
In two different editions of your newspaper (Mark Wignall and Pepperpot), I have noted the suggestion that I have a source" ("sources"?) in the Ministry of Finance, making me more informed on issues than the three Cabinet ministers assigned to that Ministry. It would seem that this allegation has arisen from the issues I have raised, within and without Parliament, in my capacity as Opposition spokesman on finance and planning.
Let me begin by categorically denying this spurious allegation. It is ironic that while I was minister I was often accused of "dominating" my technicians, but now I need a "mole" to know what's going on.
Perhaps the allegation should be ignored but I have decided to comment on it as it reveals a great deal about the state of our media as well as the general absence of analytic capabilities in the society. In terms of what passes for "analysis" in the media, very little is based on a review and assessment of data and information. Rather, whole columns are dedicated to the latest word on the "cocktail circuit", or just plain verandah "suss".
This is unforgiveable in a context where government ministries and state agencies are obliged to publish the most recent data on a timely basis, providing members of the public with that which is needed to pose the right questions and to draw logical conclusions. For example, on a monthly basis, various government agencies provide data on the NIR, the fiscal accounts and inflation, just to name a few areas.
The tragedy is that even while our "analysts" continue to rely on leaks and gossip, there are people abroad who systematically track the country's progress (or lack thereof) by using the very data we produce. Too many of our opinion leaders either do not have the competence, or are too mentally lazy, to "mine" available data.
A specific recent example would be the CPI data for December 2007, which I received electronically on the evening of Wednesday, January 23. Within a couple of hours, I had analysed the main tables and issued a statement on behalf of the Opposition, indicating some of the implications of the inflation out-turn for December and for calendar year 2007. Even as I write this piece, no writer in either of our two major dailies has even reported the results, much less provided an assessment.
A second example relates to the much-hyped Constituency Development Fund, which was a major plank of the present administration's campaign platform. The prime minister committed the allocation of 2.5 per cent of total expenditure to this Fund, beginning April 1, 2008. This commitment was repeated, even after being in office for a period. From the moment of the initial announcement, I publicly stated that this commitment could not be met, as the resources, amounting to over 1 per cent of GDP, just did not exist. Now that the prime minister has confirmed my initial assessment, I wonder whether it will be said that I had "inside information".
Finally, in at least one instance, I must confess to having a "source" at the "highest levels" in the government. In early December, Minister Tufton announced in Parliament a major concessionary loan for the export banana sector. I sought from him details of this loan but he was not able to oblige.
Against that background, I was then forced to write, in a letter dated December 3, to a senior member of the political directorate seeking "further and better particulars". To this person's credit, he responded on December 10, answering most of my questions. I was somewhat surprised that, during the Standing Finance Committee looking at the Supplementary Estimates on December 19, neither the minister of finance nor his officials seemed to be in possession of the information which had been provided to me over a week before.
I am able to cite this example publicly as I doubt that anyone would dare to suggest that the prime minister, the person with whom I had been in correspondence, was leaking information to me.
In closing, Mr Editor, I recall that during the 1960s the late Malcolm X cited as a major deficiency of Afro-Americans the reluctance to read, relying too much on hearsay. He was reported to have expressed the damning view that "if you want to hide something from my fellow Afro-Americans, put it in a book". I do not know if Malcolm X actually made this comment, but I would simply substitute "Jamaicans" for "Afro-Americans".
Omar Davies
Kingston
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