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Bruce Golding came into office on the tail end of Hurricane Dean and ends his first year as prime minister trying to navigate the turbulence of Tropical Storm Gustav.
In between the storms, his government has had a bumpy ride with international oil and grain prices hitting record levels and the country's murder total heading in the wrong direction.
But despite the challenges, at least two analysts say the administration has done a reasonable job in dealing with the economy.
"I give them more than a passing grade. I think they have handled the situation very well and the economy is in a position where it is poised to take off," says financial analyst John Jackson.
"They came to bat on a difficult wicket and have been steady, not flashy and not disastrous, but playing to the pitch and grafting," says political commentator Kevin O'Brien Chang.
After a long, bitter and sometimes violent campaign, a lean, mean, green Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) machine flew past a tired and creaky orange bus at the general election of September 3, 2007, and finally broke the People's National Party's (PNP) 18-year hold on state power.
Not even court action and threats of "nightmare" have yet been able to overturn the result which saw the JLP capture 32 of the 60 seats in the House of Representatives and made Golding the country's eighth prime minister.
But what a year it has been.
Golding and the members of his Cabinet were faced with crafting a budget at a time when external factors, including rising oil and grain prices, were pushing the country's inflation rate to levels not seen in more than 15 years.
Soaring murder rate
If that was not enough, the administration also came face to face with a soaring murder rate and growing demands from the electorate.
For Golding, his first duty was to deliver on the party's many election promises.
His first step was disappointing for many Jamaicans as he named an 18-member Cabinet which some analysts said seemed designed to reward party faithful for their work in opposition.
"Much too large. I think it is really too much and most Jamaicans were expecting a muchsmaller Cabinet," declared political analyst Helene Davis-Whyte in a Gleaner interview as she joined scores of others in criticising Golding.
But Golding was unapologetic.
"The Cabinet that I have chosen has been very carefully structured and, in my judgement, it is what is necessary; it is what is appropriate for the challenges that face us at this time," Golding stated at the swearing-in of the Cabinet members.
With that controversy out of the way, Golding started implementing the promises and most Jamaicans demanded the two big ticket items, free tuition to the secondary level and free public health care.
Those were promises that Golding was quick to keep though the 2007-2008 school year started with mass confusion as school administrators and parents struggled to deal with the implications of no tuition fees.
Free health care came months later and the implementation was relatively smooth, although several patients complained about the inability of hospitals to fill prescriptions.
Crime monster
Tackling crime proved a more difficult task for Golding during the first year of his administration.
After only 14 weeks in office, Golding moved Derrick Smith from the national security ministry and installed former Police Commissioner Colonel Trevor MacMillan.
But that has not been enough and, despite new anti-crime measures, a new police com-missioner and other changes, more than 1,500 persons have been murdered across the island since the JLP assumed office.
It is a failing grade on the JLP's report card, although Golding argues that he inherited a monster that will take some time to tame.
"They have done no better than the last administration. They are just as bad and have done nothing to deal with this big problem," O'Brien Chang argues.
Human-rights activist Dr Carolyn Gomes gives the administration a mixed review.
Jamaica Labour Party leader Bruce Golding walks through a crowd of supporters at the party's Belmont Road headquarters on September 3, 2007, in New Kingston as the Labourites celebrated their first victory in general elections since 1989.
"They came into office with the MacMillan report on crime which has elements that could be implemented quickly and at little cost, but a year later we are still waiting," Gomes says.
High marks
She says Golding and his team gets high marks for completing the strategic review of the police force and starting its implementation, but the murder figures leave the Government in a bad position.
"We are happy about the work to introduce an independent body to probe police killings, but this needs to be pushed so that the public can have confidence in the force," Gomes adds.
The administration has not been linked to any major scandal in its first year and has so far avoided serious allegations of corruption that followed the previous administration.
But promises of a bill to criminalise breaches of govern-ment contract procedures and a bill to impeach public officials guilty of misconduct have not been kept and the country is still awaiting word on who will be the new anti-corruption tsar propsed by Golding.
In an indication he believed that the country's economic challenges were many and varied, Golding appointed three full ministers in the Ministry of Finance.
While Audley Shaw was given the title finance minister, he was given support in the technocrat Don Wehby from the private sector and Dwight Nelson from the union movement.
Their first job was to craft a budget and the jury is still out on whether the $489-billion package presented to Parliament is credible.
Shaw has taken some ribbing for not finding the cheap money from countries like Japan which he claimed was available to Jamaica while he was in opposition.
The JLP has also faced criticisms for the rise in the inflation rate despite clear indications that this has been driven, in large part, by external factors.
But Jackson says the JLP has done particularly well in balancing the fiscal and monetary policies and reducing the country's dept burden.
Acid test
Other financial analysts have given Nelson high marks for the job he has done negotiating Memorandum of Understanding 3 with public-sector workers, but several key groups - teachers, nurses and police - are not party to the agreement and how he settles with these bodies will be the acid test.
Most attention will be on his negotiations with the nurses who are adamant that they will not accept less than the 100 per cent increase promised to them by Shaw while in opposition.
The finance ministry trio, like their counterpart in industry and commerce, Karl Samuda, will also get most of the flak for the administration's failure to keep its promise of jobs, jobs and more jobs.
Golding has argued that there is no country in the world which is enjoying massive employment growth this year, but that is little comfort for scores of Jamaicans who bought into the JLP's hype that hundreds of jobs would be created in the short term.
For Jackson, the JLP should not be marked down for its failure to create jobs.
"You can't grow the economy where the Government is swimming in a lot of the resources so they have to step back and get rid of some of the debt.
"Unless foreigners are coming in with massive investments, and that is not on the cards for any time now so what is taking place is that the pilot (Golding) is bringing the plane in to land and offload some of the weight so that it can take off and fly properly," Jackson said.
Golding and his team have announced several projects which are on the drawing board or, in the words of a former People's National Party minister, in the pipeline. These could give the economy a lift going into the party's second year but one suspects that, until it improves its performance in tackling crime and creating jobs, many Jamaicans will give the Golding administration a failing grade.
In between the storms, his government has had a bumpy ride with international oil and grain prices hitting record levels and the country's murder total heading in the wrong direction.
But despite the challenges, at least two analysts say the administration has done a reasonable job in dealing with the economy.
"I give them more than a passing grade. I think they have handled the situation very well and the economy is in a position where it is poised to take off," says financial analyst John Jackson.
"They came to bat on a difficult wicket and have been steady, not flashy and not disastrous, but playing to the pitch and grafting," says political commentator Kevin O'Brien Chang.
After a long, bitter and sometimes violent campaign, a lean, mean, green Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) machine flew past a tired and creaky orange bus at the general election of September 3, 2007, and finally broke the People's National Party's (PNP) 18-year hold on state power.
Not even court action and threats of "nightmare" have yet been able to overturn the result which saw the JLP capture 32 of the 60 seats in the House of Representatives and made Golding the country's eighth prime minister.
But what a year it has been.
Golding and the members of his Cabinet were faced with crafting a budget at a time when external factors, including rising oil and grain prices, were pushing the country's inflation rate to levels not seen in more than 15 years.
Soaring murder rate
If that was not enough, the administration also came face to face with a soaring murder rate and growing demands from the electorate.
For Golding, his first duty was to deliver on the party's many election promises.
His first step was disappointing for many Jamaicans as he named an 18-member Cabinet which some analysts said seemed designed to reward party faithful for their work in opposition.
"Much too large. I think it is really too much and most Jamaicans were expecting a muchsmaller Cabinet," declared political analyst Helene Davis-Whyte in a Gleaner interview as she joined scores of others in criticising Golding.
But Golding was unapologetic.
"The Cabinet that I have chosen has been very carefully structured and, in my judgement, it is what is necessary; it is what is appropriate for the challenges that face us at this time," Golding stated at the swearing-in of the Cabinet members.
With that controversy out of the way, Golding started implementing the promises and most Jamaicans demanded the two big ticket items, free tuition to the secondary level and free public health care.
Those were promises that Golding was quick to keep though the 2007-2008 school year started with mass confusion as school administrators and parents struggled to deal with the implications of no tuition fees.
Free health care came months later and the implementation was relatively smooth, although several patients complained about the inability of hospitals to fill prescriptions.
Crime monster
Tackling crime proved a more difficult task for Golding during the first year of his administration.
After only 14 weeks in office, Golding moved Derrick Smith from the national security ministry and installed former Police Commissioner Colonel Trevor MacMillan.
But that has not been enough and, despite new anti-crime measures, a new police com-missioner and other changes, more than 1,500 persons have been murdered across the island since the JLP assumed office.
It is a failing grade on the JLP's report card, although Golding argues that he inherited a monster that will take some time to tame.
"They have done no better than the last administration. They are just as bad and have done nothing to deal with this big problem," O'Brien Chang argues.
Human-rights activist Dr Carolyn Gomes gives the administration a mixed review.
Jamaica Labour Party leader Bruce Golding walks through a crowd of supporters at the party's Belmont Road headquarters on September 3, 2007, in New Kingston as the Labourites celebrated their first victory in general elections since 1989.
"They came into office with the MacMillan report on crime which has elements that could be implemented quickly and at little cost, but a year later we are still waiting," Gomes says.
High marks
She says Golding and his team gets high marks for completing the strategic review of the police force and starting its implementation, but the murder figures leave the Government in a bad position.
"We are happy about the work to introduce an independent body to probe police killings, but this needs to be pushed so that the public can have confidence in the force," Gomes adds.
The administration has not been linked to any major scandal in its first year and has so far avoided serious allegations of corruption that followed the previous administration.
But promises of a bill to criminalise breaches of govern-ment contract procedures and a bill to impeach public officials guilty of misconduct have not been kept and the country is still awaiting word on who will be the new anti-corruption tsar propsed by Golding.
In an indication he believed that the country's economic challenges were many and varied, Golding appointed three full ministers in the Ministry of Finance.
While Audley Shaw was given the title finance minister, he was given support in the technocrat Don Wehby from the private sector and Dwight Nelson from the union movement.
Their first job was to craft a budget and the jury is still out on whether the $489-billion package presented to Parliament is credible.
Shaw has taken some ribbing for not finding the cheap money from countries like Japan which he claimed was available to Jamaica while he was in opposition.
The JLP has also faced criticisms for the rise in the inflation rate despite clear indications that this has been driven, in large part, by external factors.
But Jackson says the JLP has done particularly well in balancing the fiscal and monetary policies and reducing the country's dept burden.
Acid test
Other financial analysts have given Nelson high marks for the job he has done negotiating Memorandum of Understanding 3 with public-sector workers, but several key groups - teachers, nurses and police - are not party to the agreement and how he settles with these bodies will be the acid test.
Most attention will be on his negotiations with the nurses who are adamant that they will not accept less than the 100 per cent increase promised to them by Shaw while in opposition.
The finance ministry trio, like their counterpart in industry and commerce, Karl Samuda, will also get most of the flak for the administration's failure to keep its promise of jobs, jobs and more jobs.
Golding has argued that there is no country in the world which is enjoying massive employment growth this year, but that is little comfort for scores of Jamaicans who bought into the JLP's hype that hundreds of jobs would be created in the short term.
For Jackson, the JLP should not be marked down for its failure to create jobs.
"You can't grow the economy where the Government is swimming in a lot of the resources so they have to step back and get rid of some of the debt.
"Unless foreigners are coming in with massive investments, and that is not on the cards for any time now so what is taking place is that the pilot (Golding) is bringing the plane in to land and offload some of the weight so that it can take off and fly properly," Jackson said.
Golding and his team have announced several projects which are on the drawing board or, in the words of a former People's National Party minister, in the pipeline. These could give the economy a lift going into the party's second year but one suspects that, until it improves its performance in tackling crime and creating jobs, many Jamaicans will give the Golding administration a failing grade.
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