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Two unfortunate matters
Morris Cargill
TODAY I feel it necessary to return to the subjects of Paul Robertson, the Minister of Undevelopment, and of Eddie Seaga, the Misleader of the Opposition.
To deal with Robertson first, while it is quite clear that he should resign, he has not been man enough to do so, but instead has made the pretence of resigning by saying that he offered his resignation to the Prime Minister who had not accepted it; a clear case of palsy-walsy in high places.
Robertson has not been guilty of fraud and he has said that he is making efforts to refund the investors in his failed development. But it is by no means clear how this refund can be made. It seems to me that inspite of best intentions, no more than a part of the refund will be possible. When and if this turns out to be true there are going to be many howls of anguish, and when that occurs, a geniune resignation will be necessary. In any case I say once again that he should do the right thing by resigning now.
As to Seaga, it should be emphasised that anybody who collects GCT and fails to turn it over to the Government is in fact using other people's money without their permission. Here again there is no evidence that Seaga will be able to settle his debts. In any case, FINSAC should immediately proceed to try to recover what is owed to it. If this were to happen, Seaga would undoubtedly have to go into bankruptcy which would be a good way of putting him out of his misery as Leader of the Opposition.
I cannot help feeling that the over-tenderness shown to both Robertson and Seaga is an example of the mutual aid society which exists amongst politicians who constantly demonstrate a great concern for each other's welfare rather than a concern for the people of the country. Here again Seaga's refusal to step down demonstrates where his real concern lies.
If both Robertson and Seaga were now to disappear from public life, politics would start to acquire a much-improved odour.
Kosovo
As I have already written Milosevic with his ethnic cleansing is a small edition of that great ethnic cleanser of all time, Adolph Hitler. It is quite clear that NATO is entirely justified in trying to arrange for Milosevic's downfall.
Apparently, however, their objective seems to be to induce the citizens of his country to reject him by making life miserable for his subjects. But to bomb and kill large numbers of innocent people seems to be a crazy sort of way of achieving Milosevic's downfall.
The proper and sophisticated way would be to refrain from bombing the people of Kosovo including the very people NATO is trying to save, but instead to send in a small group of highly trained people for the single purpose of assassinating Milosevic. I'm sure that if the British or the Israelis were responsible for solving this problem they would long since have understood the great advantage of a little subtle cloak-and-dagger operation rather than the regrettable American habit of using blunt and very expensive and destructive instruments to achieve their objectives.
The same action should have also been taken in Iraq against Saddam. When it comes to sophisticated power diplomacy, the Pax Americana has a lot to learn.
It seems that at last with the help of Russia, some sort of a settlement about Kosovo might be reached. But so long as Milosevic is in charge of affairs, I think it is doubtful whether any kind of final and satisfactory settlement will be possible.
Departure tax
The Government has recently increased the departure tax to $1,000 per person. Tourism is already taxed more heavily in Jamaica than anywhere else in the world. It seems that our Government has joined with a lot of others in the fine art of tourist harassment.
The Government had better be careful. Without the income from tourism, Jamaica would finally fall apart completely. I know that the Government, which is flat broke, needs all the taxes it can get, but it should be very careful not to indulge in that famous activity known as killing the goose. There are already many things which should be done to develop our tourism but taxing it is not one of them.
Morris Cargill is The Gleaner's senior columnist and has been writing for more than 46 years.
Morris Cargill
TODAY I feel it necessary to return to the subjects of Paul Robertson, the Minister of Undevelopment, and of Eddie Seaga, the Misleader of the Opposition.
To deal with Robertson first, while it is quite clear that he should resign, he has not been man enough to do so, but instead has made the pretence of resigning by saying that he offered his resignation to the Prime Minister who had not accepted it; a clear case of palsy-walsy in high places.
Robertson has not been guilty of fraud and he has said that he is making efforts to refund the investors in his failed development. But it is by no means clear how this refund can be made. It seems to me that inspite of best intentions, no more than a part of the refund will be possible. When and if this turns out to be true there are going to be many howls of anguish, and when that occurs, a geniune resignation will be necessary. In any case I say once again that he should do the right thing by resigning now.
As to Seaga, it should be emphasised that anybody who collects GCT and fails to turn it over to the Government is in fact using other people's money without their permission. Here again there is no evidence that Seaga will be able to settle his debts. In any case, FINSAC should immediately proceed to try to recover what is owed to it. If this were to happen, Seaga would undoubtedly have to go into bankruptcy which would be a good way of putting him out of his misery as Leader of the Opposition.
I cannot help feeling that the over-tenderness shown to both Robertson and Seaga is an example of the mutual aid society which exists amongst politicians who constantly demonstrate a great concern for each other's welfare rather than a concern for the people of the country. Here again Seaga's refusal to step down demonstrates where his real concern lies.
If both Robertson and Seaga were now to disappear from public life, politics would start to acquire a much-improved odour.
Kosovo
As I have already written Milosevic with his ethnic cleansing is a small edition of that great ethnic cleanser of all time, Adolph Hitler. It is quite clear that NATO is entirely justified in trying to arrange for Milosevic's downfall.
Apparently, however, their objective seems to be to induce the citizens of his country to reject him by making life miserable for his subjects. But to bomb and kill large numbers of innocent people seems to be a crazy sort of way of achieving Milosevic's downfall.
The proper and sophisticated way would be to refrain from bombing the people of Kosovo including the very people NATO is trying to save, but instead to send in a small group of highly trained people for the single purpose of assassinating Milosevic. I'm sure that if the British or the Israelis were responsible for solving this problem they would long since have understood the great advantage of a little subtle cloak-and-dagger operation rather than the regrettable American habit of using blunt and very expensive and destructive instruments to achieve their objectives.
The same action should have also been taken in Iraq against Saddam. When it comes to sophisticated power diplomacy, the Pax Americana has a lot to learn.
It seems that at last with the help of Russia, some sort of a settlement about Kosovo might be reached. But so long as Milosevic is in charge of affairs, I think it is doubtful whether any kind of final and satisfactory settlement will be possible.
Departure tax
The Government has recently increased the departure tax to $1,000 per person. Tourism is already taxed more heavily in Jamaica than anywhere else in the world. It seems that our Government has joined with a lot of others in the fine art of tourist harassment.
The Government had better be careful. Without the income from tourism, Jamaica would finally fall apart completely. I know that the Government, which is flat broke, needs all the taxes it can get, but it should be very careful not to indulge in that famous activity known as killing the goose. There are already many things which should be done to develop our tourism but taxing it is not one of them.
Morris Cargill is The Gleaner's senior columnist and has been writing for more than 46 years.
