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....... one by one they are falling in line and recognizing the obvious.
A plan is required....but only one limiting the power of politicians and giving more directly to people....especially the disenfranchised....via negotiation, consensus & a formal, written greement....aka a Social Contract.
Jamaica is rudderless, leaderless and adrift on an ocean of incompetence and self serving idiocy.
Without vision...the people shall continue to perish.
'We need a plan' - Sagicor boss says Jamaica's 'corner shop' economy holding nation back
Published: Monday | November 30, 2009
Byles Jamaica is lagging behind because it has no plans to solve its economic and social problems and create an environment in which the country's potential can be realised, says the head of the island's largest life company.
Richard Byles, president and CEO of Sagicor Life Jamaica Limited, lamented the deepening of ]the nation's woes, while countries like Singapore and Barbados are achieving creditable growth in their gross domestic product (GDP).
He said the growth levels of those two countries, as well as Jamaica, could in the recent past have been compared to a corner shop.
"One has become a supermarket, the other a Wal-Mart and the third has remained a corner shop. That's Jamaica," he declared while speaking Saturday night at the annual awards banquet of the Jamaica Institution of Engineers (JIE) at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.
Byles said Singapore and Barbados, which have far healthier debt-to-GDP ratios than Jamaica, have fared better because they had a plan and stuck to it.
Outdated plans
He said he did not know exactly what the plan for Jamaica should be at this time, but that the country has not had a comprehensive economic plan since the 1950s and '60s when the import-substitution model was implemented with some measure of success, even though "we did not have the savvy to change before it became old and out of date".
Import substitution is the replacement of some agri-cultural or industrial imports to encourage local produc-tion for local consumption rather than producing for export markets
The Sagicor boss said any effective plan must have four key ingredients. First, he said, "the leadership must step up and make the decisions expected of leaders and do what is right even when it is not the popular thing".
Education, he added, was key as "Jamaica can't go anywhere without education and we must find the money to educate the population". Both Barbados and Singapore, he noted, had invested heavily in education with outstanding results.
Third, Byles pointed out that security is an area that requires immediate attention.
"Colombia, which previously had worse security problems than Jamaica, including the mother of organised crime, can today say they whipped it," he said. "I don't know how, but somebody needs to know."
Turning to high-energy costs, Byles called for a solution and programmes to reduce this nationally and also recommended improved communication
between the authorities and the people of Jamaica "so that everyone can understand where we are going and get on board".
The JIE annual awards dinner, attended by engineering professionals across the public and private sector, saw Caribbean Cement Company Limited being named JIE Project of the Year 2009.
A plan is required....but only one limiting the power of politicians and giving more directly to people....especially the disenfranchised....via negotiation, consensus & a formal, written greement....aka a Social Contract.
Jamaica is rudderless, leaderless and adrift on an ocean of incompetence and self serving idiocy.
Without vision...the people shall continue to perish.
'We need a plan' - Sagicor boss says Jamaica's 'corner shop' economy holding nation back
Published: Monday | November 30, 2009
Byles Jamaica is lagging behind because it has no plans to solve its economic and social problems and create an environment in which the country's potential can be realised, says the head of the island's largest life company.
Richard Byles, president and CEO of Sagicor Life Jamaica Limited, lamented the deepening of ]the nation's woes, while countries like Singapore and Barbados are achieving creditable growth in their gross domestic product (GDP).
He said the growth levels of those two countries, as well as Jamaica, could in the recent past have been compared to a corner shop.
"One has become a supermarket, the other a Wal-Mart and the third has remained a corner shop. That's Jamaica," he declared while speaking Saturday night at the annual awards banquet of the Jamaica Institution of Engineers (JIE) at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.
Byles said Singapore and Barbados, which have far healthier debt-to-GDP ratios than Jamaica, have fared better because they had a plan and stuck to it.
Outdated plans
He said he did not know exactly what the plan for Jamaica should be at this time, but that the country has not had a comprehensive economic plan since the 1950s and '60s when the import-substitution model was implemented with some measure of success, even though "we did not have the savvy to change before it became old and out of date".
Import substitution is the replacement of some agri-cultural or industrial imports to encourage local produc-tion for local consumption rather than producing for export markets
The Sagicor boss said any effective plan must have four key ingredients. First, he said, "the leadership must step up and make the decisions expected of leaders and do what is right even when it is not the popular thing".
Education, he added, was key as "Jamaica can't go anywhere without education and we must find the money to educate the population". Both Barbados and Singapore, he noted, had invested heavily in education with outstanding results.
Third, Byles pointed out that security is an area that requires immediate attention.
"Colombia, which previously had worse security problems than Jamaica, including the mother of organised crime, can today say they whipped it," he said. "I don't know how, but somebody needs to know."
Turning to high-energy costs, Byles called for a solution and programmes to reduce this nationally and also recommended improved communication
between the authorities and the people of Jamaica "so that everyone can understand where we are going and get on board".
The JIE annual awards dinner, attended by engineering professionals across the public and private sector, saw Caribbean Cement Company Limited being named JIE Project of the Year 2009.
