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Expect a real prime minister now
Mark Wignall
Sunday, January 17, 2010
FOR the last two years the JLP administration has been hobbled by mainly two factors: 1) Its unwillingness to come to terms with the parlous state of the economy it inherited in late 2007 and face it head-on, especially after the global economic recession had piled on its additional pain, and 2) its inability to recognise that, as a people, many of us had moved beyond the childish, parochial approach to politics and politicians that the JLP left behind in February 1989.
The poor governance that many complained about comprised two important factors.
GOLDING... has he awakened to his responsibility?
GOLDING... has he awakened to his responsibility? 1/1
First, the country’s default political position is PNP, especially after it enjoyed an unprecedented 18-year run from February 1989 to September 2007.
This is coupled with the political petulance of Opposition leader Portia Simpson Miller who could not summon an ounce of political maturity to concede defeat in 2007 and instead uttered, “It’s not over yet, baby.”
The second and more important of the two factors is the time the JLP spent in opposition; the same 18 years. What was the party doing all that time? Many were simply not prepared to buy the argument that having been out of office for so long, the JLP needed time to get its governance going.
Poor governance translated into one senior JLP Cabinet options were minimised by the country’s debt, internal and external. One sensed that the prime minister himself was hemmed in by this, but I expected Golding to recognise that governance had long moved away from care packages and handouts to a structured but candid engagement with the people. In other words, even if the cupboard was bare, his role of prime minister did not cease because of that.
In tougher times the demands of the people for a strong, level-headed prime minister, unafraid of telling us the truth and able to manage the results of that truth, could minister telling us that all would be well. It was the plaintalking Minister of Labour Pearnel Charles who broke the ice in the early part of last year when he spoke about an economic tsunami heading for Jamaica. I happen to know that many Cabinet ministers were energised by it, but for the majority, the energy dissipated as soon as it was recognised.
Some of them simply will not cut it for the rest of this year.
In the last year I have spoken with more than a few key Cabinet members and all of them have told me, off the record, that the Government’s be no less than in the tough times of the past.
So the question is, if Golding has awakened to our reality, has he awakened to his responsibility? The second question, which is of no less importance, is, are we fully charged with our own responsibilities in the tougher times that lie ahead?
Those answers, of course, will present themselves to us in the coming months.
As Information Minister Daryl Vaz said to me last Thursday, “This is as a result of many months of delicate negotiations. It clears a major hurdle for the prime minister, but it shouldn’t be seen as a policy move in itself, disconnected from the many other problems besetting the society. What this does is set the tone for what you like to call a new governance.”
A new and different
management is a must
As expected, some of the critics of the JLP were out. Said one in response to my column last Thursday, “Masterstroke by the Government; I certainly hope you are paid well, but whatever it is I don’t think it’s enough for the die-hearted (sic) journalist look-alike love that you have for the present government. You did your smoke-and-mirrors game during the election and the results are all around you, but you are blinded with PNP disease. Which is OK, but just not in both eyes at once — that’s not good for objectivity.
I would encourage you to learn some more other than the basics about finance and economics before you blindly support smoking mirrors again. The Government’s plan is ‘cyber money’ built on abstractly ‘skewed theories’ —
more promises. You will see, this is just another ‘big man’ benefit move like Reagan trickle-down economics, otherwise called voodoo economics. I guess I will dub your best move since independence OBEAH ECONOMICS. Poorly constructed theories yield poor results, despite good PR. It’s like lipstick on a pig.”
As far as this reader is concerned, all I do in my columns is public relations work for the JLP administration. I never ever criticise this government, according to him.
But it wasn’t all criticism. Professor David Wong from the Caribbean Online Forum — not one to readily heap praise on our local politicians, academicians and businessmen — was somewhat guarded in his comments. So, it seems after all the chatter to the contrary, that the Jamaican Government can indeed restructure the local public debt and bring down interest rates. Of course, one hopes that there is some kind of plan or programme aimed at reducing expenditures and restructuring the economy in more productive directions that can ultimately create jobs, increase labour productivity, boost exports, and reduce the pressure on the foreign exchange rate of the Jamaican dollar.
The criticism has been made in the past that Golding shows up suddenly to lead, then disappears into a bunker for a few months, then shows up again. To me, it seems that it has finally dawned on the prime minister that his leadership must only be hands-on. The only other option was to head out and allow someone else to bear the heat of the kitchen.
Said another reader who never failed to rain demons on me when, years ago, I used to criticise Eddie Seaga: “A great article. The PM delivered a great stroke and let’s hope it is the shape of things to come, in order to see Jamaica move forward. This is one time when you and I concur on an issue that will have a positive impact on our country.
“These days your writings have been falling in line with other good writers who once dominated the literary scene in Jamaica, which barely exists anymore. We never always see eye to eye on issues, but in order to know your position on them, I still take time out to read your articles and give praises where they are due and criticise them where I deem it necessary. No malice intended, I am still holding out the olive branch to you.”
The fact is, like all politics anywhere on this planet, supporters of the JLP expect me, mostly a JLP than PNP supporter, to ALWAYS write in favour of the JLP. It’s a vicarious thrill and one I entirely understand. But to the
PNP, it is mostly a sin to endorse a policy position of the JLP government and call it a masterstroke. But as I said before, there are significant pockets of maturity in this country when compared with, say, 40 years ago.
One reader who is no stranger to my inbox wrote, “In full disclosure I must admit I am partial to the PNP, but I am an open-ear listener. In 2007 I went to a town hall meeting where Bruce Golding and Audley Shaw were guest speakers.
“I went because I sensed that these men could be the power players in the future. I simply wanted to hear what they had to say. I came away disappointed, but I won’t get into the reason for my personal disappointment. Fastforward to May 2009. I wrote on the feedback forum that the budget presentation for 2009-2010 was flawed and bound to fail. It did. I not only dismissed the budget but suggested that the Government should appeal to their friends, the holders of government bonds, and renegotiate the terms of the contracts.
I am glad to see that they have done so, and as you wrote were doing so as early as August 2009. My other solution was for full dollarisation, effectively pegging our future with the US dollar. That way ministers could not go around printing money to solve their inefficient management of our affairs (see Omar Davies). Dollarisation would mean we definitely would have to live within our means.
“Two things are political millstones around this Government’s neck: the divestment of Air Jamaica and dollarisation. It will take political courage and conviction to divest Air Jamaica and lose the name possibly forever. No one wants to hand the Opposition party such a slogan in an election knowing full well how lacking our electorate is. The JLP might get away with doing away with ‘our’ currency if it bears economic success early enough. However, it is still a tough call.
“My hope is that this Government succeeds in addressing the fiscal and monetary ills of the country. I think the missteps by the ministers were to be expected, and I know that they are tolerated to the extent that they are because Bruce has a slim bench to work with, both in terms of quality and quantity. As much as I am biased towards the PNP, I sympathise with Bruce and wish him all the best.”
Another reader attempted to capture the Jamaican mentality in his response to my Thursday column: “The PM has made a very good move and must be commended. Mark, please remember though that Jamaicans are like Brer Anancy.
They’re going to find a way to make back what they would have given up.
Wait and see.”
And that is just what the prime minister and his team do not have the luxury to do. The wait-and-see approach did not work in 2008. For much of 2009 it did not square well with the people of this country.
The prime minister noted last Thursday at the official launch of the Government’s Debt Exchange programme, “Jamaica is on probation, but as much as we are resolving to work through and put the country on a brighter path, the
potential we have to position Jamaica among those strong, fast-growing emerging economies is a potential that remains unrealised.”
Charged with the urgencies of the moment and pressed to the wall by the unrelenting criticisms of people like myself who are considered friends of
the administration, the press release which accompanied the launch said, “Prime Minister Bruce Golding has given his commitment to provide strong leadership on the part of the Government, leadership that is prepared to do what is right, to take the political risk and to invest the political capital so that history will judge the correctness of the actions taken.”
Should we praise Audley
Shaw?
While journalists and columnists waited in the lobby of Jamaica House last Monday, Audley Shaw’s name came up in a discussion between a journalist and myself. I said, “Come on man, Audley is little more than a big mouth. I have yet to see his substance.”
While we sat at the long conference table waiting for the meeting to begin, Shaw and I exchanged some holy (and unholy) pleasantries surrounding the wallpapers on our respective BlackBerrys. I felt crudely hypocritical smiling and cracking male jokes, but I had learnt the game well from politicians.
A few days later, and in political terms, we are forced to ask if we had not probably taken Shaw too much for granted. Did he not promise the nation in the election campaign of 2007 that he would be seeking to lower interest rates? Did he not promise that he would not be seeking the expensive loan facilities that his predecessor, Dr Omar Davies, had been seemingly addicted to? Had he not said that he would instead opt to go to the multilateral lending agencies where the rates were cheaper?
Noted Joey Issa, CEO of Cool Oasis/Shell petrol stations in Jamaica, “No matter how you cut it, Audley Shaw has come good. He has kept his promises of lowering interest rates and, where the country needs loan support, to go to the multilaterals where the rates are not only cheaper but the fiscal discipline is in place.”
Issa is correct, although I still need to see more of Shaw to make a final judgement of him. The fact is, if the media has savaged him and if some have even been calling for his resignation, what must those same persons now say?
One reader wrote, “Is/was Audley Shaw a part of the Government’s team responsible for achieving what seems to be an acceptable workable programme?
If so, will we now muffle the mouth of Jamaica’s worst financial auctioneer, run-withit Omar Davies? I constantly hear on talk shows uninformed or ignorant individuals calling for Audley Shaw’s head. I now wonder what their response will be to this programme? I remember the auctioneer stating some time ago that Audley Shaw is no fool. I await to find out if for ONCE Omar Davies is/was right.
Let us support Haiti now
For too long the people of Haiti have been treated as the rejects of the world.
In recent days the Christian idiot Pat Robertson on his 700 Club programme has been saying that Haiti’s devastation by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake must be placed at the feet of the country’s involvement with voodoo.
Sometimes I believe that I would dearly love to meet with Mr Robertson on a lonely road on a dark night to give him a piece of my mind. But his mind
has been warped for long by imbibing too much of the religious Koolaid.
Haiti is devastated. The country doesn’t need prayers. Prayers only move mountains in the head of the person praying. Haiti needs cash and medical supplies, building material, food, water, huge earth-moving machines to assist it in this time of tragedy.
The people of Jamaica could pray for Haiti until the cows come home, but that will not save one life or place a splint on a broken bone. Prayers make the person praying feel good. It does absolutely nothing for the person in need.
All Jamaicans need to dig deep in their pockets to support our sister nation. Last Thursday 14-year-old Iyana Vernon of Immaculate High School said to me, “Many people just want to say, ‘Look what has happened to them’, then forget about it. I hate that.”
We need to move beyond the verbal expressions of sympathy and open up our cash to Haiti. Our hearts are with the country in the wake of a most tragic and catastrophic earthquake. But we need to extend our money support to its people. Now!
observemark@gmail.com
Mark Wignall
Sunday, January 17, 2010
FOR the last two years the JLP administration has been hobbled by mainly two factors: 1) Its unwillingness to come to terms with the parlous state of the economy it inherited in late 2007 and face it head-on, especially after the global economic recession had piled on its additional pain, and 2) its inability to recognise that, as a people, many of us had moved beyond the childish, parochial approach to politics and politicians that the JLP left behind in February 1989.
The poor governance that many complained about comprised two important factors.
GOLDING... has he awakened to his responsibility?
GOLDING... has he awakened to his responsibility? 1/1
First, the country’s default political position is PNP, especially after it enjoyed an unprecedented 18-year run from February 1989 to September 2007.
This is coupled with the political petulance of Opposition leader Portia Simpson Miller who could not summon an ounce of political maturity to concede defeat in 2007 and instead uttered, “It’s not over yet, baby.”
The second and more important of the two factors is the time the JLP spent in opposition; the same 18 years. What was the party doing all that time? Many were simply not prepared to buy the argument that having been out of office for so long, the JLP needed time to get its governance going.
Poor governance translated into one senior JLP Cabinet options were minimised by the country’s debt, internal and external. One sensed that the prime minister himself was hemmed in by this, but I expected Golding to recognise that governance had long moved away from care packages and handouts to a structured but candid engagement with the people. In other words, even if the cupboard was bare, his role of prime minister did not cease because of that.
In tougher times the demands of the people for a strong, level-headed prime minister, unafraid of telling us the truth and able to manage the results of that truth, could minister telling us that all would be well. It was the plaintalking Minister of Labour Pearnel Charles who broke the ice in the early part of last year when he spoke about an economic tsunami heading for Jamaica. I happen to know that many Cabinet ministers were energised by it, but for the majority, the energy dissipated as soon as it was recognised.
Some of them simply will not cut it for the rest of this year.
In the last year I have spoken with more than a few key Cabinet members and all of them have told me, off the record, that the Government’s be no less than in the tough times of the past.
So the question is, if Golding has awakened to our reality, has he awakened to his responsibility? The second question, which is of no less importance, is, are we fully charged with our own responsibilities in the tougher times that lie ahead?
Those answers, of course, will present themselves to us in the coming months.
As Information Minister Daryl Vaz said to me last Thursday, “This is as a result of many months of delicate negotiations. It clears a major hurdle for the prime minister, but it shouldn’t be seen as a policy move in itself, disconnected from the many other problems besetting the society. What this does is set the tone for what you like to call a new governance.”
A new and different
management is a must
As expected, some of the critics of the JLP were out. Said one in response to my column last Thursday, “Masterstroke by the Government; I certainly hope you are paid well, but whatever it is I don’t think it’s enough for the die-hearted (sic) journalist look-alike love that you have for the present government. You did your smoke-and-mirrors game during the election and the results are all around you, but you are blinded with PNP disease. Which is OK, but just not in both eyes at once — that’s not good for objectivity.
I would encourage you to learn some more other than the basics about finance and economics before you blindly support smoking mirrors again. The Government’s plan is ‘cyber money’ built on abstractly ‘skewed theories’ —
more promises. You will see, this is just another ‘big man’ benefit move like Reagan trickle-down economics, otherwise called voodoo economics. I guess I will dub your best move since independence OBEAH ECONOMICS. Poorly constructed theories yield poor results, despite good PR. It’s like lipstick on a pig.”
As far as this reader is concerned, all I do in my columns is public relations work for the JLP administration. I never ever criticise this government, according to him.
But it wasn’t all criticism. Professor David Wong from the Caribbean Online Forum — not one to readily heap praise on our local politicians, academicians and businessmen — was somewhat guarded in his comments. So, it seems after all the chatter to the contrary, that the Jamaican Government can indeed restructure the local public debt and bring down interest rates. Of course, one hopes that there is some kind of plan or programme aimed at reducing expenditures and restructuring the economy in more productive directions that can ultimately create jobs, increase labour productivity, boost exports, and reduce the pressure on the foreign exchange rate of the Jamaican dollar.
The criticism has been made in the past that Golding shows up suddenly to lead, then disappears into a bunker for a few months, then shows up again. To me, it seems that it has finally dawned on the prime minister that his leadership must only be hands-on. The only other option was to head out and allow someone else to bear the heat of the kitchen.
Said another reader who never failed to rain demons on me when, years ago, I used to criticise Eddie Seaga: “A great article. The PM delivered a great stroke and let’s hope it is the shape of things to come, in order to see Jamaica move forward. This is one time when you and I concur on an issue that will have a positive impact on our country.
“These days your writings have been falling in line with other good writers who once dominated the literary scene in Jamaica, which barely exists anymore. We never always see eye to eye on issues, but in order to know your position on them, I still take time out to read your articles and give praises where they are due and criticise them where I deem it necessary. No malice intended, I am still holding out the olive branch to you.”
The fact is, like all politics anywhere on this planet, supporters of the JLP expect me, mostly a JLP than PNP supporter, to ALWAYS write in favour of the JLP. It’s a vicarious thrill and one I entirely understand. But to the
PNP, it is mostly a sin to endorse a policy position of the JLP government and call it a masterstroke. But as I said before, there are significant pockets of maturity in this country when compared with, say, 40 years ago.
One reader who is no stranger to my inbox wrote, “In full disclosure I must admit I am partial to the PNP, but I am an open-ear listener. In 2007 I went to a town hall meeting where Bruce Golding and Audley Shaw were guest speakers.
“I went because I sensed that these men could be the power players in the future. I simply wanted to hear what they had to say. I came away disappointed, but I won’t get into the reason for my personal disappointment. Fastforward to May 2009. I wrote on the feedback forum that the budget presentation for 2009-2010 was flawed and bound to fail. It did. I not only dismissed the budget but suggested that the Government should appeal to their friends, the holders of government bonds, and renegotiate the terms of the contracts.
I am glad to see that they have done so, and as you wrote were doing so as early as August 2009. My other solution was for full dollarisation, effectively pegging our future with the US dollar. That way ministers could not go around printing money to solve their inefficient management of our affairs (see Omar Davies). Dollarisation would mean we definitely would have to live within our means.
“Two things are political millstones around this Government’s neck: the divestment of Air Jamaica and dollarisation. It will take political courage and conviction to divest Air Jamaica and lose the name possibly forever. No one wants to hand the Opposition party such a slogan in an election knowing full well how lacking our electorate is. The JLP might get away with doing away with ‘our’ currency if it bears economic success early enough. However, it is still a tough call.
“My hope is that this Government succeeds in addressing the fiscal and monetary ills of the country. I think the missteps by the ministers were to be expected, and I know that they are tolerated to the extent that they are because Bruce has a slim bench to work with, both in terms of quality and quantity. As much as I am biased towards the PNP, I sympathise with Bruce and wish him all the best.”
Another reader attempted to capture the Jamaican mentality in his response to my Thursday column: “The PM has made a very good move and must be commended. Mark, please remember though that Jamaicans are like Brer Anancy.
They’re going to find a way to make back what they would have given up.
Wait and see.”
And that is just what the prime minister and his team do not have the luxury to do. The wait-and-see approach did not work in 2008. For much of 2009 it did not square well with the people of this country.
The prime minister noted last Thursday at the official launch of the Government’s Debt Exchange programme, “Jamaica is on probation, but as much as we are resolving to work through and put the country on a brighter path, the
potential we have to position Jamaica among those strong, fast-growing emerging economies is a potential that remains unrealised.”
Charged with the urgencies of the moment and pressed to the wall by the unrelenting criticisms of people like myself who are considered friends of
the administration, the press release which accompanied the launch said, “Prime Minister Bruce Golding has given his commitment to provide strong leadership on the part of the Government, leadership that is prepared to do what is right, to take the political risk and to invest the political capital so that history will judge the correctness of the actions taken.”
Should we praise Audley
Shaw?
While journalists and columnists waited in the lobby of Jamaica House last Monday, Audley Shaw’s name came up in a discussion between a journalist and myself. I said, “Come on man, Audley is little more than a big mouth. I have yet to see his substance.”
While we sat at the long conference table waiting for the meeting to begin, Shaw and I exchanged some holy (and unholy) pleasantries surrounding the wallpapers on our respective BlackBerrys. I felt crudely hypocritical smiling and cracking male jokes, but I had learnt the game well from politicians.
A few days later, and in political terms, we are forced to ask if we had not probably taken Shaw too much for granted. Did he not promise the nation in the election campaign of 2007 that he would be seeking to lower interest rates? Did he not promise that he would not be seeking the expensive loan facilities that his predecessor, Dr Omar Davies, had been seemingly addicted to? Had he not said that he would instead opt to go to the multilateral lending agencies where the rates were cheaper?
Noted Joey Issa, CEO of Cool Oasis/Shell petrol stations in Jamaica, “No matter how you cut it, Audley Shaw has come good. He has kept his promises of lowering interest rates and, where the country needs loan support, to go to the multilaterals where the rates are not only cheaper but the fiscal discipline is in place.”
Issa is correct, although I still need to see more of Shaw to make a final judgement of him. The fact is, if the media has savaged him and if some have even been calling for his resignation, what must those same persons now say?
One reader wrote, “Is/was Audley Shaw a part of the Government’s team responsible for achieving what seems to be an acceptable workable programme?
If so, will we now muffle the mouth of Jamaica’s worst financial auctioneer, run-withit Omar Davies? I constantly hear on talk shows uninformed or ignorant individuals calling for Audley Shaw’s head. I now wonder what their response will be to this programme? I remember the auctioneer stating some time ago that Audley Shaw is no fool. I await to find out if for ONCE Omar Davies is/was right.
Let us support Haiti now
For too long the people of Haiti have been treated as the rejects of the world.
In recent days the Christian idiot Pat Robertson on his 700 Club programme has been saying that Haiti’s devastation by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake must be placed at the feet of the country’s involvement with voodoo.
Sometimes I believe that I would dearly love to meet with Mr Robertson on a lonely road on a dark night to give him a piece of my mind. But his mind
has been warped for long by imbibing too much of the religious Koolaid.
Haiti is devastated. The country doesn’t need prayers. Prayers only move mountains in the head of the person praying. Haiti needs cash and medical supplies, building material, food, water, huge earth-moving machines to assist it in this time of tragedy.
The people of Jamaica could pray for Haiti until the cows come home, but that will not save one life or place a splint on a broken bone. Prayers make the person praying feel good. It does absolutely nothing for the person in need.
All Jamaicans need to dig deep in their pockets to support our sister nation. Last Thursday 14-year-old Iyana Vernon of Immaculate High School said to me, “Many people just want to say, ‘Look what has happened to them’, then forget about it. I hate that.”
We need to move beyond the verbal expressions of sympathy and open up our cash to Haiti. Our hearts are with the country in the wake of a most tragic and catastrophic earthquake. But we need to extend our money support to its people. Now!
observemark@gmail.com