Portia vows tax breaks

[Lazie]

Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter MASSIVE TAX breaks have been proposed for the productive sector by the Opposition People's National Party (PNP).
Portia Simpson Miller, the party's president, told the public session of the 72nd annual conference that the party would be prepared to offer tax incentives as part of its strategy for generating economic growth.
"A central pillar of the Progressive Agenda is sustainable economic growth," Simpson Miller told supporters and Comrades yesterday.
She said the party is committed to "persuade those with available capital to engage in new investment in the productive sector.
"This will create new businesses and generate much-needed employment opportunities," she said.
"We are prepared to consider tax-incentive programmes to encourage the development of new business regardless of size or sector. We, therefore, intend to immediately engage our private-sector partners to propose an entrepreneur advancement programme, including tax incentives for up to five years, venture capital and credit management," Simpson Miller said.
Her address to conference was interspersed with jabs and upper cuts which were thrown at the Bruce Golding-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which Simpson Miller said had reversed the fortunes of Jamaicans.
With the constant sound of a new theme song in which Prime Minister Golding is referred to as 'Eli', Simpson Miller said the PNP was determined to place integrity at the centre of its operations. She said Golding and the members of his government do not speak the truth and are "incapable of speaking the truth".
She also charged that his handling of the country's affairs demonstrated "incompetence, lack of capacity, bungling and confusion.
"When I put my hand on the Bible, I will not only swear to uphold the laws of our land; I will swear to uphold the honour and dignity of the office to which I have been elected," Simpson Miller said.
Meanwhile, the party leader said a PNP government would launch a rescue plan to provide young people with opportunities. She also said the party would put rural development, social justice and national security as major planks if it forms the government.
"Broken bodies, shattered families and barricaded communities cannot develop a nation and achieve the Vision 2030 plan. The transformation of communities is critical for sustainable economic and social development," Simpson Miller said.
"There is much talk about the dismantling of garrisons. We intend to transform the inner cities into winner cities. The People's National Party is determined to build strong and stable communities," she added.
Simpson Miller also said the PNP would like for Parliament to be informed about advances in the fight against crime regularly.
"While we have had a drop in the rate of murder and other violent crimes, it is important that we introduce other intervening policies in this window of opportunity before the situation deteriorates again.
"One of the ways to do this is to send a strong signal to the country that as parliamentarians in the Parliament, we are united on this critical issue," the PNP president said.
She added that Parliament should receive quarterly reports on the progress of the measures being pursued by the security forces and other agencies.
"After all of the bitterness and broken promises, we must begin again and we must start afresh. The wait has been long, but Comrades, it won't be long now, help is on the way," Simpson Miller said, while announcing that she has put Dr Peter Phillips in charge of the party's campaign for the next general election.
That election is due in 2012.
daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com

[Sir X]

We intend to transform the inner cities into winner cities. The People's National Party is determined to build strong and stable communities," she added.

Dem tek wi fi fool , afta how much year a pnp rule dem couldnt do it , now dem can do it ? a betta dem say wi waan back di work because we naah hug up nuh gunman publicly in parliment , but behind close doors it aaaright

[Mosiah]

yes, that statement rang pretty hollow!

[Gamma]

tax breaks? now that revenue collection is on the up and the nurses and police waiting in line for the increases...teachers cannot be far behind.

truth be sold "inner cities to winner cities" sounds catchy!

[TDowl]

Every politrician is bright when dem out of office.

[Gamma]

except portia...whether shi in or out...same thing!

[Willi]

Mi deh yah a ded wid laff!

[Assasin]

tax break sounding a bit like the Tea Party. How the world change?

[Karl]

Mi deh yah a ded wid laff!

Sounds like the JLP pre-2007 election rah-rah!
I remember Golding - jobs, jobs, jobs... & we will pay di nurses, police...etc.

What a flip?!

[Gamma]

nurses get paid, not sure what the deal is with the police....

[Assasin]

dem lucky. Karl a gwaan like a nuh Florida him live that people a get lay off left right and center.

[Karl]

nurses get paid, not sure what the deal is with the police....

Yuh sure bout dat? ...or dem get promise seh dem wi get paid?
Anyway dat wud be good....but dat waus not mi pint. Mi pint waus di speech sound lacka di JLP pre-2007 elec-shan!

[Assasin]

question is, is it fact or not? Audley has taken a lot of banter over the years saying "him nuh know bout wha him a do" "him a one-thrid" and "can't walk inna Omar Davis shoes" etc.

[Gamma]

maybe they haven't received money yet BUT progress has been made and a timetable was set

[Karl]

Mi deh yah a ded wid laff!

Well a nuh mi wan si di sembla-lance tuh di pre-2007 JLP song an dance!!
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Is the PNP ready?

LLOYD B SMITH



Tuesday, September 21, 2010


Amidst the flurry of resplendent orange in the National Arena on Sunday, an ebullient party President Portia Simpson Miller declared that the Opposition People's National Party was ready to take over the reins of office any time the Bruce Golding-led Jamaica Labour Party decided to go to the polls.


In the wake of this strident announcement, many Jamaicans have been asking the more than obvious question: Is the PNP ready? And ready for what? After all, being ready for an election, whether national or local, does not necessarily mean that the party is also ready to effectively govern. There is a subtle difference which may well elude a not-so-discerning Comrade or Labourite.

SIMPSON MILLER... displayed political maturity, some depth and substance


SIMPSON MILLER... displayed political maturity, some depth and substance

1/1

Indeed, the current JLP administration has given us enough reasons to suspect that it was not ready to govern after it snatched electoral victory from the jaws of the PNP in September, 2007. The fumbling, bumbling, clumsy, arrogant and near-sighted way in which the Golding team has been handling the state's affairs have convinced even die-hard supporters that they were not ready. Ready to defeat the PNP, yes, but not ready to govern.


It follows, therefore, that if a general election were to be called tomorrow, while the PNP may well be ready to hit the road and garner enough votes to be first past the post, would it be truly ready to govern effectively, unlike the JLP that is still going through a learning curve?


Against this background one needs to ask, why it is that when in opposition a party seems to have all the answers, but when it is given the go-ahead to run things, it inevitably fails? And this has been the trend since Jamaica attained political independence 48 years ago. Clearly, there is a disconnect, which means that the respective manifestos of both the JLP and the PNP are not worth the paper they are printed on. A way must be found to hold these parties to their promises. That is why this writer supports citizens' right of recall, as well as term limits for prime ministers, because these checks and balances, among others, would help to ensure that a specific timetable is arrived at and adhered to within the constitutionally agreed period of governance.


In the meantime, congratulations are in order for the PNP in the wake of what was a well-organised, incident-free annual conference and one which showed that the party is still very vibrant and in strict electoral terms remains a viable alternative. Party President Portia Simpson Miller's speech displayed political maturity, some depth and substance. I was particularly pleased that the Comrade Leader eschewed her perceived confrontational stance and opted rather to focus on the issues of the day. There was no prolonged bashing of her chief opponent Bruce Golding, and her many detractors must be eating crow as a result of her not taking on the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and the Christopher "Dudus" Coke extradition issues. Surely, she "hoofed them" this time round.


However, having listened to most of her hour-long presentation, the highlights that come to mind were the focus on rural development, entrepreneural advancement with emphasis on tax incentives, inclusive of venture capital, transforming inner cities to winner cities, making the party's audited financial statements open to public scrutiny, and the impeachment of public officials who are found wanting.


In all of this, having heard her expound on the so-called Progressive Agenda, the question I am forced to ask is: "Where is the beef?" For too long, the PNP's Progressive Agenda has remained an elusive dream. It is time it becomes a glowing reality. One can understand that at a party conference such as Sunday's "orange gathering", a speech cannot be too technical or full of details as the audience will find this boring and uninteresting, so an astute speaker will tend to give just enough to inspire the crowd as well as provide sound bytes for the media and the wider society not in attendance. One hopes, therefore, that the PNP will start almost immediately to acquaint the Jamaican populace with the full details of this document so that the national debate can begin.


Frankly, I do not like the term "Progressive" because it has certain negative connotations. Older readers will recall that in the heyday of the PNP's ill-advised dalliance with Democratic Socialism, one was either dubbed a progressive or a reactionary, meaning that you were either inclined to take on the status quo or prefer to stick with things as they are (simplistically put). "Progressive" can also mean proceeding gradually or in stages. (Is this what the PNP means?) Maybe the spin doctors should rename it "An Agenda for Progress", which
for all intents and purposes would
be more all-inclusive rather
than exclusive.


For the PNP to be ready, especially in the minds of the undecided voters who are the ones who are more likely to decide whether it runs things again from Jamaica House in the not-too-distant future, it must be penitent and not just come across as unrepentant with respect to its 18-and-a- half years in power. Absent from Mrs Simpson Miller's speech was this element of atonement, which could help to assuage the worry of those who fear that by putting back the PNP in government it will be just more of the same: more crime, more corruption, more lack of accountability and transparency, more weakening of the economy... and I could go on. To put it bluntly, the PNP must apologise publicly for those things it ought not to have done and make a solemn promise not to take Jamaica down that path again, if or when it regains state power. Truth and reconciliation must precede any meaningful attempts of coming across as being sincere.


Finally, the G2K release which lauded the Comrade Leader could have been a tour de force if it did not go on to pander to narrow, partisan doublespeak and sophistry by accusing the PNP of "cutting and pasting" JLP ideas. In politics, ideas are not the intellectual property of any one party or its leader, so there can be no copyright infringement or plagiarism involved. Then again, it has been said that imitation is the highest form of flattery!


lloydbsmith@hotmail.com

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...-ready_7982062