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EDITORIAL - Time To Buckle Down, PM
Published: Friday | October 1, 201022 Comments and 0 Reactions
This week's flood rains, with its loss of life and damage to infrastructure, will have added to the many problems that Prime Minister Bruce Golding may feel the gods are piling unfairly upon him.
The economy, already in bad shape, will now worsen. At best, any start to a recovery will be slowed.
At the same time, Mr Golding has political problems, manifested more recently by the tension in his Jamaica Labour Party, where the factions have begun to form and square off in internal elections.
This, though, is not a time for uncertainty, distraction, whimpering retreat or for feeling sorry for oneself.
Or, put another way, Mr Golding must, at least, over the next two years, buckle down and get on with the job of leading Jamaica. In the end, the electorate will decide whether Bruce Golding should continue to lead the country. What Mr Golding and his administration do in that period, given some of the heresies of the past, will impact significantly on that choice.
Proposal
In that regard, we propose to Mr Golding that he identifies a few doable things that will accelerate the reform of the economy, encourage investment and generate growth. Then he must get on with them.
He should consider these:
Protection for Jamaica's agriculture to prevent continued unfair competition with local producers, create jobs, stabilise rural economies and slow the drift to urban centres;
Implementation of the promised procurement policy that would earmark a percentage of the Government's expenditure for Jamaican firms, including small businesses, so as to help stimulate the economy and create jobs;
Ensure that raw inputs in the Government's school-feeding programme are Jamaican products so as to help stimulate domestic agricultural enterprises;
Identify government land and find ways to affordably release such property, where appropriate for development, to help kick-start construction, which is a quick route to the employment of large numbers of labour;
Accelerate the public sector reform programme, but with immediate emphasis on doing the things that will make it easier to do business, thereby stimulating economic activity and job creation;
Quickly implement a contributory pension scheme for civil servants, understanding that the huge, unfunded pension bill - over $15 billion this fiscal year and growing - is unaffordable and threatens the fiscal consolidation programme;
Restructure/rationalise/consolidate agencies like Jamaica Trade and Invest (JAMPRO) and Jamaica Business Development Corporation so that they get out of each other's way and set about being accommodating to private enterprise and job creation;
Quickly outline a strategy of returning state services to inner-city communities and removing them from the clutches of 'dons' and political henchmen, and in their freedom, contributing to the production of up to seven per cent of national output forgone each year because of crime and violence.
Indeed, most of the undertakings of this agenda can be accomplished with the strike of a pen and a small dose of political will. The remaining few are a bit more difficult and will demand an investment of political capital.
Mr Golding, if he can again see himself as the man who stirred our imagination between 1995 and 2002, and sometimes after, is right for the job.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
Published: Friday | October 1, 201022 Comments and 0 Reactions
This week's flood rains, with its loss of life and damage to infrastructure, will have added to the many problems that Prime Minister Bruce Golding may feel the gods are piling unfairly upon him.
The economy, already in bad shape, will now worsen. At best, any start to a recovery will be slowed.
At the same time, Mr Golding has political problems, manifested more recently by the tension in his Jamaica Labour Party, where the factions have begun to form and square off in internal elections.
This, though, is not a time for uncertainty, distraction, whimpering retreat or for feeling sorry for oneself.
Or, put another way, Mr Golding must, at least, over the next two years, buckle down and get on with the job of leading Jamaica. In the end, the electorate will decide whether Bruce Golding should continue to lead the country. What Mr Golding and his administration do in that period, given some of the heresies of the past, will impact significantly on that choice.
Proposal
In that regard, we propose to Mr Golding that he identifies a few doable things that will accelerate the reform of the economy, encourage investment and generate growth. Then he must get on with them.
He should consider these:
Protection for Jamaica's agriculture to prevent continued unfair competition with local producers, create jobs, stabilise rural economies and slow the drift to urban centres;
Implementation of the promised procurement policy that would earmark a percentage of the Government's expenditure for Jamaican firms, including small businesses, so as to help stimulate the economy and create jobs;
Ensure that raw inputs in the Government's school-feeding programme are Jamaican products so as to help stimulate domestic agricultural enterprises;
Identify government land and find ways to affordably release such property, where appropriate for development, to help kick-start construction, which is a quick route to the employment of large numbers of labour;
Accelerate the public sector reform programme, but with immediate emphasis on doing the things that will make it easier to do business, thereby stimulating economic activity and job creation;
Quickly implement a contributory pension scheme for civil servants, understanding that the huge, unfunded pension bill - over $15 billion this fiscal year and growing - is unaffordable and threatens the fiscal consolidation programme;
Restructure/rationalise/consolidate agencies like Jamaica Trade and Invest (JAMPRO) and Jamaica Business Development Corporation so that they get out of each other's way and set about being accommodating to private enterprise and job creation;
Quickly outline a strategy of returning state services to inner-city communities and removing them from the clutches of 'dons' and political henchmen, and in their freedom, contributing to the production of up to seven per cent of national output forgone each year because of crime and violence.
Indeed, most of the undertakings of this agenda can be accomplished with the strike of a pen and a small dose of political will. The remaining few are a bit more difficult and will demand an investment of political capital.
Mr Golding, if he can again see himself as the man who stirred our imagination between 1995 and 2002, and sometimes after, is right for the job.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
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