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... im ole but still vain...the economic model must be his that the people already rejected..LOL
'Jamaica Needs A Single Vision'
Published: Wednesday | November 10, 20100 Comments and 0 Reactions
Former Prime Minister Edward Seaga is greeted by former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who is now the opposition leader, and Dr Peter Phillips during the launch of volume II of Seaga's autobiography, 'My Life and Leadership: Hard Road To Travel', at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston on Monday evening. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer
"It's time for a change ... it's time to start something new." The words reverberated from the lips of former Prime Minister Edward Seaga on Monday night as he spoke at the launch of the second segment of his autobiography, My Life and Leadership, Volume II: The Hard Road Ahead.
Seaga, Jamaica's fifth prime minister, who held office from October 1980 to February 1989, seized the opportunity of the launch at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston to outline his vision for Jamaica.
"Jamaica needs a single vision with a single mission," he declared. "We have this awful history, when one government is in power, they put in place policy to say this is what we have done," he lamented.
"Then the next government tears down as much as possible to get the benefit of the electorate - that is why Jamaica is where it is today, where we were in the 1960s," declared Seaga.
"I, like everybody else, am fed up of no growth, and this is because we are using the wrong tools to do the job," said the former prime minister, known over the years for his sharp tongue and dry sense of humour.
He used the occasion to make an impassioned appeal for an end to political one-upmanship, a pheno-menon which, he argued, has stymied development in the country.
"One of the problems with this and other countries in the region is that we experimented too much," he declared.
"We experimented with federation in the 1950s, we experimented with capitalism in the 1960s, we experi-mented with democratic socialism in the 1970s, and a model that had no name in the 1990s.
Pegged forex system
Seaga, an unrepentant advocate of a pegged system of exchange for Jamaica, maintained that the model of the late 1980s was one that is still best suited for Jamaica today.
Seaga regaled an attentive audience with his protracted struggles with the International Monetary Fund to ultimately achieve the pegged rate of exchange.
As he argued in his book, Seaga maintained that there is constancy of value in a pegged exchange rate.
In the presence of his long-time political rival and personal friend, Dr Omar Davies, another former finance minister with whom Seaga wrestled during his latter years in Parliament, he continued to argue that under such a system there would be no need to sop up liquidity.
He maintained that banks would be forced to slash interest rates.
"It costs nothing, it does not require creativity," asserted Seaga. "Once you transform the economy, it will take off on its own steam."
Seaga promised that his book would "explode some myths and present a clear picture of what Jamaica was, what it is now and, hopefully, what it will be".
President of the World Federation of Consuls, Arnold Foote, chaired the ceremony, which was attended by some of Seaga's long-time cohorts in the political arena, including Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, Dr Peter Phillips, Karl Samuda, Olivia 'Babsy' Grange and Harold Brady.
Also present was a host of prominent representatives from the business community.
Foote said the book was a profound account of Seaga's journey in making some of the most important contri-butions to Jamaica's history.
"It is critical to know the role played by Seaga in restoring the economic viability of Jamaica," he said.
gary.spaulding@gleanerjm.com
'Jamaica Needs A Single Vision'
Published: Wednesday | November 10, 20100 Comments and 0 Reactions
Former Prime Minister Edward Seaga is greeted by former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who is now the opposition leader, and Dr Peter Phillips during the launch of volume II of Seaga's autobiography, 'My Life and Leadership: Hard Road To Travel', at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston on Monday evening. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer
"It's time for a change ... it's time to start something new." The words reverberated from the lips of former Prime Minister Edward Seaga on Monday night as he spoke at the launch of the second segment of his autobiography, My Life and Leadership, Volume II: The Hard Road Ahead.
Seaga, Jamaica's fifth prime minister, who held office from October 1980 to February 1989, seized the opportunity of the launch at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston to outline his vision for Jamaica.
"Jamaica needs a single vision with a single mission," he declared. "We have this awful history, when one government is in power, they put in place policy to say this is what we have done," he lamented.
"Then the next government tears down as much as possible to get the benefit of the electorate - that is why Jamaica is where it is today, where we were in the 1960s," declared Seaga.
"I, like everybody else, am fed up of no growth, and this is because we are using the wrong tools to do the job," said the former prime minister, known over the years for his sharp tongue and dry sense of humour.
He used the occasion to make an impassioned appeal for an end to political one-upmanship, a pheno-menon which, he argued, has stymied development in the country.
"One of the problems with this and other countries in the region is that we experimented too much," he declared.
"We experimented with federation in the 1950s, we experimented with capitalism in the 1960s, we experi-mented with democratic socialism in the 1970s, and a model that had no name in the 1990s.
Pegged forex system
Seaga, an unrepentant advocate of a pegged system of exchange for Jamaica, maintained that the model of the late 1980s was one that is still best suited for Jamaica today.
Seaga regaled an attentive audience with his protracted struggles with the International Monetary Fund to ultimately achieve the pegged rate of exchange.
As he argued in his book, Seaga maintained that there is constancy of value in a pegged exchange rate.
In the presence of his long-time political rival and personal friend, Dr Omar Davies, another former finance minister with whom Seaga wrestled during his latter years in Parliament, he continued to argue that under such a system there would be no need to sop up liquidity.
He maintained that banks would be forced to slash interest rates.
"It costs nothing, it does not require creativity," asserted Seaga. "Once you transform the economy, it will take off on its own steam."
Seaga promised that his book would "explode some myths and present a clear picture of what Jamaica was, what it is now and, hopefully, what it will be".
President of the World Federation of Consuls, Arnold Foote, chaired the ceremony, which was attended by some of Seaga's long-time cohorts in the political arena, including Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, Dr Peter Phillips, Karl Samuda, Olivia 'Babsy' Grange and Harold Brady.
Also present was a host of prominent representatives from the business community.
Foote said the book was a profound account of Seaga's journey in making some of the most important contri-butions to Jamaica's history.
"It is critical to know the role played by Seaga in restoring the economic viability of Jamaica," he said.
gary.spaulding@gleanerjm.com
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