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Ken Chaplin
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Jamaicans have suffered in many respects over the past 18 years of the PNP's governance. Now the government is trying to do in the last few months of its tenure some of the things that should have been done over 18 years, but things have gone so bad that it is an almost impossible task to keep promises.
One cannot blame Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller for all the extreme difficulties the country has been through. Although she has been in office for just over one year, she has to accept some of the blame under the principle of collective responsibility as she was a minister for many years.
The blame really lies on the head of former prime minister PJ Patterson who led the government for 14 of those 18 years. PJ should be given all credit as an election winner. He has four to his credit. He deserves a statue at the PNP's headquarters at Old Hope Road. However, as a leader of government, his rating is rather low.
One of his biggest problems is that he is apparently devoid of a sense of priority. He believed in grandeur but would let the little things slip by. For example, he went all out in building highways while the condition of parish council roads and farm roads constitute a national disgrace - indeed, a national disaster. People cannot drive on many of those roads to reach the highway. He let the situation deteriorate so much in the 14 years that it could take 100 years to fix all the parochial and farm roads, unless of course, we find oil or gold, or both! It is also a national disgrace that hundreds of areas not far from urban centres do not have piped water, and the water supplies in many urban areas are inadequate and unreliable, resulting in frequent lock-offs, especially during the summer months.
A top PNP official said shortly before the 2003 parish council elections that if people did not vote for the party there would be no certainty that parish councils would receive enough money to carry out works. And that is exactly what has been happening. The allocation to parish councils is inadequate, but central government, in a political game, is blaming the parish councils for the bad condition of parochial and farm roads.
It was foolish of Mrs Simpson Miller to say that she is "nat changing course". If the PNP forms the government again and does not change course, the country will continue to slide in many areas. Too many people are judging her on the basis of her social background and her brawling behaviour on the public political platforms. She can conduct herself like a lady otherwise, like when she was provoked by three of her colleagues in Parliament. I can say this because I have known her for 30 years and once worked with her as a government communicator.
We should judge her solely on the basis of her performance of the government of which she was a minister for many years and whether she has the capacity or capability to lead. Her handling of the Trafigura scandal was chaotic. Her insistence that Lisa Hanna should run in South-East St Ann in the coming general elections over the wishes of many of the constituents might turn out to be unwise.
The level of corruption, cronyism and tribalism in government is unprecedented in the history of the country and this should be worrying to everyone, but by its silence and lack of action the PNP and government do not seem to care. The level of taxation is the highest in the Caribbean and if the government had spent wisely and did not allow its funds to be squandered and disappear, more could have been done. It was with hope that I heard the prime minister solemnly declaring at her swearing-in that she was going to fight corruption, but instead this scourge has increased significantly under her watch.
There has been widespread corruption in her government in the awarding of certain level of contracts for building roads and procuring goods and services without going through the proper channels. Both the auditor general and the contractor general have impressed on government the importance of introducing laws to provide a level playing field to stop corruption in the award of certain contracts, and punish those who break the rules, but the government does not seem interested, Maybe the reason for this is that most of the people who benefit from these breaches are party supporters and cronies.
The country has reached the stage where there is a difference between those who support the government and live well and those who do not and live like beggars because they are not in the loop of supporters who dominate some executive agencies and other areas of government. In the 1970s the PNP government attempted to politicise the public service, but stopped when there were wide protests.
The government took a new approach by establishing executive agencies and made some institutions into executive agencies and put their people in charge to cover up irregularities. It achieved the same purpose through many of the executive agencies. Take for example, the supply of marl for a section of the North Coast Highway. The contractor, a foreign firm, has awarded the contract for supplying marl to a PNP member of parliament, although there was another supplier who could provide marl of a superior quality at a competitive price. If the government does not put an end to this syndrome of inequity and tribalism, the country will be in for more serious trouble.
The education, health and security services are underfinanced and the number of poor people as a percentage of the population is at its highest ever while government squanders state funds. Crime is at its highest level, yet the government for years starves the police of well-needed forensic equipment and other equipment which has resulted in the country being brought into disgrace nationally and internationally. The shortage of this equipment and other laboratory facilities have hindered the police in investigating crime. Now the government after 18 years is hurrying to acquire the equipment in election year.
The worst flaw in the governance is the massive debt burden which the country carries. We owe nearly $1 trillion and we are still borrowing. The total debt is hanging like a millstone around the necks of the people and it seems that we will not be able to clear it in 1000 years.
Our budget for the fiscal year, ending March 31, 2008 is $380 billion, and we have to find $203.6 billion or 53.5 per cent of the budget for debt servicing. Government seems incapable of attracting sufficient investment, except in the tourist industry, to generate sufficient growth and employment in order to reduce borrowing. The situation is dismal. The bottom line is that if the government cuts out corruption, it would have more money to tackle social problems, especially where the poor are concerned, and borrow less.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Jamaicans have suffered in many respects over the past 18 years of the PNP's governance. Now the government is trying to do in the last few months of its tenure some of the things that should have been done over 18 years, but things have gone so bad that it is an almost impossible task to keep promises.
One cannot blame Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller for all the extreme difficulties the country has been through. Although she has been in office for just over one year, she has to accept some of the blame under the principle of collective responsibility as she was a minister for many years.
The blame really lies on the head of former prime minister PJ Patterson who led the government for 14 of those 18 years. PJ should be given all credit as an election winner. He has four to his credit. He deserves a statue at the PNP's headquarters at Old Hope Road. However, as a leader of government, his rating is rather low.
One of his biggest problems is that he is apparently devoid of a sense of priority. He believed in grandeur but would let the little things slip by. For example, he went all out in building highways while the condition of parish council roads and farm roads constitute a national disgrace - indeed, a national disaster. People cannot drive on many of those roads to reach the highway. He let the situation deteriorate so much in the 14 years that it could take 100 years to fix all the parochial and farm roads, unless of course, we find oil or gold, or both! It is also a national disgrace that hundreds of areas not far from urban centres do not have piped water, and the water supplies in many urban areas are inadequate and unreliable, resulting in frequent lock-offs, especially during the summer months.
A top PNP official said shortly before the 2003 parish council elections that if people did not vote for the party there would be no certainty that parish councils would receive enough money to carry out works. And that is exactly what has been happening. The allocation to parish councils is inadequate, but central government, in a political game, is blaming the parish councils for the bad condition of parochial and farm roads.
It was foolish of Mrs Simpson Miller to say that she is "nat changing course". If the PNP forms the government again and does not change course, the country will continue to slide in many areas. Too many people are judging her on the basis of her social background and her brawling behaviour on the public political platforms. She can conduct herself like a lady otherwise, like when she was provoked by three of her colleagues in Parliament. I can say this because I have known her for 30 years and once worked with her as a government communicator.
We should judge her solely on the basis of her performance of the government of which she was a minister for many years and whether she has the capacity or capability to lead. Her handling of the Trafigura scandal was chaotic. Her insistence that Lisa Hanna should run in South-East St Ann in the coming general elections over the wishes of many of the constituents might turn out to be unwise.
The level of corruption, cronyism and tribalism in government is unprecedented in the history of the country and this should be worrying to everyone, but by its silence and lack of action the PNP and government do not seem to care. The level of taxation is the highest in the Caribbean and if the government had spent wisely and did not allow its funds to be squandered and disappear, more could have been done. It was with hope that I heard the prime minister solemnly declaring at her swearing-in that she was going to fight corruption, but instead this scourge has increased significantly under her watch.
There has been widespread corruption in her government in the awarding of certain level of contracts for building roads and procuring goods and services without going through the proper channels. Both the auditor general and the contractor general have impressed on government the importance of introducing laws to provide a level playing field to stop corruption in the award of certain contracts, and punish those who break the rules, but the government does not seem interested, Maybe the reason for this is that most of the people who benefit from these breaches are party supporters and cronies.
The country has reached the stage where there is a difference between those who support the government and live well and those who do not and live like beggars because they are not in the loop of supporters who dominate some executive agencies and other areas of government. In the 1970s the PNP government attempted to politicise the public service, but stopped when there were wide protests.
The government took a new approach by establishing executive agencies and made some institutions into executive agencies and put their people in charge to cover up irregularities. It achieved the same purpose through many of the executive agencies. Take for example, the supply of marl for a section of the North Coast Highway. The contractor, a foreign firm, has awarded the contract for supplying marl to a PNP member of parliament, although there was another supplier who could provide marl of a superior quality at a competitive price. If the government does not put an end to this syndrome of inequity and tribalism, the country will be in for more serious trouble.
The education, health and security services are underfinanced and the number of poor people as a percentage of the population is at its highest ever while government squanders state funds. Crime is at its highest level, yet the government for years starves the police of well-needed forensic equipment and other equipment which has resulted in the country being brought into disgrace nationally and internationally. The shortage of this equipment and other laboratory facilities have hindered the police in investigating crime. Now the government after 18 years is hurrying to acquire the equipment in election year.
The worst flaw in the governance is the massive debt burden which the country carries. We owe nearly $1 trillion and we are still borrowing. The total debt is hanging like a millstone around the necks of the people and it seems that we will not be able to clear it in 1000 years.
Our budget for the fiscal year, ending March 31, 2008 is $380 billion, and we have to find $203.6 billion or 53.5 per cent of the budget for debt servicing. Government seems incapable of attracting sufficient investment, except in the tourist industry, to generate sufficient growth and employment in order to reduce borrowing. The situation is dismal. The bottom line is that if the government cuts out corruption, it would have more money to tackle social problems, especially where the poor are concerned, and borrow less.
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