Tweet
Changing course faces the next government
By Lance Robinson
Saturday, July 07, 2007
It has often been asked why we have not been able to rise to our full potential of economic, social and political vibrancy although Jamaica has tremendous potential. Or why after so many years we still languish at such pitifully low levels of economic growth, still grapple with the problems of unemployment, poverty, crime, health care and education at the most basic level and still indulge in the destructive practices of political tribalism.
The answer to this can be fairly simple or quite complex. Simple because it's easy to "broad-brush" these problems as being a cultural or a Third-World phenomenon that bedevils all poorer countries. A closer analysis of policy choices and national priorities over this period, however, will point to slightly more complex reasons for our lack of progress.
In any country today the most important factor in the successful running has to be proper economic management. Leaders will overlook this at their own peril.
Over the years, our experience regarding nation building could quite aptly be categorised as one of continuing misplaced priorities.
Going back in history, our first major error was to allow ourselves to be influenced by Cuba's socialist ideology.
We followed Castro to the mountain top much to our own disillusionment and disappointment. Our past is strewn with a litany of such misplaced priorities from which we don't seem to have learnt any lessons. The subsidies going to unprofitable companies and industries like Air Jamaica and the sugar industry continue to deplete the national budget. Programmes of poverty alleviation that concentrate on handouts rather than real job or wealth creation have proved wasteful. More recently, our foray into international cricket was at an astronomical cost.
We remain bogged down in an inexplicable preoccupation with other non-productive aspects of our past that consumes an inordinate amount of time and energy. Reparation, a non-productive initiative which has a possible success rating of zero, is one such consideration. Slavery and emancipation are two others. It is of extreme importance that our history with all the horrors of slavery and its aftermath be embedded in the minds of all our people so that in knowing where we are coming from we can be empowered to face the future with strength and resilience.
But we must also ask whether an articulation of our vision for the future should not get equal time and prominence in the guidance of our society. We cannot continue to be overwhelmed and consumed by slavery.
Today there is a wealth of resources, both intellectual and real, poised in financial capitals of the Western world, just waiting for conditions to be right for it to return to Jamaica. A number of our sons and daughters who have gone abroad and have become educated and wealthy yearn to come back home to make a contribution, but don't because of safety considerations or the lack of an encouraging economic outlook in the country.
As well, many businessmen now in Jamaica operate on the slimmest of operating margins while keeping most of their capital abroad until they find it safe to employ it locally. Large corporations, similarly with huge reserves abroad, engage only in measured expansion in Jamaica as they wait for Jamaica to become more investor-friendly. These situations, if and when they can be reversed, can translate into a tremendous burst of indigenous economic activity from which can flow unprecedented levels of national growth and development. This can be a precursor to the Foreign Direct Investment which should always remain the ultimate target.
Of course, this will necessitate a level of political will and national unity which we have not been able to achieve for a long time. Only the right calibre of leaders can make the conditions right for this to happen.
The next government will be faced first with the tremendous challenges of changing course and extricating Jamaica from the debilitating effects of our mistakes, and at the same time having the unequalled opportunity of presiding over what could easily be a period of Jamaica's greatest economic advances in its history. Let us pray that such a government, whoever it is, will have the management capability, the expertise and the political will to make it happen.
Lance Robinson is a freelance journalist.
lrobinson22@gmail.com
By Lance Robinson
Saturday, July 07, 2007
It has often been asked why we have not been able to rise to our full potential of economic, social and political vibrancy although Jamaica has tremendous potential. Or why after so many years we still languish at such pitifully low levels of economic growth, still grapple with the problems of unemployment, poverty, crime, health care and education at the most basic level and still indulge in the destructive practices of political tribalism.
The answer to this can be fairly simple or quite complex. Simple because it's easy to "broad-brush" these problems as being a cultural or a Third-World phenomenon that bedevils all poorer countries. A closer analysis of policy choices and national priorities over this period, however, will point to slightly more complex reasons for our lack of progress.
In any country today the most important factor in the successful running has to be proper economic management. Leaders will overlook this at their own peril.
Over the years, our experience regarding nation building could quite aptly be categorised as one of continuing misplaced priorities.
Going back in history, our first major error was to allow ourselves to be influenced by Cuba's socialist ideology.
We followed Castro to the mountain top much to our own disillusionment and disappointment. Our past is strewn with a litany of such misplaced priorities from which we don't seem to have learnt any lessons. The subsidies going to unprofitable companies and industries like Air Jamaica and the sugar industry continue to deplete the national budget. Programmes of poverty alleviation that concentrate on handouts rather than real job or wealth creation have proved wasteful. More recently, our foray into international cricket was at an astronomical cost.
We remain bogged down in an inexplicable preoccupation with other non-productive aspects of our past that consumes an inordinate amount of time and energy. Reparation, a non-productive initiative which has a possible success rating of zero, is one such consideration. Slavery and emancipation are two others. It is of extreme importance that our history with all the horrors of slavery and its aftermath be embedded in the minds of all our people so that in knowing where we are coming from we can be empowered to face the future with strength and resilience.
But we must also ask whether an articulation of our vision for the future should not get equal time and prominence in the guidance of our society. We cannot continue to be overwhelmed and consumed by slavery.
Today there is a wealth of resources, both intellectual and real, poised in financial capitals of the Western world, just waiting for conditions to be right for it to return to Jamaica. A number of our sons and daughters who have gone abroad and have become educated and wealthy yearn to come back home to make a contribution, but don't because of safety considerations or the lack of an encouraging economic outlook in the country.
As well, many businessmen now in Jamaica operate on the slimmest of operating margins while keeping most of their capital abroad until they find it safe to employ it locally. Large corporations, similarly with huge reserves abroad, engage only in measured expansion in Jamaica as they wait for Jamaica to become more investor-friendly. These situations, if and when they can be reversed, can translate into a tremendous burst of indigenous economic activity from which can flow unprecedented levels of national growth and development. This can be a precursor to the Foreign Direct Investment which should always remain the ultimate target.
Of course, this will necessitate a level of political will and national unity which we have not been able to achieve for a long time. Only the right calibre of leaders can make the conditions right for this to happen.
The next government will be faced first with the tremendous challenges of changing course and extricating Jamaica from the debilitating effects of our mistakes, and at the same time having the unequalled opportunity of presiding over what could easily be a period of Jamaica's greatest economic advances in its history. Let us pray that such a government, whoever it is, will have the management capability, the expertise and the political will to make it happen.
Lance Robinson is a freelance journalist.
lrobinson22@gmail.com
Comment