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Many reasons to say 'we come from Jamaica'
Claude Robinson
Sunday, August 12, 2007
When Norman Washington Manley bowed out of politics in 1969 and passed the baton of leadership of the People's National Party (PNP) to his son, Michael, he declared that his generation had accomplished its fundamental mission of achieving political independence for Jamaica.
Claude Robinson
In his last public address to an annual conference of the PNP, he said: "I say that the mission of my generation was to win self-government for Jamaica; to win political power, which is the final power for the black masses of my country from which I spring. I am proud to stand here today and say to you who fought that fight with me, say it with gladness and pride: Mission accomplished for my generation."
"And what is the mission of this generation?....It is.reconstructing the social and economic society and life of Jamaica."
That was his parting injunction to his successors.
Almost 40 years after that charge from a founder and leader of the PNP, that mission is yet to be substantially accomplished, despite unmistakable progress in both the economic and social life in Jamaica and the high visibility of 'Brand Jamaica' in world culture, music, sports, the arts and other fields.
At this time, when the nation has been celebrating Emancipation and Independence while contemplating which party to entrust with the responsibility of government for the next five years, it seems a good time to think about what has happened to that mission and whether the promises from the current aspirants for office will get us closer to its realisation.
The elder Manley and his cousin and founder of the Jamaica Labour Party, Alexander Bustamante, guided the country out of colonialism, through universal adult suffrage in the 1940s, and established the foundations of a modern state.
The PNP count among their major achievements over the years the institution of the Common Entrance Examination in the 1950s that began to open up opportunities for secondary education for bright children of the poor. They count the labour reforms and extensive social legislation under Michael Manley in the 1970s which further removed the stigma of class and race that was too long attached to the black majority.
The JLP count among their achievements the impressive economic growth in the 1960s, first under Bustamante and later under Hugh Shearer.
As the JLP boasts on its website: "The sixties were very good years for Jamaica. The economy grew at an average rate of six per cent per year, and Jamaica recorded the highest per capita growth among the independent developing countries in the Latin American region."
PNP president and prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller unveils her party's election 2007 manifesto at The Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston Thursday night.
The PNP Government elected in 1972 with Michael Manley as leader, took up the challenge of the elder Manley and made significant progress on the social transformation agenda, but this was also a period of economic decline for a variety of reasons, domestic and global.
The JLP returned to power in 1980 with the mantra - 'free enterprise and watch Jamaica grow', the idea being that the magic of free market enterprise would achieve the economic transformation that did not happen under the guidance of the state.
Bank of Jamaica statistics show that in the nine years from 1981-1989 GDP growth was 14.6 per cent or just averaging about 1.6 per cent a year. This excludes the disastrous 1980 election year when the economy recorded negative growth of minus 5.7 per cent.
It was also in that same period of the 1980s that structural adjustment and devaluation under the tutelage of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led to massive cutbacks in social spending in areas like health and education and reduction in public sector employment.
The 1990s under PJ Patterson have seen substantial improvements in infrastructure and economic stabilisation, but much of the same low growth of the 1980s; average annual GDP growth was only 1.16 per cent for the decade, and for the last seven years from 2000-2006 the average has been 1.5 per cent, according to the data on the Bank of Jamaica website.
So hype and spin notwithstanding, the evidence is that the level of economic growth over the past 25 years has been less than impressive and, certainly, less than what is required to build and support the social infrastructure so necessary to complete the social transformation process that the elder Manley charged his successors to deliver.
Portia's growth target
Now, as the country gets ready to vote in what is undoubtedly one of the most crucial elections since Independence, voters will have to decide whether the positions and plans trumpeted from platforms or spelled out in pretty party manifestoes will take us closer to the growth levels that have been elusive for so long.
Launching the PNP manifesto Thursday night, PNP president and prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller, disavowed that she would be making empty, unrealistic promises like those in the JLP manifesto. But she did make a promise that, if delivered, would go a long way towards realising the challenge issued by NW Manley.
Specifically, the PNP set itself the goal of taking Jamaica to "developed country status in this generation so that our people will enjoy all the benefits of living in a quality society". Among other things, this meant achieving average GDP growth of six to seven per cent a year over the next five years, she said.
The PNP president promised to double per capita GDP within 10-12 years; reduce youth unemployment by 30 per cent; improve the human development indicators by five per cent per annum for health, education, social welfare and the environment over the next decade.
The economic targets are set on seven pillars, the PNP president told an enthusiastic audience of candidates and other party supporters at The Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston.
The pillars are a "highway development corridor", which promises a wide range of projects around sections of Highway 2000; continued expansion of tourism and housing development on the north coast; rural development driven by agriculture; urban renewal, including the transformation of "inner cities into winner cities"; unleashing the cultural and creative industries; fostering a culture of enterprise around small and medium enterprises; restoration of trust and confidence in government.
The prime minister set her economic targets and strategy within the context of a larger vision: "My own vision for Jamaica is for all our people to live in a well-ordered society that affords equality, justice, freedom, peace and prosperity to every single citizen," she said. "It is the only way we are going to have mutual trust and respect, which are the foundations for social peace and progress."
Necessary details behind the plans and the vision might be fleshed out on the campaign trail and in the economic debate between Finance Minister Omar Davies and Audley Shaw, the JLP spokesman on finance, scheduled for Friday night (after this column was written) and the much anticipated face-off between Simpson Miller and Golding that was scheduled for last night.
The PNP growth target is less than the 10 to 11 per cent that JLP leader Bruce Golding said was possible when he launched his manifesto, though he did not set it as a definite target. In any case, it would be considerably more than what the country has experienced in more than 25 years.
And this begs the question, are these just election promises? Or are there economic fundamentals that make them credible? Are there fundamental problems in the nature of our 'tribal' and divisive politics?
Fixity of purpose
Norman Manley used to say that a main stumbling block in the way of implementation of plans and projects was not because the ideas were unsound but because of an absence of what he called "fixity of purpose", that is, the willingness to stay focused on what needs to be done.
He also recognised that development was not a quick fix. In his speech at the launch of the PNP at the Ward Theatre in Kingston on September 18, 1938, he said: "I do not underestimate the difficulties that confront us. but if we never desert our own principles, it we believe in what we are aiming at, if we appreciate those who regard this country as their home. if we can do those things and be true to what we believe in. and if we can combine with that hard work and practical intelligence. then I believe that we will have launched tonight a movement which, as nothing else started in Jamaica, will make this country a real place to say that 'we come from Jamaica'."
In this the 45th year of Independence, there are many good reasons to say proudly that 'we come from Jamaica'. There are countless stories of that sense of pride that Jamaicans encounter in every corner of the world where we are recognised as world beaters.
But we have not completely emancipated ourselves from the worst legacies of slave and colonial plantation societies that were characterised by racism, inequality and social exclusion.
We have achieved universal secondary education in terms of access, but achievement measured by certification and formal training is nowhere near the quality education needed for the economic transformation that remains a promise. We need to get this right and, quickly.
We also need to really think about whether the politics of the last 30 years or so has been a hindrance to development. To what extent has our politics, which has produced steady expansion of the garrison phenomenon, deepened dependence on the spoils of office rather than emancipating and empowering our people to realise their full potential?
Claude Robinson
Sunday, August 12, 2007
When Norman Washington Manley bowed out of politics in 1969 and passed the baton of leadership of the People's National Party (PNP) to his son, Michael, he declared that his generation had accomplished its fundamental mission of achieving political independence for Jamaica.
Claude RobinsonIn his last public address to an annual conference of the PNP, he said: "I say that the mission of my generation was to win self-government for Jamaica; to win political power, which is the final power for the black masses of my country from which I spring. I am proud to stand here today and say to you who fought that fight with me, say it with gladness and pride: Mission accomplished for my generation."
"And what is the mission of this generation?....It is.reconstructing the social and economic society and life of Jamaica."
That was his parting injunction to his successors.
Almost 40 years after that charge from a founder and leader of the PNP, that mission is yet to be substantially accomplished, despite unmistakable progress in both the economic and social life in Jamaica and the high visibility of 'Brand Jamaica' in world culture, music, sports, the arts and other fields.
At this time, when the nation has been celebrating Emancipation and Independence while contemplating which party to entrust with the responsibility of government for the next five years, it seems a good time to think about what has happened to that mission and whether the promises from the current aspirants for office will get us closer to its realisation.
The elder Manley and his cousin and founder of the Jamaica Labour Party, Alexander Bustamante, guided the country out of colonialism, through universal adult suffrage in the 1940s, and established the foundations of a modern state.
The PNP count among their major achievements over the years the institution of the Common Entrance Examination in the 1950s that began to open up opportunities for secondary education for bright children of the poor. They count the labour reforms and extensive social legislation under Michael Manley in the 1970s which further removed the stigma of class and race that was too long attached to the black majority.
The JLP count among their achievements the impressive economic growth in the 1960s, first under Bustamante and later under Hugh Shearer.
As the JLP boasts on its website: "The sixties were very good years for Jamaica. The economy grew at an average rate of six per cent per year, and Jamaica recorded the highest per capita growth among the independent developing countries in the Latin American region."
PNP president and prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller unveils her party's election 2007 manifesto at The Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston Thursday night. The PNP Government elected in 1972 with Michael Manley as leader, took up the challenge of the elder Manley and made significant progress on the social transformation agenda, but this was also a period of economic decline for a variety of reasons, domestic and global.
The JLP returned to power in 1980 with the mantra - 'free enterprise and watch Jamaica grow', the idea being that the magic of free market enterprise would achieve the economic transformation that did not happen under the guidance of the state.
Bank of Jamaica statistics show that in the nine years from 1981-1989 GDP growth was 14.6 per cent or just averaging about 1.6 per cent a year. This excludes the disastrous 1980 election year when the economy recorded negative growth of minus 5.7 per cent.
It was also in that same period of the 1980s that structural adjustment and devaluation under the tutelage of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led to massive cutbacks in social spending in areas like health and education and reduction in public sector employment.
The 1990s under PJ Patterson have seen substantial improvements in infrastructure and economic stabilisation, but much of the same low growth of the 1980s; average annual GDP growth was only 1.16 per cent for the decade, and for the last seven years from 2000-2006 the average has been 1.5 per cent, according to the data on the Bank of Jamaica website.
So hype and spin notwithstanding, the evidence is that the level of economic growth over the past 25 years has been less than impressive and, certainly, less than what is required to build and support the social infrastructure so necessary to complete the social transformation process that the elder Manley charged his successors to deliver.
Portia's growth target
Now, as the country gets ready to vote in what is undoubtedly one of the most crucial elections since Independence, voters will have to decide whether the positions and plans trumpeted from platforms or spelled out in pretty party manifestoes will take us closer to the growth levels that have been elusive for so long.
Launching the PNP manifesto Thursday night, PNP president and prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller, disavowed that she would be making empty, unrealistic promises like those in the JLP manifesto. But she did make a promise that, if delivered, would go a long way towards realising the challenge issued by NW Manley.
Specifically, the PNP set itself the goal of taking Jamaica to "developed country status in this generation so that our people will enjoy all the benefits of living in a quality society". Among other things, this meant achieving average GDP growth of six to seven per cent a year over the next five years, she said.
The PNP president promised to double per capita GDP within 10-12 years; reduce youth unemployment by 30 per cent; improve the human development indicators by five per cent per annum for health, education, social welfare and the environment over the next decade.
The economic targets are set on seven pillars, the PNP president told an enthusiastic audience of candidates and other party supporters at The Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston.
The pillars are a "highway development corridor", which promises a wide range of projects around sections of Highway 2000; continued expansion of tourism and housing development on the north coast; rural development driven by agriculture; urban renewal, including the transformation of "inner cities into winner cities"; unleashing the cultural and creative industries; fostering a culture of enterprise around small and medium enterprises; restoration of trust and confidence in government.
The prime minister set her economic targets and strategy within the context of a larger vision: "My own vision for Jamaica is for all our people to live in a well-ordered society that affords equality, justice, freedom, peace and prosperity to every single citizen," she said. "It is the only way we are going to have mutual trust and respect, which are the foundations for social peace and progress."
Necessary details behind the plans and the vision might be fleshed out on the campaign trail and in the economic debate between Finance Minister Omar Davies and Audley Shaw, the JLP spokesman on finance, scheduled for Friday night (after this column was written) and the much anticipated face-off between Simpson Miller and Golding that was scheduled for last night.
The PNP growth target is less than the 10 to 11 per cent that JLP leader Bruce Golding said was possible when he launched his manifesto, though he did not set it as a definite target. In any case, it would be considerably more than what the country has experienced in more than 25 years.
And this begs the question, are these just election promises? Or are there economic fundamentals that make them credible? Are there fundamental problems in the nature of our 'tribal' and divisive politics?
Fixity of purpose
Norman Manley used to say that a main stumbling block in the way of implementation of plans and projects was not because the ideas were unsound but because of an absence of what he called "fixity of purpose", that is, the willingness to stay focused on what needs to be done.
He also recognised that development was not a quick fix. In his speech at the launch of the PNP at the Ward Theatre in Kingston on September 18, 1938, he said: "I do not underestimate the difficulties that confront us. but if we never desert our own principles, it we believe in what we are aiming at, if we appreciate those who regard this country as their home. if we can do those things and be true to what we believe in. and if we can combine with that hard work and practical intelligence. then I believe that we will have launched tonight a movement which, as nothing else started in Jamaica, will make this country a real place to say that 'we come from Jamaica'."
In this the 45th year of Independence, there are many good reasons to say proudly that 'we come from Jamaica'. There are countless stories of that sense of pride that Jamaicans encounter in every corner of the world where we are recognised as world beaters.
But we have not completely emancipated ourselves from the worst legacies of slave and colonial plantation societies that were characterised by racism, inequality and social exclusion.
We have achieved universal secondary education in terms of access, but achievement measured by certification and formal training is nowhere near the quality education needed for the economic transformation that remains a promise. We need to get this right and, quickly.
We also need to really think about whether the politics of the last 30 years or so has been a hindrance to development. To what extent has our politics, which has produced steady expansion of the garrison phenomenon, deepened dependence on the spoils of office rather than emancipating and empowering our people to realise their full potential?
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