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Where will Messrs Golding and Shaw find the money?
BY DR Omar Davies Minister of Finance
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Both political parties have focused on the issue of improving the educational system in their party manifestos, and within that context, literacy is of prime importance. Whilst I support an emphasis on literacy, numeracy is also equally an important area of deficiency, not just in the school system but throughout the whole society.
The JLP, led by Messrs Golding and Shaw, even whilst condemning the level of the national debt, have been promising all of Jamaica, at every stop on the campaign trail, to spend more money. However, when pressed, they have been seeking to explain that the promises would be delivered in stages depending on economic growth and increases in tax revenues.
I wish to focus on one single promise - that of the commitment to allocate $9 billion to be shared equally amongst the 60 MPs. This works out at $150 million per MP. When cornered, this commitment has been modified to state that this is not "new money" but will be "reallocated" from other areas. The public has the right to know from Messrs Golding and Shaw from which areas these funds will be "reallocated".
In the absence of any help from them, let us attempt to dissect these wild promises and show why they are empty and meant only to mislead. Presumably, if we assume that we intend to service our debt and pay our policemen, teachers and nurses, this "reallocated" money will come from the Capital Budget. We must also assume that we cannot "touch" the funds of the foreign institutions, (the Capital B Budget). This leaves us with the Capital A Budget, which is financed by GOJ funds.
In this fiscal year, the Capital A Budget is $22.7 billion. However, $11.3 billion of this sum represents "accounting entries". This means that funds which were spent in previous years are now being formally recorded, as is required by the Auditor General.
Another $2 billion is an exchange of cheques with Air Jamaica but included in the expenditure budget for transparency. As such, we now have a maximum of $9.4 billion of cash from which this $9 billion could be reallocated. I challenge Messrs Golding and Shaw and anyone else to refute my arithmetic so far.
Let us look at this $9.4 billion. Of this, $2.7 billion represents expenditure by the Ministry of Education from funds transferred from the NHT. This is spoken for, unless Messrs Golding and Shaw intend to cease expenditure on the education transformation programme and transfer the resources to individual MPs.
We are now down to $6.7 billion from which Messrs Golding and Shaw will be reallocating $9 billion to the MPs!! The last time anyone was able to achieve a similar feat was approximately two thousand years ago!!
But let us probe a little further. From this remaining $6.7 billion, there is approximately $940 million for capital projects being implemented by the ministries of tourism, national security, health and agriculture. This effectively leaves us with the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Local Government. Their total Capital A Budget in cash comes to $4.2 billion. Even if we were to close these ministries and give the funds to the MPs we are still a far cry from the sum of $9 billion which has been committed over and over again by Messrs Golding and Shaw.
Mr Editor, I should indicate that my concern is not only about the wild promises of Messrs Golding and Shaw. These are desperate men trying to win votes by any means. However, when someone like John Jackson, a "financial analyst" has the temerity to accuse me of demonstrating a lack of honesty on this subject, the obvious reluctance/refusal to examine the facts is worrying. I leave it to readers to develop possible motives for his position.
When I was growing up, an old shoemaker in the village of Four Paths told me that "commonsense is far from common". Everyday, I have found this observation to be oh so true.
BY DR Omar Davies Minister of Finance
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Both political parties have focused on the issue of improving the educational system in their party manifestos, and within that context, literacy is of prime importance. Whilst I support an emphasis on literacy, numeracy is also equally an important area of deficiency, not just in the school system but throughout the whole society.
The JLP, led by Messrs Golding and Shaw, even whilst condemning the level of the national debt, have been promising all of Jamaica, at every stop on the campaign trail, to spend more money. However, when pressed, they have been seeking to explain that the promises would be delivered in stages depending on economic growth and increases in tax revenues.
I wish to focus on one single promise - that of the commitment to allocate $9 billion to be shared equally amongst the 60 MPs. This works out at $150 million per MP. When cornered, this commitment has been modified to state that this is not "new money" but will be "reallocated" from other areas. The public has the right to know from Messrs Golding and Shaw from which areas these funds will be "reallocated".
In the absence of any help from them, let us attempt to dissect these wild promises and show why they are empty and meant only to mislead. Presumably, if we assume that we intend to service our debt and pay our policemen, teachers and nurses, this "reallocated" money will come from the Capital Budget. We must also assume that we cannot "touch" the funds of the foreign institutions, (the Capital B Budget). This leaves us with the Capital A Budget, which is financed by GOJ funds.
In this fiscal year, the Capital A Budget is $22.7 billion. However, $11.3 billion of this sum represents "accounting entries". This means that funds which were spent in previous years are now being formally recorded, as is required by the Auditor General.
Another $2 billion is an exchange of cheques with Air Jamaica but included in the expenditure budget for transparency. As such, we now have a maximum of $9.4 billion of cash from which this $9 billion could be reallocated. I challenge Messrs Golding and Shaw and anyone else to refute my arithmetic so far.
Let us look at this $9.4 billion. Of this, $2.7 billion represents expenditure by the Ministry of Education from funds transferred from the NHT. This is spoken for, unless Messrs Golding and Shaw intend to cease expenditure on the education transformation programme and transfer the resources to individual MPs.
We are now down to $6.7 billion from which Messrs Golding and Shaw will be reallocating $9 billion to the MPs!! The last time anyone was able to achieve a similar feat was approximately two thousand years ago!!
But let us probe a little further. From this remaining $6.7 billion, there is approximately $940 million for capital projects being implemented by the ministries of tourism, national security, health and agriculture. This effectively leaves us with the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Local Government. Their total Capital A Budget in cash comes to $4.2 billion. Even if we were to close these ministries and give the funds to the MPs we are still a far cry from the sum of $9 billion which has been committed over and over again by Messrs Golding and Shaw.
Mr Editor, I should indicate that my concern is not only about the wild promises of Messrs Golding and Shaw. These are desperate men trying to win votes by any means. However, when someone like John Jackson, a "financial analyst" has the temerity to accuse me of demonstrating a lack of honesty on this subject, the obvious reluctance/refusal to examine the facts is worrying. I leave it to readers to develop possible motives for his position.
When I was growing up, an old shoemaker in the village of Four Paths told me that "commonsense is far from common". Everyday, I have found this observation to be oh so true.
pity there will soon be a powercut ... but when yuh get the chance PLEASE explain how you come to that conclusion.
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