In a previous article in this series I questioned the Business Confidence indices for the first quarter of 2016 that showed a positive jump in confidence. I wondered if this was influenced by the expectation of a General Election, a continuity of the then government, or a change of government. I have no definitive reason only intuition, for deciding between these possible influences, or other random answers.
Since then several things have happened that serve to further confuse me. A few of these are as follows:
I am by now thoroughly confused with conflicting signals that when brought together, do not suggest any discernable direction for policy or implementation coherence. Therefore everyone has an excuse for non-performance.
The private sector says there is too much bureaucracy that tends to add costs and time to the business of export.
The Government says that the private sector is not pushing exports.
Unfortunately, both are correct. The productivity index shows a decline of about 1% per annum over the past three decades. T
his is a classic debate of the “who came first, the chicken or the egg”, Jamaica style! This conundrum requires a Czar or similar dictator to resolve these hindrances in a businesslike manner but this challenges our parliamentarians’ stranglehold on power, and flies in the face of “defined democracy”. This would certainly be challenged by the legal fraternity.
Customs laws need clarification; export procedures need a single point; companies need incentives (tax or otherwise) for increasing exports on a quarterly basis; importers should be given incentives if they are also earners of foreign exchange; and employees need to be rewarded for increasing measurable productivity.
The other major inhibitor must be seen as crime. This seems to be out of control and present a clear and present danger to extended production shifts, access to workplaces, transportation at night, and other seemingly unconnected activities that add avoidable costs.
Why do patrons stay at Dancehalls all night when they have to work the next day? Well it is simple to say that they cannot get home safely until dawn drives the “vampire criminals” back to their daytime coffins where they can evade the law enforcement.
“Barnabas Collins” is a production deterrent, and I hope the kits presented by the US Government include wooden stakes, crosses, garlic spray, and a Bible. These “undead” certainly have more influence than “rolling calf and duppy”. It may be purely coincidental that May Pen Cemetery is/was a hiding ground for criminals.
We have a serious illness called “ego” and it manifests itself in two ways. Firstly, we honestly believe that each of us is the world’s greatest and we are all invincible. Secondly, we do not believe that in spite of evidence to the contrary we are wrong at any time, and therefore it must be someone else’s fault.
The first requires very little explanation as it is an individual belief that stretches from dominoes to rocket science and every topic in between. The second illness says Dudus is not guilty and is really Robin Hood in a wig; that lotto scamming is another method of collecting reparations; that carnal abuse did not happen as “the likkle pickney too careless”; and the list goes on. It is self-deception that goes far beyond the old description of masturbation.
You may ask yourselves (and me), where does this fit in with Jamaica’s economy, and society going forward. Well our Prime Minister in a speech delivered recently was at pains to bemoan the international classification that rates us as a middle-income country and disqualifies us from receiving certain grants and debt relief.
Prime Minister Holness may be too young to remember that when this classification was done, there was little or no outcry from either political party in either the Government or Opposition (rotating political roles of the JLP and PNP) that lodged an objection. After all, (using the first criteria) could we be classified with Haiti (or other “small islands” with twice our GDP like Antigua)? “God forbid” admitting we are poorer than Cayman or the Turks and Caicos that we used to be Administrators for years ago!
Allow me to refresh your memories with two excerpts from 1962 that may shed some relevant light on our “disability”:
These are from two opposite sides of the then shallow political divide, and represent considered opinions before political rivalry created a chasm that was too wide for good sense to prevail. The widening gap created a ready opportunity for ignorance and childish rhetoric to supersede thought and meaningful governance.
This is the inheritance of a young Prime Minister faced with the unravelling of foolishness committed before his birth. A broke and unproductive nation that believes that all is well with Jamaica. It is the classic rendering of the “Emperor’s new clothes”, by a nation that believes that “We” (not Usain Bolt) are clothed in glory. It is a tough task for Mr. Holness to awaken the sleeping giant when most of the political participants on both sides are afraid of the destruction of the status quo of the unbridled change forces. It is a “revolution that will not be televised”!
Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett announced a billion dollar funding programme for tourism related businesses in the SME sector, and this has been hailed by many as a great source of capital. I agree wholeheartedly, however I offer a few cautions:
I would therefore recommend that Ministers Shaw, Bartlett, and Samuda confer on the report and its findings and recommendations before they preside over a good scheme that ends with deficient performance. Properly run there is every chance of success; poorly implemented it will be another billion dollars down the drain.
The Economic Growth Council is doing its leadership role and that is mobilization of the factors within the society that produce the stability that will result in growth. Their job is to identify and guide. Our job is to work and perform.
Like Mission Impossible says (paraphrased by me); “this is your mission Andrew; the electorate may or may not reward you, and most of your colleagues will deny any knowledge of your actions; if you choose not to accept, Jamaica may self-destruct in 10 seconds”.
It is a clear responsibility for leaders in every positive sector of Jamaica to grasp the reins firmly in your hands and start to guide the progress of your country, industry, company, club, family, and yourselves, as we are on a slope induced by many misinterpreted opinions, incomplete data, and misinformation that tend to stymie decision and actions and perpetuate mediocrity.
As my Father told me about lawyers in politics: “they are trained in argument not decision making; what we need is a good judge”. Look at ourselves and our lack of responsibility and stupid excuses. Guilty or not guilty? That verdict will be yours.
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