THE EDITOR, Sir:
TIME LIMITATIONS and circumstances did not allow me to make a presentation in Parliament on Tuesday, but I feel impelled to write this letter before the week is past.
Many of our young people that were born after 1972, need to know the full story of the stewardship of this great Jamaican.
While it is generally known that the decade of the 1960s had an average annual growth of 6 per cent, it was in the five-year period between 1967 and 1971 while Mr. Shearer was Prime Minister that recorded the greatest period of economic growth in Jamaica's post-Independence history.
Hold on to your chairs because these figures will astound you.
1967 - 1968 7.8 per cent
1968 - 1969 9.7 per cent
1969 - 1970 9.9 per cent
1970 - 1971 6.6 per cent
1971 - 1972 12.9 per cent
Average 5-year GDP 9.3 per cent
These are the growth rates that today we only read about taking place in the Far East and elsewhere. And except for the five-year period of annual average growth of five per cent in the latter part of the 1980s under the JLP, our young people only know about such concepts as negative growth, zero growth or 0.8 per cent growth or maybe 1 per cent growth under the present administration.
In an article written last year, Kevin O'Brien Chang said "under Shearer's stewardship Jamaica's economy grew 4.6 per cent faster each year than the world average and our murder rate grew 18 per cent less each year than America's."
The Rt. Hon. Hugh Shearer also distinguished himself by serving in the 1980s as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and by 1986, was given the additional portfolio of Industry & Commerce a super ministry.
The Rt. Hon. Hugh Shearer is a true icon and hero and his full story must be often repeated so that our young people can draw inspiration from the saying that "in the pursuit of excellence, one person can make a difference". In the pursuit of excellence, Mr. Shearer has made the difference and all Jamaicans should be justly proud of his stewardship.
I am etc.,
AUDLEY SHAW MP
Deputy Leader JLP
Opposition Spokesman on Finance
