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Patterson, left, and Henry-Wilson
Vernon Daley, Staff Reporter
THE present People's National Party (PNP) Government is perhaps the most open and transparent administration Jamaica has ever seen. For example, the legislative process, under the Government, has been opened up to both the people and the press. Almost all committees of Parliament are now open to the public and there are deliberate attempts by the administration to include civic organisations and other special interest groups in the development of legislation as well as general Government policy.
Currently, the Government is pushing to pass into law the Access to Information Act, which will make the Government even more transparent and arm the people with the information to meaningfully participate in national dialogue.
Party General-Secretary, Maxine Henry-Wilson, constantly makes the point that allegations of corruption and mismanagement which keep following the Government is a direct result of opening up.
However, in its attempts to improve governance, the party seems to be falling down in the areas of tight management and accountability.
In fact, the governing party has had scandal after scandal since wresting power from the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in 1989, but its track record of holding people to account is at best, average.
The reign of P.J. Patterson, as Prime Minister, seems to be characterised by his blind devotion to loyalty and vacillation in taking harsh action against those in his party who are either negligent, incompetent or simply corrupt.
His recent disclosure that the party has turned down five potential candidates for the upcoming elections because of allegations that they have drug connections, was lacking in detail and so did not even slightly improve the PNP's developing image as a party where anything goes.
Persons close to the PNP say Mr. Patterson's style of balancing forces in the party in order to 'level the vibes', has done much to foster a political arrangement where few are made accountable for even the most egregious wrong.
It has now become a part of the Prime Minister's regular routine to set up a committee or commission each time there is some scandal that rocks the Government. Usually these committees, commissions or studies are undertaken at huge cost to the already burdened taxpayer, but with very little to show at the end of the day.
Mr. Patterson, who is now in his 10th year as Prime Minister, has set up at least 16 committees, commissions, or groups to study various issues of national importance during his tenure.
There is generally nothing wrong with committees. Chief adviser to the Prime Minister Delano Franklin told The Sunday Gleaner recently that his concern was not the number of committees the Prime Minister has set up but how effective they have been in carrying out their mandate.
At the same time he shrugged off suggestions that the Prime Minister is 'governing by committees', noting that no leader could govern without delegating responsibility through this method.
There is nothing wrong with that argument. However, the problem with Mr. Patterson's committees, especially the ones set up after a scandal breaks, is that nobody is held accountable at the end of the day.
Only last week, the Prime Minister's notorious list grew by one, with the addition of a four-member commission to probe the operations of the National Housing Development Corporation and Operation PRIDE following allegations that large sums have been paid out to contractors for work not done.
Already, many have dismissed the PRIDE commission as a cover-up. And who can blame them? It's a matter of record that when these groups or committees are set up, very little comes of them.
The street people enquiry in 2000; the prison beatings enquiry also in 2000; and the 1999 high-level review of public sector salaries, are but a few of the major probes undertaken in recent times. In none of these case have heads rolled for either neglect, mismanagement or corruption.
In fact, it could be argued that some have been rewarded for their neglect and ineptitude. Take the case of Mayor of Montego Bay, Hugh Solomon. The Street People Enquiry established that a Parish Council truck was used to take 33 homeless and mentally ill people from St. James to St. Elizabeth, where they were dumped.
Mr. Solomon said he was unaware of what had happened and on top of that did not even think it was necessary to order an internal investigation after it had emerged that the Parish Council was implicated in the sordid act. At the very minimum, the mayor should have taken political responsibility for what went on.
What did the PNP, under Mr. Patterson, do in all of this? It turned around last year and put Mr. Solomon on its slate of candidates to run in the upcoming general election. If that's not a reward for ineptitude, then what is? It's useless for the party to argue that Mr. Solomon's selection was based on the democratic will of PNP supporters in West Central St. James, for there is enough evidence to show that when the top leadership of our major political parties turns its back on a potential candidate, then 'him salt'.
A former PNP member who has worked closely with Mr. Patterson in the past, suggested that the setting up of committees was the Prime Minister's method of avoiding tough action.
"It's part of a leadership style which depends on procrastination as a substitute for action," he said.
This is not to say that in some cases the committees have not had some impact. For example, the high-level committee on salaries in the public sector, made recommendations which have been taken on by the Government. The committee, headed by Ambassador Herbert Walker, was set up following revelations that several public sector bosses were being paid salaries well above Government guidelines.
Among the recommendations accepted were a freeze on some allowances as well as a standardised approach across the public sector to payment of allowances such as those related to motor vehicles and the provision of a fully maintained house.
The Orane Report has also resulted in savings to the taxpayers. The report which was done by Independent Senator Douglas Orane in 1999, recommended the closure of some overseas missions and tighter monitoring of public sector travelling.
Some of the recommendations have been implemented, saving taxpayers at least $209 million over the last two years. Other committees, such as the 1993 Wolfe Task Force on Crime, have made useful suggestions which have resulted in improved systems of Government.
There are, however, several useful recommendations from the Prime Minister's committees which continue to drag. For example the task force on sugar headed by Marjorie Henriques in 2001 recommended radical measures to turn around the sugar industry, including lay-offs and factory closures. So far, the Government still has not stated whether it will take on any of the recommendations.
In fact, the Prime Minister recently told Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon that Jamaica could soon be going to the Commonwealth for help in fixing the local industry. More studies? More committees?
Mr. Patterson has said that he wants to go down in history as the Prime Minister who gave away the most land to Jamaicans. However, by failing to make those around him accountable for their actions, he might end up as the Prime Minister under whom the greatest ineptitude and corruption flourished.
