By Lynford Simpson, Parliamentary Reporter
Parchment, Gallimore, Samuda and Bartlett
THE OPPOSITION Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has again demonstrated that it is not ready to form the Government.
How soon it will be ready is anybody's guess. However, if the display by the JLP at last week's sitting of Parliament's Standing Finance Committee is anything to go by, it could be a long time before Her Majesty's Opposition again forms the Government of Jamaica.
The Standing Finance Committee, which is made up of the entire House of Representatives (all 60 Members of Parliament), met last Tuesday and Wednesday to examine the Estimates of Expenditure for fiscal year 2003/04.
Finance and Planning Minister Dr. Omar Davies and his Cabinet colleagues were let of the hook by an Opposition whose members, for the most part, were too parochial in their line of questioning.
Too many people wanted to know about a particular project in their own constituency. What was not discussed in any detail, certainly during the hours I was present, was how funds could be re-allocated to particular ministries/departments with a view to improving efficiency.
Some JLP MPs were too concerned about why funding for certain departments was cut, when it had to be clear to them that the Government is broke and at the moment uncertain about how it is going to raise all the money it needs to finance the $261 billion Budget. It was unbelievable that it is the same Opposition that has often accused the Government of being reckless with the public's money - the same Opposition that often reminded the Government of the need to curb its appetite for spending. The country can do without such hypocrisy which is getting none of us anywhere.
I'm mindful of the fact that in picking up an additional 14 seats during last October's General Election, there were several new faces added to the Opposition benches. So too the Government benches. It is clear that many, and this relates to the Government side also, do not understand the Budget. This is more frightening as it relates to an Opposition waiting to become the Government.
Some JLP MPs were on the blue pages of the Estimates when the particular item being discussed was on the white pages and vice versa. Others refused to pretend. They kept the document closed while the meeting was in progress. Many did not make any meaningful contribution. The questions they asked were IRRELEVANT.
Which brings me to the role of Opposition Leader Edward Seaga. There was a flood of calls from all quarters for the JLP Leader to resign last October, after he had suffered a fourth straight General Election defeat. On closer analysis of the situation, I made the point in this column that such a move would be disastrous for the JLP. Having picked up 14 additional seats, the majority of them newcomers to Parliament, I pointed out that it was necessary for Mr. Seaga to stay on and help shape and mould the young talent. After all, not too many people will ever be able to claim more than 40 years in the political arena.
His is a wealth of experience. However, how much shaping and moulding has taken place in the six months since the election is uncertain. What is certain is that a lot of work is left to be done.
There were some positives last week. It was refreshing that Verna Parchment, the fashion-conscious MP from St. Ann North West who has perhaps ended the political career of Arnold Bertram, finally "bruk her ducks" (she spoke for the first time in the House on Wednesday). She did well enough to receive the thumbs up from a few condescending Government MPs who thought she had done well.
Her questions to Health Minister John Junor were well thought out for the most part. A nurse by profession, Ms. Parchment was comfortable while questioning the Minister about why, for instance, there was no burn unit at the Kingston Public Hospital, the largest in the English-speaking Caribbean. She too, however, fell into the trap of being too parochial in her questioning, especially when she related stories about her constituents who had difficulties accessing health care. A sitting of the Standing Finance Committee is not the place for that. All Jamaicans are affected by what is contained in the Estimates and how the Budget is financed. There are numerous other opportunities for MPs to speak on behalf of their constituents.
It was not all bad from the Opposition benches. Young Andrew Gallimore, St. Andrew West Rural, has been demonstrating that he will make a good MP. His questions are generally good. Audley Shaw, Opposition spokes-man on finance, did well. His questions were probing, usually forcing Dr. Davies to go and research the answers. Dr. Ken Baugh, JLP spokesman on health, also did well, so too the experienced Karl Samuda. More would have been expected from Mr. Seaga, however. Dr. St. Aubyn Bartlett forced an admission out of Mr. Junor that the dreaded West Nile Virus could have reached the island.
Still, what was obvious, was that the JLP would have better served itself and the country if those members with portfolio responsibilities had got together and mapped a strategy ahead of the committee meetings.
The JLP is bound to argue that members of the media did not stay until the end of the sittings, moreso until 4:30 Thursday morning. That is true. But I already made the point that my opinions are based on my observations during the hours I was present.
If three days were set aside for the committee to sit and examine the figures, I'm at a loss as to why there was a need to sit until 4:30 Thursday morning. All of Thursday was available. The reasons offered by House Leader Dr. Peter Phillips and Derrick Smith, his counterpart on the Opposition side, were unconvincing. Such reasons include the fact that they were uncertain about getting the required quorum on the third day. If they took the examination of the Estimates seriously, then that would never have been a consideration.
If they only hung around to be able to say they completed the task, would the MPs then have been able to concentrate after midnight, having started after 10:00 a.m. the previous day?
If somebody can convince me that after midnight when the law of diminishing returns would no doubt have set in, that JLP members would suddenly be inspired to ask sharper and more focused questions, then I apologise to them now. However, based on the preceding 10 hours of the last day's proceedings, and being reliably informed that it was "more of the same," I dare say it was much of the same to the very end.
Those JLP MPs who stayed, remained only because they did not want to be acccused of walking out. Why set aside three days to examine the Estimates then only use two? Did somebody forget that Thursday is constituency day for some, perhaps most MPs?
I do not buy into the stories of some MPs going home to sleep before showing up at Gordon House and so turned up fresh and raring to go. Some people, especially the JLP MPs, were present throughout the entire proceeding.
MPs should decide that the examination of the Estimates is serious enough for them to turn up at Gordon House for three days as merely going through the motion helps no one.
FOOTNOTE
In January I wrote in this column about the poor state of Jamaica's roads and how incompetent contractors were being allowed to get away with shoddy work. I mentioned Washington Boulevard which was widened to accommodate six lanes at a cost well in excess of $300 million but which was falling apart in sections just over a year later.
I did say there would soon be need for the contractor to be patching some of those patches. I must say I'm not proud to inform the public that such patching has been taking place in recent weeks in the same vicinity. The road has again started to crumble close to the intersection at Cooreville Gardens and Duhaney Park, going in the direction of Molynes Road.
I again say it is high time for a committee to probe the poor state of the country's roads. We just cannot continue to pour money into potholes.
Email comments to lsimpson@gleanerjm.com
