Vehicles on the streets of Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland. - Norman Grindley /Staff Photographer "I think further down the line it's not so much what's imposed on the industry and
so forth, it's the social consequences that's going to flow from that, because it's going to create more unemployment, it's going to increase the cost of whatever we might sell,
so at the end of the day it's going to be more people out of work and more work for the police and community relations people," Rex Gatsby, businessman.
LAST MONDAY, April 28, The Gleaner's Editorial Department took its Editors' Forum to Savanna-la-Mar to discuss various issues affecting the parishes of Westmoreland and Hanover. Today we share excerpts from the Forum.
THE CESS, A BACKWARD STEP
Andrew Gray, businessman
I THINK the four per cent cess is a backward step. First of all, it assumes we are going to make a profit, and that's not necessarily the case. Also, packaging material, which I bring in personally, will now attract 18 per cent on top of the four per cent cess, they are talking 19 per cent. That will have to be paid up front so that will have a negative impact on your cash flow and right now I am already having a cash flow problem.
So this is just an added burden and I think really it should be reconsidered because our main problem here now is working capital, and to have this additional burden is more problems for us.
THE SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES
Rex Gatsby, businessman
I support what Mr. Gray says, but I think further down the line it's not so much what's imposed on the industry and so forth, it's the social consequences that's going to flow from that, because it's going to create more unemployment, it's going to increase the cost of whatever we might sell, so at the end of the day it's going to be more people out of work and more work for the police and community relations people. It's bad enough now with so much indiscipline in Jamaican business, but I feel sorry for our police friends here to try and keep law and order; and now this can only impose so much more work on them, it's going to be bad news on us here.
There are going to be more thefts, break-ins, all sorts of things as a consequence of where we are financially in this country. It's bad enough the Government has to take measures to try and correct the problem, but it's going to have far wider consequences than most people ever even thought of.
IMPACT ON AGRO INDUSTRY
Andrew Gray, businessman
I would like to comment as well on the agro industry. We have a lot of agro processors in Jamaica and one of our main problems I see is that in the near future it is going to be almost non-existent, because what is happening now; technology in farming is not moving ahead with the pace it should really move. What is happening now people are planting, going on their knees and praying for rain to come. We need to introduce irrigation because right now a lot of the processors have imported raw materials from elsewhere into Jamaica, process what they are processing and then export them.
Our products have developed a reputation over the years particularly because of the uniqueness of our ingredients, and us importing these raw materials we will sooner or later lose that uniqueness and our product will no longer be required or in demand. So I say the agriculture sector will have to be addressed. A lot of the farmers out there cannot afford it, but they need funds to move forward, because if we don't move forward as I say, Costa Rica and all these places, it came out the other day, they have started growing escalation, they have started growing, ackee, they have started growing pimento, they have started growing peppers, all these things are being produced on a larger, more economical scale than we are doing now. It's something that we have to address and the
sooner the better.
THE PROCESS IS FLAUD
Kenrick Davis, president Negril Chamber of Commerce
I have a serious concern because I think that the whole process hasn't been thought out properly. I think we are shooting ourselves in the foot because if you apply a cess of four per cent to raw material it is definitely going to push up the cost to the consumer. Who is going to sit back and wait for the 18 months or even six months to get a refund from Government when the cost of money in Jamaica is so expensive? So I think what they we are really doing, we are trying to collect all the taxes we can, but at the same time it is counter-productive. For example, the tourism sector where I am from, they are going to feel it tremendously and we have had our problems already.
Since 9/11, the room rates are trending down, the whole market is price sensitive and as such we have to compete with places like the Dominican Republic, Cancun and our Caribbean neighbours, so we can't afford to push our prices up or else we are going to find ourselves right out of business.
So I think the Minister needs to go back to the drawing board and to look at how he can retune this whole thing or fine tune it, because I don't think it is the proper thing to do.
I personally was listening for the Minister to create incentives to drive the engine of growth, not to create taxes that will inhibit growth. I think a lot of work needs to be done, and what we are going to find is that more people are going to be unemployed if prices are going up and the cost of money keep going up. We need to put our people to work, we need to create growth so that this country can move forward.
TRAFFIC PROBLEMS
Howard Pottinger, Branch Manager, Jamaica
National Building Society, Savanna-la-Mar
I would like to raise an issue, it doesn't relate to security, it's really a traffic issue. There is a traffic problem we find here. In particular, Hendon Corner, in the mornings from as early as 6:00 o'clock you have a lot of taxis and it creates a major traffic hazard. You find that in the evenings as well, from about 5:00 going on to 6:00 o'clock, I have difficulty in even getting out of the parking lot because the taxis are blocking the entrance and not only the entrance but both sides of the road. I see a presence of policemen there but I don't think they are vigilant as they ought to be.
THE POLICE'S RESPONSE
Superintendent Cecil Junior Fletcher, head of the Westmoreland police
We have come a mighty long way, things were much worse than that. It is a concern to us because you know with the influx of vehicles, all those vehicles that you have seen on the many wharves and parking lots throughout Jamaica for sale, they are now on our streets and we have not done anything as far as the infrastructure is concern to take care of those vehicles. And with downsizing, people are going into the taxi business with rapidity and it creates a problem. We have one main transport centre in the entire parish or the entire Savnna-la-Mar and because of that, it is overcrowded.
We have other concerns in terms of fatalities resulting from accidents on that straight strip of road, especially from Negril to Little London, and I don't want to say Paradise, but I prefer to say Ferris and going to Bluefields; we are channelling some of our resources in those directions. We have received some new motor bikes and we have put them on the outskirts while we have placed policemen on foot normally to do traffic in the area you have spoken about.
It is still a concern to us but we are working on it. We are getting there, and trust me, in a short while I hope that all the problems will be alleviated but we are appealing for at least two modern transport centres to take the vehicles off the road.
SPEEDING CONCERNS
Norris Hawthorne,
Lucea resident
I am quite perturbed about the speeding along the new North Coast Highway and I would like more officers to be on patrol in the area and in particular the areas that are near the schools. I happen to live near the Esher Primary School where there has been a fatal accident recently but with the school children crossing the road, it seems very dangerous there and I don't know if some patrol could be put there when school is dismissed. It is a very dangerous bit of road. Also we have a very big problem with animals on the road. The Point Road is extremely dangerous and there are persons who want to go out to functions at nights who will not dare because of animals on the road and that needs to be addressed.
WANTED: TRAFFIC SIGNS
Mr. Fred Hamity
Traffic is a problem and I think a transportation centre is needed and I want to endorse what Superintendent Fletcher is saying. A tremendous number of taxis are coming into the parish capital. The last time when a study was done, there were some 450 taxis coming into Savanna-la-Mar and those were the licensed ones, we are not talking about the ones that are unlicensed. Then there are these large articulated trucks that come to deliver goods at any hour of the day, whether on Great George Street or on the side street such as East Street. Insofar as the policing of the parish is concerned, I would have to commend the police for the work they are doing in relation to the manpower that they have.
I think we need some more traffic signs, regulatory signs and the roads need to be marked. I think we need to have more road markings to give people general directions. You know, there are very dangerous intersections, take for instance the one at Sweet River where I live, there is a stop sign for persons coming out of Sweet River onto Ferris Road and sometimes it is not observed, they just come right through that intersection and maybe when people want to turn from the Ferris Road into Sweet River, if there was a mid-island, a lane, a turning lane so that traffic could continue on the left while persons make that turn into Sweet River and I think we could work along with you, all the NGOs and the service clubs could work along to assist you in buying the material and getting the road properly marked and it might result in a better traffic configuration.
PROTECT THE CHILDREN
Madge Morris, Lay Magistrates Association of Jamaica
From the basic school point of view, which I am interested in, we need to pay more attention there as those young ones, if we are able to capture them and help them to not see what we are seeing now, we will be able to have a better generation down the road. In the meanwhile, let us all put our hands and hearts together in whatever we are doing to make our communities a better and safer place, to respect one another and we will gain respect.
STUDENTS GOING ASTRAY
Donaldson Bernard, Principal, Rusea's High School
Three matters I wish to mention. One concerns the taxi operators. Now, we do get assistance from time to time from the police in terms of the congregation at our gate but from the reports reaching me, they are part of the problem associated with the kind of abuse mentioned taking place in Westmoreland, in that we receive many complaints of our female students led astray by the taxi operators. They create problems too in terms of what they offer to the students and are part of our problem in not getting our children to school on time.
The second issue concerns the vendors because again I receive reports of vendors at our gate selling marijuana to our students and certainly they are part of the disciplinary problems which we face.
Thirdly is the issue of loitering. Our students loiter at various places after school. People sometimes call me to complain that our students are creating a problem at their gate and I say call the police because really it is not possible for us to police the students on the streets, but we certainly know that they congregate at various points in the town until late and I certainly would like to know that our police help us as I am hearing of them helping schools in other areas in discouraging this kind of loitering.
ON THE SQUATTING DILEMMA
Norris Hawthorne
In Hanover, we have some people living across the road from what they call Global Villas and they have been there now for a few years. These little houses are propped up right on the beach front and there has been a promise that they would be removed, for years. They are still there but the toilet facility is just not safe and the sea is being polluted.
I am sorry for Lucea as it is now ... because the people in the rural areas haven't got any garbage disposal and so they just fill the black bags and throw them into the rivers and the rivers take them down to Lucea to the sea, and you get a rough sea, and all of that comes up on the beach. Somebody has got to look out for the people in the rural areas and get them to have a truck go in one day per week and collect their garbage or else they will just have to throw them away somewhere.
