THE EDITOR, Sir:
AS A retailer of cement, I hold no brief for any of the three suppliers of cement. My concern here is two-fold. Firstly, I am concerned for the well-being of the thousands of poor people who buy one or two bags of cement per day to construct their humble dwellings. We have used elevated tariff to protect inefficient industrial operations, resulting in shortages and high prices. I have lived through the dark days, when a truck had to be parked overnight at Carib. Cement Company (CCC) with a manager's cheque, only to return empty, while the cement could be had from distributors at $5 to $10 above the distributor's price.
I have lived through the Dark Ages when most of the building products entering Jamaica came through 'Agents' who got 10 per cent to 15 per cent of the CIF value for typing a sheet of paper and sending off a cable. I am still living in the dark ages when:
1) The dairy industry is protected by high tariff on imported milk solids, while thousands of undernourished children go to school, and perform poorly, and we are amazed that our CXC results are so bad.
2) We give the Dominican Republic CARICOM status, but exclude house paint from the list of duty-free items, so that the duty remains at 15 per cent.
3) Lumber stevedoring remains a monopoly, and a high cost to lumber importers for the past hundred years.
4) Importation of construction steel is controlled by a quality standard that is used only in a tiny sphere of the world.
Sir, I am concerned with our arbitrary and 'wishy-washy' application of the principles of the Free Enterprise Economy at the political level. We seem to find justifications so readily for intervening in the market, when the market is doing a good job of regulating itself.
I am no economist, but I read the news about Taiwan daily, and I see foreign investments pouring in at a very high rate. I also see companies closing, merging, rationalising etc. to stay competitive. On no occasion, have I seen a political intervention to save a private sector enterprise. While cement is vital to a strategic sector of the economy, CCC cannot be considered a strategic company. Protecting the capital and jobs of a few jeopardise the well-being of hundreds of thousands of others.
An interesting question is: Does this decision have anything to do with our outstretched hands to Trinidad's conglomerates for loans. Begging in North America and Europe is no different from begging in the Caribbean. It comes with a price.
The job of government is to consider the long-term interests of the majority of its citizens, and not the short-term narrow interests of the few.
I am, etc.,
BARRY EDWARDS
baed@cwjamaica.com
St. John's Hardware,
Spanish Town
