IT IS not unusual for Jamaicans to hear that we will have to 'tighten our belts' a little more as the coming year will be a challenging or difficult one. In fact, pronouncements such as these are expected. Jamaica's development challenges are many and varied and for the past two decades, the country has been struggling with a tremendous and increasing debt stock (over 60 per cent of the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) budget goes towards debt servicing, leaving very little towards health, education and other social services), high interest rates, a high cost public sector, negative trade balance and fiscal deficits.
Jamaica is no stranger to structural adjustment and the country has been the recipient of billions of dollars of development assistance within every conceivable sector. Yet our economic growth rate has remained consistently low or negative, our social infrastructure is deteriorating, crime and violence and general lawlessness are at an all-time high and the list goes on.
Globalisation and trade liberation have not assisted much in arresting the situation and the question is how does our country emerge from this situation? Is the Government capable of at least providing the framework for guiding us out of the current crisis? Can the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and other multilateral agencies help given their history in Jamaica? Are the recommendations/prescriptions of these agencies any different from what they were 20-30 years ago? Not very much. In fact, there appears to be a very high level of consistency with what the GOJ, the local private sector and local analysts, view as the key development challenges and the possible approaches that should be supported and those expressed by these multilaterals.
ALLIANCE WON'T WORK
This is among the points made by Robert Buddan, lecturer in the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies, in his contribution 'Missed Opportunities: From Old Partners to New Partnerships'. He said we did not benefit from partnering with the World Bank and other international agencies and such alliance will not work now. In the article, Mr. Buddan examined the decade of the '80s under Edward Seaga and his 'development' partners, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United States Government. He said the Seaga Government missed the opportunity to place the country on a development path and concludes that now, new partners in the form of the Government, private sector and trade unions must be given the chance to work.
Successive governments in Jamaica have adopted a piecemeal approach to development in Jamaica. At the heart of the problem is a political system that favours political ascendancy rather than national development. Unfortunately, our leaders have not reached the level of political maturity that would elevate us into a state of development. Lack of accountability and transparency has left the populace very sceptical about our leaders' ability to support the drive for development in the country. A history of political patronage, corruption, cost overruns, incoherent policies, abandonment of various plans and initiatives that have potential to reap positive results, social injustices have left us truly suspicious of the motives of our leaders and we wonder what our options for development are.
These issues are at the heart of the other contributions to this special report.
In a foreboding article entitled 'Jamaica's gathering economic storm', veteran journalist Ian Boyne likened the current crisis to a terrible storm. He warns that many Jamaicans have no safety net on which to fall back on and therefore the impact of the storm will be devastating. He examines the issue of social capital, noting that unless Jamaicans can come together for the good of the country, then the crisis will overwhelm us.
CREDIBILITY PROBLEM
In 'Can Government achieve consensus?', Christopher Tufton, of G2K, states categorically that the current Government has a credibility problem. This sense of untrustworthiness has pushed many away and therefore Jamaicans will find it hard to support any attempts it makes to fix the current crisis.
Mr. Tufton concludes that with confidence level in its ability to lead at a low, Government must allow the people to have a day, in which to have their say.
Earl Bartley, in 'Political Brinkmanship', argues that after 15 years of mismanagement and corruption, the current Government needs to do the decent thing and relieve the Jamaican people of the burden forced on them. He theorises that Government's dependence on tourism as the engine of growth will not be able to transform the economy as much of the money earned is invested overseas by hotel owners.
Given that there is relative consistency in the analysis of our development challenges and wide agreement on what should be done to address the situation, the next step is to 'walk the talk'. The various stakeholders should agree that political expediency should not overtake commitments to national development. Success in overcoming Jamaica's development challenges will depend on the GOJ maintaining an effective and consistent approach to strengthening governance and deepening democracy that matches rhetoric.
P.W., Features Co-ordinator
