By Garwin Davis and Robert Hart, Staff Reporters
Opposition Leader Edward Seaga (foreground) is flanked by Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) chairman Bruce Golding during a press conference held yesterday at the party's Belmont Road, New Kingston, headquarters. Mr. Seaga was highlighting the results of the JLP's two-day retreat held on the weekend. - Rudolph Brown/Staff Photographer
PRIVATE SECTOR interests are now on the defensive following what they see as negative pronouncements by the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) on the likely outcome of a meeting between the two groups today.
They note that "the pouring of cold water" by JLP officials over the joint private sector initiative Partnership for Progress before having had the chance to study the proposal was disappointing.
"The proposals are sound (and) done in the best interest of the country," said Doreen Frankson, president of the Jamaica Manufac-turers' Association (JMA).
WITH ONE VOICE
"For the first time ever, the private sector is speaking with one voice; everybody is on the same page. I am at a loss as to why the JLP would be giving this kind of negative response to the initiative. Look at the things we are addressing - the debt, high interest rates, unemployment."
President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), Beverly Lopez, said she was hoping that once the JLP had a chance to look at the proposals, the party would get onboard.
"The end game here is for the country to be a better place and I would like to think that this is a view that is shared by everyone," said Mrs. Lopez.
The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, in a statement last night, also made a plea for co-operation.
"We appeal to both sides of the political divide to see this as an opportunity to truly put Jamaica first and to help take back our country from the chronic economic crisis that has intensified some of the country's social ills," said President Michael Ammar Jr.
The comments came behind a JLP press conference yesterday at which Opposition Leader Edward Seaga said his party was not attaching much optimism to today's meeting with private sector members.
"We will be meeting with the PSOJ where we will be having discussions relating to this social partnership," Mr. Seaga said.
"We do not know what it involves as we have not participated in the discussions that have been going on, neither have we received any documentation from the private sector for us to understand what they are talking about. So we have invited them to bring their documentation and discuss with us what their proposals are."
Mr. Seaga indicated that if the proposals were in line with the JLP's, then the meeting could be beneficial.
But: "I can say though that it is most likely that this will not be the case, that they may be saying something quite different and using figures that are not pointing in the same direction as ours. We wait and see what they say."
The JLP insists that the country's economic difficulties are more severe than the Government is letting on, insisting yesterday that the much talked about deficit would round out the year at about 10 per cent, well above the programmed 5.6 per cent.
Figures for November show that, nominally, the deficit was running at just under $29.7 billion.
JLP Chairman Bruce Golding noted that it was unfair maybe even unrealistic to expect the JLP to endorse plans that had no chance of succeeding without the Government's unreserved blessings.
Pointing to reports quoting Government Minister K.D. Knight, in the wake of the PNP National Executive Council on Sunday, that there would not be significant change in Government's economic strategies, Mr. Golding said:
"One has to presume then that the private sector is seeking to craft a set of measures that are consistent with Government's existing economic strategies. That raises some serious questions as to how viable they can be."
HARD WORK
Ms. Frankson noted that "a lot of hard work" had been put in by private sector partners to formulate the initiative, adding that a delegation was sent to Ireland last year to study that country's model.
"It is essentially a partnership between sector players; the private and public sector, the trade unions, the political parties," she said.
"It is geared to provide ways to lower the deficit, make Jamaica stronger and give people a chance to make something of themselves. It has worked beautifully in Ireland and we are copying that model."
Dubbed 'The Programme for National Recovery', the Irish model involved agreement between employers, trade unions, farming interests and government on wage levels in both the private and public sectors for a three-year period.
