Delroy Chuck
JAMAICA CAN be a prosperous place. The inner beauty, creativity and potential of our resourceful people have not been fully engaged. From all walks of life, Jamaicans have travelled far and used their skills, abilities and expertise to succeed in foreign lands, where at home their potential and opportunities for success are denied. Even now, the present generation of young school leavers, university graduates, and trained professionals cannot find the jobs and opportunities to make meaningful contributions to the nation's
well-being.
Jamaica and its people, in spite of the public relations hype, perennial expressions of good intentions, and outside of sports and music, have not done well. And, if we continue on the same path, in 10 or 20 years' time we will still ask the question where have we gone wrong. To be sure, the political or well connected will argue that we are headed in the right direction and the real problem is the negative naysayers, who continually bad talk our country and fail to see the good things. However, if we really mean our country well, it is time to take stock and question if Jamaica is on the right track to peace, prosperity and a better future.
ECONOMICALLY OFF TRACK
Jamaica went off track in 1989, when, as Carl Stone wrote, the dominance of politics succeeded over the strength of economic growth and social well-being. Except for a few years after, it has been downhill economically and otherwise. Since 1992, cumulative economic growth for 12 years is under seven per cent, when most well governed countries are growing seven per cent annually. "The political elites that took over African countries in the 1960s," writes Moeletsi Mbeki in The Sunday Gleaner, July 17, p. A10, "saw government as a source of power and personal enrichment." He quotes Kwame Nkrumah, who said: "Seek ye first the political kingdom and all else shall be given." Are these opinions not equally true of the politically well-connected in Jamaica? Will we ever learn that the dominance of politics is a curse rather than a benefit?
Jamaica is off track because politics has dominated the nation's landscape. When contracts, government appoint-ments of all kinds, houses, benefits, etc. are distributed or made, political consideration overrides everything. After the passage of Hurricanes Dennis and Emily, simply examine the recently patched or rehabilitated roads and the inefficiency and incompetence of the genetically connected, who got the work over the better qualified contractors, can easily be discerned. In the periods leading up to the General Elections of 1993, 1997 and 2002, the government allowed the economy to 'run wid it', thus, unleashing a torrent of inflationary pressure, followed by corrective monetary measures of prolonged high interest rates and general economic uncertainty. No economy can survive or grow with this level of uncertainty and, but for the remittances, loans and grants, would have collapsed long ago.
A MAJOR SHIFT NEEDED
Lest we perish, it is time to go for prosperity. When we are prosperous and can create a surplus of wealth, it becomes easier to afford the better roads, improved social services, wider health care, enough money for education, and provisions for a better quality of life. Prosperity demands an economic environ-ment that makes it attractive for local and foreign investors to make money, that is, to make profits and a healthy return on their investment. Yes, foreign investors export their profits but, throughout their tenure, the country benefits enormously. In any event, is it not better to export profits on investment instead of interest on loans?
For too long, it is more profitable to put huge sums of money into government paper, bonds and stocks instead of to invest productively. The macro-economic policies need a major shift to inspire investment in productive and export activities. We need to reverse the economic policies that caused the hundreds of manufacturing entities that left in the nineties to return and reopen their factories, and to re-employ the tens of thousands of Jamaicans who are now without work. For example, what policies will cause Goodyear to reopen its plant in Morant Bay, which now sits idly, decaying, and hitherto a golden egg for the people in St. Thomas.
Prosperity can come. But, the political leadership of the country must be prepared to put economics and the country's interests before the fifth term. In truth, if we can remove the social, economic and bureaucratic hurdles that impede development, the creative imagination of our people will surely find fertile economic grounds to bear fruit.
Delroy Chuck is an attorney-at-law and Opposition Member of Parliament. He can be contacted by email at delchuck@hotmail.com.
