JAMAICAN GOVERNMENTS do not have a good track record of keeping their word in areas of financial commitments. Time and again, appeals are made to public goodwill to contribute to special funds for a special cause, only for the public to see the money collected being absorbed into the general revenue and used for purposes other than originally stated. The Education Tax provides a prime example.So when Opposition Senators, as have their counterparts in the Lower House, expressed grave suspicion and concern about the Government's promise of making a one-shot withdrawal of $5 billion from the National Housing Trust (NHT) to help in the transformation of the education sector, there is good ground on which to ring the warning bells.
The Opposition is apparently not entirely opposed to the money being withdrawn from the cash-saturated NHT. They just would prefer to see this done in the form of a loan rather than as a grant. The contention that the Government will be tempted to go back in a year's time for more money from the NHT is plausible given our recent history.
Senator Dorothy Lightbourne is absolutely right. The funds allocated to the NHT are withdrawn from the salaries of employees and are supposed to be held in trust until they are able to gain some benefit from the agency or there is a refund. The big temptation for the Government is that there is so much money available much of which is not going into the housing market and contributors to the NHT. So in times of great need, it is easy to go to an easy source.
The moves by the Government to amend the NHT Act to give legitimacy to their raiding the kitty are being pegged on the argument that this is for a good cause. But good causes pop up every year from the need to address devastation caused by natural disasters to the perpetual run-down state of many public institutions. The Government can always find a reason why the trust's funds can be diverted from the originally intended purpose. This is dangerous.
The financing of education is critical to Jamaica's development and every effort should be made to ensure that this is done adequately. But the need in this area should not be used as an excuse to legitimise the inappropriate diversion of money from other areas particularly when the Government has yet to set out a clear policy on how it will address the recurrent needs of the sector more adequately.
The Government will have its way, having used its majority to defeat on division, two Opposition amendments in the Senate on Friday. For the future, however, the administration should leave the NHT funds alone, to meet the original purpose.
