Dawn RitchTHEY PUSH us to the brink of madness every time, and then prepare to throw us over. They destroy our lives socially and economically, and then try to run on a political campaign promising 'continued prosperity'.
The man behind this meaningless promise is as usual Dr. Omar Davies. He is now on the campaign trail, trying to become the next president of the People's National Party and ruling party of Jamaica.
Perish the thought that he might become prime minister simply because he's bored with the bad job he's doing as Finance Minister. Or maybe he's just tired because the finance portfolio has proved too taxing. If Dr. Davies finds it that way, then there is justice in the world after all, because he is at last admitting to his failures. His disastrous performance as Finance Minister lies at the very heart of the social and economic collapse of the island.
NEW PRIME MINISTER
A new prime minister for the country, particularly in these dire times, is a matter of the utmost gravity. Dr. Davies has had a decade of failed economic and fiscal policies which hang about his waist like pelts on a belt. It is the perfect symbol for the barbarity into which the country has descended. I think people would like a change from that. In any event, they can't relish the thought of its perpetuation and augmentation.
Beverly Anderson Manley says Dr. Davies is "world-class", but I'm at loss to understand what she means. The damage he has done to the economy is certainly in a class by itself, but that is hardly cause for celebration.
Mrs. Anderson Manley told us in the 1970s when she was Michael Manley's wife that we were to 'turn our han' mek fashion'. And this while she went off to Russia in a mink coat. Her nose was up in the air then, and it was up in the air again the other night when she endorsed Dr. Davies as the candidate for 'continued prosperity' she said, after a "careful assessment" of all contenders.
UNIMAGINED HARDSHIP
On radio, she said Dr. Davies "was in the mold of a Norman Manley, Michael Manley and P. J. Patterson". There was only one Norman Manley, and that mold was broken long ago. Since both the public administration of his son and that of his successor brought unimagined economic and social hardship to Jamaica, it hardly seems a recommendation to be taken seriously at all. It's more like an early warning.
This administration keeps claiming that it's halved poverty. That we're not feeling it yet, but it's ready to go. This story has about the same chance as a snowball in hell.
The reduction of poverty depends on an increase in employment. The public policies practised have depressed business expansion and endangered local entrepreneurs, and failed to provide steady employment. Nor is the Government able to generate employment no matter how many public projects they implement and on which they lavish public taxes with reckless abandon.
As soon as they set up an institution to reduce public pain and suffering, like the recent National Health Fund, they buy two Toyota Land Cruiser Prados for vice-presidents who are not entitled to them. Thus, from the new public purse established with a hopeful-sounding name comes more waste and cronyism. It's the same old story over which Dr. Davies has been calmly presiding for the longest time. His accession to the presidency of the PNP therefore can only mean more of the same.
The fact is that under the Jamaican Constitution the Finance Minister has had all the chances in the world a person could ever want. He blew every last one. Outside of the prime minister, only the finance minister must have won a seat in Parliament in order to sit in Cabinet. The rest are at the discretion of the prime minister. That is our model of Government, so being Finance Minister is no joking matter.
POWER, NOT WORK?
Is Dr. Davies saying he wants the power, but not the work? Whose idea is his candidacy anyway? Because it surely cannot be his own. In which case, his campaign need not detain either Mrs. Portia Simpson Miller or Dr. Peter Phillips, no matter how flashy it is, or how well-funded.
The public anywhere in the world is never inclined to like its Finance Minister. But when he combines unattractive qualities with abject policy failure, as Dr. Davies does, he is unlikely to light a fire in anybody, save his own hangers-on.
If they want to be faithful to the Drumblair tradition of the PNP, then any person of talent must be welcomed with open and interested arms. Drumblair didn't turn up its nose at people because of their social origins, least of all the people they were directly addressing. That is the unfortunate trade mark of the petty bourgeoisie. In Mrs. Anderson Manley's case therefore, it is a matter of birds of a feather flocking together.
The morning after she made her speech, there was an official report in this newspaper that the Jamaican economy had shrunk. This of course is nothing new, but the timing was most unfortunate as far as her endorsement went.
Mrs. Simpson Miller has her travails. Audits ordered by her keep leaping out of every cushion as soon as they're lifted. Dr. Peter Phillips Minister of National Security, never really on board in any ministry for any length of time, is left to bail water from the sinking ship of state poorly piloted by Dr. Davies. The captain, the most honourable P. J. Patterson, seems never to have been on the bridge at any time.
