Beverley Anderson-Manley
While addressing a group of students earlier this year at a Ivy League university in the United States, Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton encouraged them to move from being uncommitted voters to the centre of the political stage. She pointed out that at any moment in time they would have some human beings to choose from. It doesn't get better than that.
Constantly since the 1990s there have been at least 40 per cent of voters who have remained in the uncommitted category. There are many reasons for this. Some people will tell you they do not "business" with politics, but what they don't realise is that politics always 'business' with us. There are others who say politics has become too linked to crime in Jamaica. Yet others hate the tribal nature of our politics. What is regrettable is that these high levels of disgust with our partisan political process is not resulting in a vigorous civil society lobbying for change, although there are some recent notable exceptions like Jamaicans for Justice and Families Against State Terrorism (FAST).
Taking Responsibility
If we want to change the politics of our country fundamentally then we are the ones who will have to do it. It is our responsibility, for example, to ensure that our institutional mechanisms are not conducive to corruption of any kind. It seems that the ugly head of corruption is everywhere. One of the reasons for this is punitive taxes. Human beings will always find way to get around exorbitant taxes and fees. The former Prime Minister of Spain, Felipo Gonzales, once noted that the main purpose of taxes should not be merely to earn revenues, as important as that may be, but critically to create a climate that is investor-friendly and therefore conducive to economic growth.
The figures below are taken from the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions (2004)
| 2000 $ | 2002 $ | 2004 $ | One adult (male) per annum | |
1,552.80 | 47,128.70 | 58,502.50 |
Per Month
3,462.73 | 3,927.39 | 4,875.21 |
Per Week
799.09 | 906.32 | 1,009.66 |
Family of five
(2 adults, 3 children) per annum
157,069.50 | 178,121.00 | 221,130.78 |
Per month
13,08.13 | 14,843.42 | 18,427.57 |
Per week
3,020.57 | 3,425.40 | 4,252.52 |
Significant economic growth has eluded us for decades. So, in Jamaica today we do not have the productive capacity to pay our critical workers a living wage. It could be argued that many of these workers are working poor. Recently, for example, we have seen industrial unrest among so many of our critical sectors - the nurses the police, the doctors and the teachers. All these categories of workers are people whose skills are needed in the global environment. One wonders how they survive on the salaries they receive. We have to get to the stage, and quickly, where productivity is the determining factor in wage and salary increases. But at least these women and men are working poor. Recently, I had reason to check the income of Jamaicans who are on the poverty line.
Can you imagine an adult trying to survive on $1,009.66 per week or a family of five trying to survive on $4,252.52 per week?
Productivity
Citing a study conducted by Dr. Charles Douglas, executive director of the Jamaica Productivity Centre, Douglas Orane, chairman and CEO of GraceKennedy Limited notes that the study reveals that between 1970 and 2000, Jamaica's average annual labour productivity was minus1.8 per cent.
Labour Productivity across Decades
1960s 4 per cent
1970s -0.4 per cent
1980s -0.7 per cent
1990s -0.7 per cent
There can be no doubt that the major emphasis in the society today should be how, in the shortest time possible we can return to, if not surpass productivity levels of the 1960s.
Onto The Court
Jamaica does not have a friendly business environment. That is one of the first things we need to correct. Simultaneously, we have to begin to deal with our mindset of dependency.
Let us engage in meaningful conversations - like conversations around economic growth and building our productive capacity.
Let us get out of the stands and onto the courts of the playing field that is Jamaica. Let us do the work so that our democratic system can serve us to the best of its potential.
Beverley Anderson-Manley
is a political scientist
and gender Specialist.
Email: BManley@kasnet.com
