Orville Taylor
It's budget season and elections are around the corner. So, let's cut the hypocrisy and recognise that no politician on either side is going to say or do anything that is not likely to convert itself into votes. If in doing so they do something likely to really benefit the people, then that is a bonus. However, that is not the primary objective of either major political party.
Whether one has a hand on power or simply a Phinn', the budget is serious business and the Prime Minister presented an attractive pre-election version.
With great magnanimity, it began with a conciliatory tone and the usual appeal to religiosity. The budget speech has a number of features, punctuated with the expected back-patting. Nothing is wrong with that, because, were Opposition Leader Bruce Golding in her position, as he is dying to be, he would do exactly the same.
Solid performance
Keen on portraying her year at the helm of government as her success, the Prime Minister pointed to the solid performance of the economy. Inflation at 5.8 per cent is the lowest in 30 years. This is coupled with the lowest interest rates in decades. Bauxite production is at a 33-year high, unemployment, at 9.6 per cent is half the 1988 figure and the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) has given the Jamaican economy a big 'ticky'. After all, having grown by 2.5 per cent, it does appear that 'Omarenomics' is working. However, this 'Phinn-ancial'-success has nothing to do with her leadership. Rather, it is the momentum from Omar Davies' initiatives under P.J. Patterson, but who noticed?
Although 'short-changing' Omar and his brilliance, the Peoples' National Party (PNP) has an election to win. Therefore, when the Prime Minister takes credit for work done before her tenure, he has to 'run with it'.
The substance of the speech has some healthy promises. Minors under the age of 18 will pay no health fees; a great gain for the poor but a significant loss of revenue to the Government.
Housing is always a match-winner for politicians. The Patterson administration had presided over the most housing solutions in our history. Of greatest significance must be the Kingsley Thomas-initiated Inner-City Housing Project, which happily, the Prime Minister is amplifying.
Overall, 11,000 new housing solutions are on stream. Add to this $6 billion for sugar workers' housing, the increase in the National Housing Trust's (NHT) loan ceilings and the reduction of its interest rates, and the political mileage from this must be tremendous for 'Sista P'.
As one would expect, Portia's budget must be strong on caring. Thus, we see a $100-million increase in the PATH programme of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security as well as improvements in the national school nutrition programme and the implementation of a national parenting programme.
Many of the social developments are not very expensive. These include new legislation regarding sexual offences and child pornography. However, the improvement to the justice system, though long overdue, is likely to be frightfully costly. One red mark is that once again the government 'continued to work' on the issue of sexual harassment. This is a piece of legislation that she should have passed during the decade she headed the Ministry of Labour andSocial Security, and is long overdue.
Most impressive is the massive capital outlay on infrastructure. A first-class Norman Manley International Airport will be on display next month, and around $2 billion is dedicated to a conference centre in Montego Bay and a civic centre in St. Mary. More billions will be spent on upgrading the ports and a whopping $20 billion is allocated for the National Roads Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC) to give Bouygues Travaux Publique ownership of another stretch of toll highway, the Mount Rosser by-pass. Conceptualiser of the original Highway 2000 project, the aforementioned Kingsley is a 'doubting Thomas', and perhaps the Government will find itself between NROCC and a hard place.
Reality 'cheque'
By the time Sister P and the Jurassic crew retire, Jamaica will be modern in infrastructure and pretty. In the short term, the massive construction projects will generate economic growth, jobs and votes. Great!
Reality 'cheque!' As asked of Bruce when he proposed the elimination of secondary-school fees and recently, when he suggested the similar abolition of the health charges, "How are the younger Jamaicans going to pay for all of this?"
Very little has been said about concrete strategies for earning foreign exchange to reduce the growing import/export gap. This chasm will widen significantly, because construction is a net sucker of foreign exchange, not an earner. Will the innovations in agriculture do it?
It is not enough to applaud the increase of cellphone usage from 70,000 to 2.2 million with 1,000,000 internet users, because computers and cellphones are not made here and this leads to much capital expatriation.
How much more will tourism create and at what cost? Will the Spanish invasion, with oversized hotels, bring enough revenue to compensate for the inevitable environmental damage?
By the way, sport is a real possibility but the so-called multi-purpose stadium has no scope for track and field.
Furthermore, cricket is less international than netball and the only reason that Steve Bucknor is honoured with so many finals was because 'WI' were not good enough to reach them.
Finally, as with the other 59 parliamentarians, I am extremely disappointed about the treatment of the 200th anniversary of the end of the transatlantic slave trade. It was not mentioned until way past the middle of her speech and not addressed until virtually the end. When the green and orange fade, we will still be black.
Dr. Orville Taylor is a senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indes, Mona.
