JaRistotle's Jottings | Beyond COVID-19

We are likely to remain within the throes of the COVID-induced health crisis for some time to come. In the absence of vaccines, the duration will be largely dependent on the prescriptions imposed by our Government and adherence by our citizenry. As with all crises, we not only have to deal with the current situation while learning from the past, we also have to consider the ‘what next?’

As far as Jamaica is concerned, global goings-on will inescapably have an impact on our internal social, economic, political and security affairs. Of course, the conduct of our Government, the decisions they make and the implementation of those decisions will be the ultimate determinants of how we weather the storms of a post-COVID world.

The first thing to consider is that worldwide, governments are going to give priority to the needs of their populations and economies, perhaps at the expense of others. We have already seen evidence of such nationalistic behaviour on the part of the US: impeding the exportation of medical supplies and equipment to Barbados, the Caymans and Canada, and threatening visa sanctions against countries that refuse to accept deported nationals even in the midst of the pandemic. Then, there are the reports of widespread mistreatment of foreigners in China.

We should take careful note of these developments, because as the pandemic drags on, as infections and deaths increase, the issue of supply and demand for critical resources will increasingly drive national behaviours. Jamaica’s focus should therefore be on strategies to weather the potential impacts of such developments.

Socio-economic concerns

Recent exposés have highlighted the living conditions in many of our inner-city communities, characterised by high-density populations consisting of largely low-income earners and glaringly inadequate social infrastructure and public amenities. These communities, which can least afford the additional rigours, are more likely to be overwhelmed by the long-term fallout of the crisis.

Job losses among low-income earners have been quite widespread. The dilemma of survival under lockdown, vis-à-vis earning a living and feeding one’s family, puts many Jamaicans at odds with the Government’s crisis-driven prescriptions. People must be able to, literally and figuratively, ‘eat a food’.

That said, it will be incumbent on all parties in the labour market to adopt out-of-the-box fixes. Employers, workers, trade unions and regulators should be prepared to adjust their ‘working templates’ to accommodate more workers at lower wages rather than fewer workers at higher wages, a major paradigm shift, to say the least.

Food security is already a major global issue. The closure of hotels, contraction of export businesses and reductions in foreign exchange earnings will no doubt bring this issue into sharper focus, forcing us to become local in our consumption habits, and giving our farmers that all-important lifeline to ensure sustainability.

It is widely known that some of our local ‘super’ manufacturers and distributors promote products that are neither grown nor packaged in Jamaica: imports under local brand names. Alas, high labour and energy costs have driven such manufacturers to outsource aspects of their production activities.

How, therefore, do we incentivise these manufacturers to repatriate their operations? Surely, cost reductions, namely labour and energy, will be priority considerations, as too the availability of raw materials and food produce.

Perhaps, we need legislation akin to the US Defense Production Act to stimulate Jamaican-centric productivity and consumerism, promoting preferential patronage for businesses that do not repatriate profits to foreign lands and those that repatriate their productive operations to Jamaica.

Such win-win outcomes will not be attainable overnight; they will take time to gain traction. However, every major journey begins with a single small step, and we will never achieve a striking thing if we remain in the starting blocks, overcome by inertia, indecision or selfishness.

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