Damion Crawford | PM Holness must accept truth and his administration’s failings

Prime Minister Holness’ recent commentary in The Sunday Gleaner on April 6 attempts to rewrite Jamaica’s economic history with selective statistics and partisan framing.

While I welcome public debate on the country’s economic performance, it must be grounded in truth, fairness, historical context, and intellectual honesty. True democracy demands facts – not selective storytelling.

PNP BUILT LIVES

Where I agree with the prime minister is that the People’s National Party (PNP) must accept its economic legacy. We do so proudly. That legacy courageous, and nation-defining. It includes the expansion of access to education, the building of national institutions, and the forging of economic resilience during some of the most globally and domestically difficult times in our history. At every given time in our history the PNP has worked to balance books while building lives, prioritising equity, opportunity, and economic inclusion.

The prime minister speaks often of growth but rarely of the inputs required to attain and sustain it. A nation’s economic performance is deeply linked to the capability, readiness, and motivation of its labour force. That is where Michael Manley focused. Free secondary and tertiary education, adult literacy, maternity leave, equal pay for women, minimum wage, and labour rights were not handouts; they were investments in productivity and long-term economic competitiveness. Manley understood that an empowered worker is a more productive worker. The institutions he built such as the NHT helped to uplift a generation and laid the human infrastructure necessary for sustainable growth.

P.J. Patterson’s administration chose the path of infrastructure-led development. The highways, bridges, and townships modernised under his leadership were not only symbols of progress – they were economic arteries that allowed commerce to flow, tourism to expand, and rural communities to connect with urban markets. It was the Patterson-led PNP government that:

• Expanded and modernised the tourism sector, bringing in Spanish investments and setting the foundation for Jamaica’s emergence as a top destination.

• Reformed and liberalised telecommunications, laying down the fibre optic networks and broadband systems that enabled call centres to flourish and Jamaican creatives to explode on global digital platforms.

• Delivered over 150,000 housing solutions, and expanded tertiary education access from 6.5 per cent in 1991 to 19.5 per cent by 2004. This 300 per cent increase in tertiary education access dwarfs Holness’ three per cent increase.

FROM WRECKAGE TO REFORM

When the PNP took the reins, in 1989 we inherited an economy brought to its knees. Debt-to-GDP had exploded to 262 per cent, the net international reserves stood at negative US$803 million, local government services had collapsed, and several hospitals were closed or downgraded. It was the PNP that inherited this wreckage and carefully, through years of reform, rebuilt confidence, reopened and incubated industries, and returned Jamaica to a path of economic recovery and structural reform.

The 2012 PNP administration under Portia Simpson Miller was handed yet another economic disaster. The Golding/Holness administration had run the IMF agreement off track, leading to the suspension of disbursements and the drying up of multilateral support. It was the PNP who rescued the nation. We rebuilt the Net International Reserves, reduced the debt-to-GDP ratio, and restored Jamaica’s international credibility. It is that platform – not any miracle of JLP policy – that Andrew Holness inherited in 2016.

Under PNP governance, Jamaica’s debt-to-GDP ratio declined steadily, even after major shocks like the financial sector bailout. Indeed, prior to this, the only two administrations to reduce debt-to-GDP ratio from where they inherited it were the Patterson administration and the Simpson Miller administration. Every previous JLP administration handed over debt-to-GDP ratios significantly higher than they inherited. The only reason the current JLP government can boast differently is because of the fiscal rules enacted in 2014 by the PNP, which legally bind the government to this trajectory. Holness’ only real economic decision was to follow or break the law.

It must also be noted that poverty falls dramatically every time the PNP is in power and conversely, poverty increases every single time the JLP is in power. Dr. Holness should be reminded that the Patterson administration took approximately 540,000 Jamaicans out of poverty. And Portia Simpson Miller took over 200,000 Jamaicans out of poverty. Conversely, at the end of Edward Seaga’s term, approximately one in three Jamaicans were living below the poverty line. Additionally, under the Golding/Holness administration, they returned over 170 Jamaicans to poverty for every single day they were in power. Indeed, the numbers suggest that in this Holness term, over 25,000 more Jamaicans have fallen into poverty.

This matters because the PNP is the party for the people – and especially the party for the poor.

TRUTH ABOUT INFLATION

The Prime Minister argues that inflation has been reduced under his leadership. But the facts tell a different story. In terms of percentage point reduction of inflation:

• Bruce Golding reduced it by six points.

• Portia Simpson Miller reduced it by six points.

• Andrew Holness has only reduced it by 0.8 points, despite the global deflationary environment.

He seeks to defend this by suggesting that too low an inflation rate stunts economic growth. Yet Canada, the UK, and the US, all target inflation of two per cent or below—without collapsing their economies. The PM may be quick to retort that these countries are not similar to Jamaica. I hope on his road to Damascus he realizes the fallacy of continuous comparison with the United States on the matter. However even this comparison defeats his arguments as the worst performance relative to US inflation occurred during the Golding/Holness administration from 2007–2011 with a ratio of 1:8.2. To the contrary, the best was 1972–1980 under Michael Manley with a ratio of 1:1. If you want to make comparisons to the US, let’s make them properly.

Today, Jamaica’s rate of inflation is the second worst in the English-speaking Caribbean. All these countries are equally dependent on US imports. Yet they have not experienced the same levels of price pressure. This disproves Holness’ narrative that our inflation is due to imported costs. It is due to domestic inefficiencies and bad governance choices.

Let the Prime Minister understand that context always matters. The PNP governed through hurricanes, oil shocks, the global financial crisis, and the Washington Consensus. And yet the party protected 1.5 million Jamaicans bank accounts, over 500,000 present and future pensioners, drastically reduced poverty, expanded education, and modernized the economy.

Now that I have thoroughly debunked the prime minister’s weak and selective response to the facts, there are several other areas from my presentation that demand a response. These include (1) annual crime rates being highest under the two administrations he was a part of, (2) poverty increasing under JLP administrations and (3) food insecurity now affecting over 55 per cent of Jamaicans

None of these truths can be effectively debunked by PM Holness. Our legacy is one of building, not breaking. So yes, Prime Minister Holness, the people of Jamaica must choose wisely.

Damion Crawford is the opposition spokesperson on education and community development. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com