Holness in the hot seat

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness comes to the proverbial wicket today to make his 11th contribution to the yearly Budget Debate at a time when the country is said to be transitioning from recovery to reconstruction post-hurricane Melissa. Jamaica also, like many other countries, now faces mounting threats to its fiscal targets with the intensifying conflict in the Middle East and its related impact on oil prices.

An Israeli missile strike yesterday on Iran’s South Pars gas field, the largest gas field in the world, and subsequent threats by the Islamic Republic to attack the oilfields in at least three Gulf states, triggered an instant five per cent hike in the price of oil, with Brent crude selling for US$108.66 a barrel on Wednesday.

The United States and Israel attacked Iran little more than three weeks ago, leading to a major conflict in the Middle East.

With the Government’s Fiscal Policy Paper in February projecting a negative real gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 0.5 per cent for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, owing to the impact of the Category 5 storm, Holness is expected to announce measures to cushion the effects of the rising oil prices and the $18-billion tax package on the most vulnerable.

In his Budget Debate presentation on Tuesday, Opposition Leader Mark Golding said the war in the Middle East was driving up oil and gas prices and this would flow through into higher prices for consumers locally.

He said the combination of the post-Melissa hardship, the war in the Middle East, and the Government’s tax package was a toxic cocktail that would deliver bitter medicine to Jamaicans.

In this regard, he urged the prime minister to tell the country what his plans are for protecting the society from this impact, especially those who are still struggling to get their lives back together after the hurricane.

OUTLINE VIEWS ON WAR

Stewart Jacobs, president of the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ), is also urging the prime minister to clearly outline his plans to alleviate the economic impact of the Middle East war on ordinary Jamaicans.

“I would like for him to speak to how we are going to recover from Hurricane Melissa and also, what steps would be made to protect us from what is happening globally, to ensure that the ordinary Jamaican is able to afford a meal to put on the table with what is coming from the conflict that is going on,” he said.

The NPTAJ president said he was also expecting to hear what additional plans are coming to bolster early childhood education.

Another critical issue that Jacobs is urging the Government to address is how it plans to encourage teacher retention in the classroom.

He said the Government should sit at the bargaining table with the teachers’ union and try to reach a compromise quickly, so that there is no likely disruption to the teaching and learning process.

At present, the Jamaica Teachers’ Association and the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service are expected to return to the bargaining table to iron out a new wage agreement for the more than 25,000 teachers in public schools.

Mark Malabver, president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association, said that in terms of the overall direction of the country, he wants the prime minister to say where education is situated within that context.

Noting that economic growth and development cannot be separated from educational transformation and reform, Malabver said a substantial part of that discussion was “how do you properly compensate educators, so that they are attracted to the profession and stay in the classroom”.

He said the administration has touted the reduction in crime over a period of time, and research has shown that the Government spends more per capita on national security than it does on education, and the results are showing.

However, the JTA boss said there was a need to make education the priority and the vehicle for economic growth and transformation.

“When you have a highly educated society, then more innovation will come to the fore, entrepreneurship will grow, and invariably, that will transition into economic growth and development,” he added.

He argued that the key component of all of that is how to transition into a highly educated society and what should be done to achieve that.

“Jamaica seems to be the only country that believes that return on investment in education should come before investment in education itself,” he said.

Arguing that education should become the national priority, Malabver said the Government has driven down the crime rate, but that that was not sustainable unless “you are able to educate the population and cut off the incubators for crime”.

He said the reduction in the level of crime can only be sustained over time by educational transformation.

editorial@gleanerjm.com