Phillips pulls out of transport sector committee over comments by Vaz

Opposition Spokesman on Transport, Mikael Phillips, has withdrawn from the Transport Sector Committee following comments made by transport minister Daryl Vaz about his role in the decision to grant a 35 per cent fare increase for transport operators.

Following criticism from Opposition Leader Mark Golding regarding how the increase is being implemented, Vaz said Phillips was a part of the group which deliberated on the increase and was “fully aware” of what was the outcome of the discussions.

However, in a media release Tuesday afternoon, Phillips said he had informed Vaz at the outset of establishing the Transport Sector Committee that the Opposition's participation would not include deliberating on fares.

“I, therefore, was not a part of the sub-committee which made the recommendation for a 35 per cent fare increase in two stages of 19 per cent on October 15, 2023, and a compounded 16 per cent on April 1, 2024”, he stated.

Phillips also noted that his participation in the Transport Sector Committee was in the spirit of trying to find a national approach based on genuine efforts by all sides.

“I remain committed to the effort to forge a national approach. However, it is now clear that the Minister intends to use my participation as a tool of distraction, misleading Jamaica over policy positions developed by the PNP, Leader of the Opposition, the shadow cabinet and myself. I have no intention of being used by the Minister and, I am, therefore, unable to further participate in the committee,” he said.

Phillips said the Opposition will find other effective means of continuing dialogue with all stakeholders in the transportation sector.

In the meantime, Phillips called for Vaz to immediately withdraw his "intemperate and ill-considered attack on the Leader of the Opposition".

Vaz had rejected as “fiscal indiscipline” suggestions from Golding to remove the hedge fund gas tax and cap the special consumption tax (SCT) on fuel amid blinding inflation, labelling him a “political despot”.

Vaz said Golding's proposal, which he likened to economic policies of the 1990s, is an attempt to score “cheap political points”.

Phillips has hit back, noting that the opposition leader's speech in St Mary highlighted ways and means to manage escalating public transport costs, and this has been a part of the Opposition's transport policy and elaborate on in the sectoral debates for three successive years.

The Opposition spokesman said Vaz "failed to acknowledge that Golding had also affirmed that something had to be done for the operators as the failure of the government to implement sustainable policies had compounded the problems being faced by the operators, particularly in rural Jamaica."

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