EDITORIAL - Mr Matalon's challenge

We note last week's election of Mr Joseph M. Matalon for a second term as president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) and endorse the confidence reposed in him by the members of the organisation.

For, as was noted by Mr Matalon's colleagues, the past year was challenging and demanding on the PSOJ and, by extension, its president. Mr Matalon, however, provided effective leadership to the private sector and helped to articulate a vision for achieving what we all hope for Jamaica: making the country as the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business.

Indeed, the PSOJ, and the private sector broadly, played no insignificant part in the success of the Government's rescheduling of more than $700 billion of domestic debt. That not only helped to ease fiscal pressures, but went a far way in smoothing a path for the Golding administration to reach a standby agreement with the International Monetary Fund for nearly US$1.3 billion in loans.

The PSOJ, under Mr Matalon's leadership, has proposed other initiatives, including the reform of the tax system which, if aggressively embraced, will help to drive economic growth and improve our chances of making Jamaica that preferred place in which to live.

But there is much hard work to be done in an environment that will continue to test the mettle of leadership, not least Mr Matalon's.

The PSOJ and its president have, for instance, placed the matter of law and order in Jamaica high on their agenda. And not without good reason.

It is well documented that high levels of crime in Jamaica, and its negative impact on costs and productivity swipe many billion dollars a year from national output, thus limiting growth and job creation.

This situation was graphically illustrated recently in the west Kingston uprising when armed gangs challenged the security forces to prevent the arrest of reputed crime boss Christopher Coke who, for a long time, appeared to have the support of the administration of Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

Mr Matalon and the PSOJ, in that context, are not only right to demand effective measures to fight crime but to insist on an end to the nexus between criminality and politics. The PSOJ, given the Government's resistance to the extradition of Mr Coke, was right to suspend talks with the administration on a social contract, dubbed the Partnership for Transformation.

Public pressure

Happily, Prime Minister Golding, albeit under public pressure, came to his senses. Mr Matalon will soon have to outline clear terms for a re-engagement of the Government. In that regard, he must set specific timetables for the administration to accomplish prescribed goals and be unambiguous that the private sector will withdraw support if the Government reneges on undertakings.

Additionally, Mr Matalon must insist on the establishment of a standing forum within which the Government, Opposition and the private sector can discuss and, hopefully, arrive at consensus on important, and critical, national issues. Such a forum would be distinct and separate from specific negotiations, such as those for the Partnership for Transformation.

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