Portia's recommendations, Bruce's response

The best part, the most useful part, of the contribution made to this year's Budget Debate by Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller was her "set of practical, workable and implementable recommendations". But the Budget 'Debate' is usually just that: proposition and opposition in a semantic fantasy, which would make members of the Schools' Debating Society proud, but which has little real impact on the thing itself, the Budget. That is, unless the designers and keepers of the Budget choose to budge.

Portia made what I believe to be a heartfelt call for political and parliamentary consensus around some big issues affecting the prospects of our country. When the Government side calls for consensus, it could be dismissed as mere political posturing. When an Opposition calls for consensus, there has to be a serious reckoning of the political risks of getting too chummy with a Government it hopes to replace. So in her call for consensus, Portia, in effect, is saying she is ready to expend some political capital in the larger national interest. A responsible Government should take her up on it.

Here are the Simpson Miller recommendations as direct quotes:

1. Our goal must be to develop a business environment in which all businesses, regardless of size, scale or bottom line, can draw from available resources and contribute to national growth and development. It will not happen by chance, Mr Speaker. We must take steps to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of the Jamaican people, which will propel us on a sustainable growth path.

2. The issue of economic growth and job creation must be the subject of extensive and ongoing discussion in Parliament. We need to engage in dialogue with all sectors of the Jamaican society.

3. We have been saying consistently for months that we would implement tax-incentive programmes to encourage the development of new businesses. These incentives will apply to businesses, regardless of size or sector. At the same time, we are renewing our call for:

The capping of the ad valorem tax on fuel.

The rollback of the GCT on electricity bills.

We also demand that the 50 per cent of the Special Consumption Tax on fuel be allocated to the Road Maintenance Fund, as approved by Parliament.

4. We need the ICT sector to drive the creation of thousands of jobs and to create a platform for additional new businesses development. We have to restore Jamaica's technological pre-eminence in order to maximise the real business potential that exists in the modern world.

5. When it comes to a National Energy Policy, let us be clear: There is no need for any political contention. If ever there was an area around which there should be national consensus, it is the energy sector. The high cost of energy now threatens to destabilise all of our developmental targets. We are recommending the immediate establishment of a National Council on Energy. This council will bring together all the critical stakeholders in the energy sector.

6. [For urban renewal], I am proposing [that] a programme called CARE be implemented. The programme, Culture, Arts, Recreation and Education, is designed to create jobs, educate and train citizens as confident and independent Jamaicans. I am proposing that a pool of funds be established where citizens who are in the cultural and creative industries can gain access to funds to enhance their business.

7. This year, positive steps have been taken as both Houses of Parliament approved the new Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This may not be a perfect document. However, its provisions represent the collective wisdom of the Parliament. We must resolve the issue of the Caribbean Court of Justice as the final appellate court for Jamaica.

8. I again offer an approach which will allow us to build a national coalition against lawlessness, criminality and its causes. That approach is that we set aside special sittings in the Parliament each quarter to objectively and dispassionately discuss lasting solutions to our country's crime problem. This will send a strong signal to the country that, as parliamentarians we are united on this critical issue.

When the leader of the Government, Prime Minister Bruce Golding, makes his contribution to the Budget Debate this afternoon, and his minister of finance closes the debate Wednesday, as responsible leaders with the country's interest at heart, and in the spirit of consensus-building offered by the Opposition, they should clearly reason with us which of these proposals the Government intends to take on board; and which may not be feasible and why.

These top officers of the executive should work really hard to trash the strongly held views that the Budget Debate is pure fantasy and that the political parties are gang-like entities hell-bent on looking after their own interests.

Martin Henry is a communication specialist. Email feedback to columns and medhen@gmail.com.