1962-now: a bumpy ride

This is the second instalment of Edward Seaga's three-part series which comprised his contribution to the recent Prime Ministerial Reflections series.

I have outlined this Jamaican 50-year journey of fortune, and mostly misfortunes, to enable a deeper understanding as to why we failed to progress. I contested the presumption of benefits in each case, exposing the fallacies on which these schemes were founded, knowing that in all but one model, the economy would lose ground.

Within this framework of different orders and belief systems, the 1970s was the most dynamic period in that it provoked a furore with attacks on the establishment. In retaliation, the attackers attracted an onslaught of responses as deterrents, creating great confrontation and conflict. But most of all, the decade raised the consciousness of political thought, forcing everyone to appreciate the interplay of politics with the rest of the society and to decide whether they would stand and fight, or flee in fright or, indeed, embrace the new order.

It was a period which forced a commitment, whether to self or country. In my own case, I was passionately committed to fighting for a cause, to tame the alien, inappropriate, socialist juggernaut and to defeat it by strategising its frailties. In the end, it was rewarding to see the strategies succeed and to realise that this seemingly indomitable ideological regime had feet of clay.

Those who did not understand the dynamics of this model failed to realise how close we came to its incorporation as the system of governance of Jamaica, featuring: a criminal justice system, which cowered under pressure; an administration with politicised public officers which allowed use of the Treasury in a wild spending spree to buy political support; and open use of state terror. In all this, a wimpish, conciliatory, unhappy private sector pulled a pillow over its head hoping its fears would go away, and the established High Church became the government at prayer.

It is said, by those who cannot imagine that the overpowering imported ideology of socialism could have been defeated without imported help, that the CIA was at work. If it was, it was well hidden. Those who I saw, who stood with me, were a valiant crew of leaders and supporters who were determined that our freedoms would never be hijacked - the intrepid Daily Gleaner, which courageously refused to bow; the incessant Christian protests of the fundamentalist evangelical churches speaking to and for the folk people of Jamaica and the courageous inner-city people, many of whom gave their lives to stop the lethal stampede of socialist forces in the streets.

The masses and the classes cut across all borders: able-bodied, lame, and blind electors found their way to the polls in an amazing record electoral turnout of 87 per cent in 1980; the private sector, finally aroused, gave powerful, respected guidance. This was the coalition of interests which became the crusaders to protect our Holy Grail: the Jamaican way of life.

Reversing 1970s legacy

Equally sharing this passion in the succeeding period was the determined drive to rebuild the nation in the 1980s. In a decade tainted with the struggle against imponderable global forces, our challenge was to reverse the legacy of the 1970s of a near-collapsed economy, overcome the ravages of the worst global recession in 50 years, rebuild and restore a battered country from the devastation of the worst-ever hurricane, while creating an economy which was renewed, revitalised, reformed and recovered. We met this challenge, all in one decade.

There are many lessons to learn about surviving snares and pitfalls by devising our own strategies that work rather than accepting, willingly or unwillingly, the imported belief systems which others think must be made to work. The same brainwashed mentality that proclaimed everything from the great house to be good and better is the same one which dictates that imported investment, imported socialism, imported federalism, imported IMF dictates and imported globalisation are all good and better. They are, but only in part. We must determine what is good and reject vehemently what is not, or we will become modern-day slaves to new masters in a new colonial regime, and true Independence would be a fiction.

I contested all these systems of imposition, from federalism to certain aspects of globalisation. Their shoes did not fit our feet. It was in the last half of the 1980s, free of IMF tentacles on the exchange rate, free of the investment mantra that all foreign investment is good and should be incentivised, free of IMF dogma which pegged our exchange rate, and free of the rigidities of liberalisation that the public sector must not own any means of production, that we crafted our own labour-intensive, macroeconomic model of a mixed economy which restored growth, achieved record job creation and lowered inflation. And we did so by energising the people-based sectors with expanded investment in wage-earning programmes. This was the way forward, creating a record 100,000 new jobs in three years.

Charter of rights

The rule of law is the most fundamental of all the foundations of governance in civilised society. It must not be a paper-based fiction for the benefit of the privileged because of gaps. A sweeping programme of constitutional reforms began in 1992. In 1994, I introduced the need for special treatment of the human-rights section of the Constitution to provide for a Charter of Rights and Freedoms to close the loopholes of injustice and broaden the rights of the people, particularly the poor and vulnerable. This would greatly assist to close the gap between the two Jamaicas.

Seventeen years passed while the charter continued to flounder as a work in progress in Parliament, seemingly because the political authorities were not enthused about shifting power from the State to the people, which could stop the abuse of human rights by the State. Thankfully, the charter is now virtually law, but, regretfully so far, with plenty bark and little bite unless the machinery for sanctions provided to the public defender is greatly empowered to impose sanctions for abuse of rights and freedoms. The society continues to blatantly allow privileges for the rich and penalties for the poor, even though fundamental principles of justice are the pillars on which the charter must rest.

Jamaica's misfortune is that policymakers have no agreed set of polices or agreed principles on which to devise sustainable strategies which can pass the baton successfully from one runner to the next. Hence, the end result of the relay is a non-productive path of batons that are fumbled and dropped, and runners who take two steps forward and two steps backward. Time now to stop following and fumbling. Time to lead the way!

Edward Seaga is a former prime minister. He is now chancellor of the University of Technology and a distinguished fellow at the University of the West Indies. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and odf@uwimona.com.