Who will take on the IMF?

THE EDITOR, Sir:

The happy, gentle and conciliatory Sista P who is now our leader is so different from the Sista P on the hustings.

Would that it were Andrew Holness - the first seemingly decent, intelligent, broad-minded and well-intentioned politician to emerge in a long time.

But was his startling elevation to the prime ministership anything more than a ploy to distract us from the noxious scandals oozing from the JLP? Will Mr Holness, as analyst Shalman Scott suggests, now be jettisoned by older, tougher, less clean aspirants for the leadership of the JLP?

One thing is certain: Everything the now-wounded JLP has done towards stabilising the Jamaican economy may be thrown out by Sista P and her advisers or squandered on JEEPs.

Let us hope, at the very least, that she does not appoint Omar Davies to lead the charge.

Any ex-civil servant who can:

1. Admit cheerfully to 'running' with government funds (for whatever reason).

2. Jet off to Paris and Milan to borrow expensive money when cheaper funds were available.

3. Preside over a financial system and countenance interest rates of 45 and 50 per cent and up.

4. Preside over the asset rape and plunder that was FINSAC. Such a person should not be allowed near even a piggy bank.

It does seem that the obvious candidate for minister of finance is Peter Bunting, but what do we really know about him, except that he has made a lot of money for himself and is a tough campaigner who very nearly got beaten by Danville Walker?

We can only hope that whoever is chosen to take on the International Monetary Fund is equal to the task.

AVA GARDNER