Lack of policy cohesion

Ronald Mason, GUEST COLUMNIST

I have been paying attention to the tabling of the 2013-14 Estimates of Expenditure in Parliament. I have been subsequently following Parliament's Standing Finance Committee as members review Jamaica's spending estimates.

I have come to the conclusion that we are wasting, as a country, the opportunities provided by our engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a four-year extended fund facility valued at US$958 million. The IMF requirements have sought to provide us with some economic discipline. This discipline can be readily labelled 'Live within your means'.

As such, we have been given this opportunity, coinciding with the start of the fiscal year, and provided a good platform for the integration of the economic recovery we so desperately need. The timing is fortuitous.

The loan infusions are significant. However, let us be aware of the significance of the value of the loan in view of our spending habits. We spend US$2.4 billion for oil, another US$1 billion for food, have a trade deficit of US$4 billion, and have no restriction on the repatriation of corporate profits. Now, the US$2-billion loan will run over four years. The figures quoted above are applicable each year.

The agreed targets are the right prescription on the opportunity to set the stage for our economic future. We crafted the budget of estimated expenditures and it should have reflected a cohesion towards the same, singular goal. But what do we have?

We have ministers making disjointed representations, more concerned with whom should get credit or blame for programmes. We have a lack of timelines. We have a woeful lack of ability to quantify and set specific targets. I have yet to hear one ministerial response that understands and accepts the maxim that 'if you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it'. Is this a nation with focus?

We hear things like 'we need 100,000 new high-school places'. What we do not hear is when we are going to get them. Where do we wish to go? I hear no clearly defined vision around which to mobilise the 2.7 million of us. I hear, "We love the poor", but we have not identified how many can be classified as needy poor, therefore we cannot plan an effective, efficient cash-transfer system to protect them from the ravages of inflation and the lack of job opportunities. This just illustrates the absence of a workable vision.

Let me suggest some things that should occupy the parliamentarians.

Productivity critical

We could borrow all the hard currency, but if we do not produce goods and services, we will be much worse off two or three years from now. Productivity is absolutely critical. How we use technology, how we make training relevant to the job market, and how we create a labour force for the future are the ingredients for growth. We still have more people coming out of high school with a school leaver's certificate without any record of an exam success.

We still have a Ministry of Labour and Social Security that seeks to use the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) to have social welfare officers go into the homes of every PATH recipient and have a time lag of months for receipt of benefits. Has anybody ever heard of random sampling and better spend of the limited dollars available and delivery of the benefits in a shorter time frame? How do you get rid of the corruption? Send some people to prison.

Where is the revolution in agriculture? If you register with RADA today and begin an engagement as a farmer, you will not see an extension officer for months. You will not receive your identification for a year. Some aid to efficient production.

How can we who live in a tropical country continue to spend US$2.4 billion on fossil-fuel imports annually and still collect padded duties, fees, costs on solar panels and other devices that utilise the always available energy from the sun. Why can't we severely restrict the importation of automobiles for one or two years while we get our energy economy in order? Car dealers sell motorcycles. Are we in crisis, or is it business as usual? Why can't we restrict the importation of 60-cycle electrical equipment in a country that only produces 50-cycle for distribution?

Where is the vision to match the rhetoric on tax reform? Nearly a decade ago, we had the Matalon Report; and lately, the Private Sector Working Group Report. What is Parliament's definitive word on that? We have the Gordon House Posse scoring cheap political points and not proposing serious workable, tested solutions to the nation's clearly identified problems. The only thing left for them to do is, in addition to discarding the symbolism of pay cuts, to seek salary increases. We are going to increase public-sector wages from J$148 billion to a proposed J$158 billion. Is the country in crisis?

Who is responsible for mobilising the population to shared sacrifice, hard work, smart work, in a sense of national unity?

When it comes to party politics, members of parliament know the value of mobilisation. Just recall their annual conferences. They get groups and branches ready to fill the buses to pack the National Arena. Why is the party worth more than the nation? Where is the roadshow to engage all of us in the national struggle? Do we wait until there is no food on the table and the lights are out?

Ronald Mason is an attorney-at-law/mediator. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and nationsagenda@gmail.com.