EDITORIAL - Here's the right message, Mr Pickersgill

We prefer to believe that Mr Robert Pickersgill, the chairman of the People's National Party (PNP) and a senior minister in Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller's Cabinet, misapprehends the argument.

Otherwise, Mr Pickersgill has disingenuously conflated the issues. Such deliberate attempt at muddle we do not expect of him.

The issue is what Mr Pickersgill assumes to be unfair criticism of the prime minister, supposedly for not speaking enough on the issues of the day, which he appears to interpret as a call for Mrs Simpson Miller to trespass on the portfolio of her ministers.

He told this newspaper: "As far as I know, the style of the prime minister is to allow her ministers to work. (It) is not that the prime minister cannot interfere, but she does not. ... She quietly gives guidance."

Then Mr Pickersgill goes on to patronise, if not insult, the finance minister, in a context of complaints, including by this newspaper, of the prime minister's failure to assume ownership of the economic programme to which Jamaica is committed under its agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Said Mr Pickersgill: "There has been talk about the finance minister, but although he is an experienced minister, he needs time to familiarise himself with the portfolio. ... Any prudent prime minister would not want to take over the show."

That last point first.

Peter Phillips, the finance minister, has been on the job for nearly 20 months. He led Jamaica's negotiations with the IMF for the nearly US$2-billion extended fund facility. He has made compelling arguments for, and strategies towards, bringing Jamaica's unsustainable debt under control.

Which takes us to the fundamental point of contention. It is the position of this newspaper, and many others, that Jamaica's economic problems are so intractable and their fix so potentially difficult and painful that they require a national buy-in beyond the capacity of Dr Phillips to deliver.

The circumstance demands, we insist, deeply committed and perhaps extraordinary leadership, which on the basis of office, is primarily the job of the prime minister.

Best communicator

Mrs Simpson Miller, should she choose to apply them, would bring to the task other important skills. She, among contemporary politicians, is most capable of communicating with the majority of Jamaicans. She has a high quotient of emotional intelligence.

But Mrs Simpson Miller, thus far, seems unwilling to expend serious political capital on a programme of economic reform. She does not want, it seems, to be the bearer of the message of the difficult tasks that the Government has to undertake and the pinch that will be felt by voters.

It is not that Mrs Simpson Miller does not sporadically speak to the issues. Rather, there is a perceived reticence to grab the reform agenda in full embrace and to get on with a deliberate job of mobilising people around its necessity.

What the PM has to appreciate are the possibilities of her office and that the quality of its outcomes is not measured only by the result of the next election.

She need not be overly concerned about "talk(ing) her way out of office", if in the process she places the Jamaican economy on a path to sustained growth and development. Mrs Simpson Miller may have to stop attempting to coat herself in Teflon and become a leader of transformation.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.