Dr Phillips not looking too shabby

It was the radical British Liberal politician, Joseph Chamberlain, who in 1886 said that in politics, there's no use looking beyond the next fortnight.

One of Chamberlain's contemporaries, former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, gave an even better description of how vulnerable to flux both the life of a politician and the vocation of politics tend to be. In 1964, while addressing journalists at a press briefing to discuss his Labour government's response to the sterling crisis gripping Britain, Wilson dropped the gem that's quoted with mechanical regularity today. When asked if his intervention measures would achieve success, Wilson told the gathering that a week is a long time in politics.

The sentiments of both Chamberlain and Wilson will be greatly appreciated and acknowledged as truth by Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips.

A year ago, Dr Phillips' name was subject to the ferocious mastication of the jaws of critics inside the Opposition JLP and within his own PNP for failing to deliver on his numerous promises of signing off on a new economic programme with the IMF. It was in this month last year that Dr Phillips began to get the voodoo doll treatment after he unveiled a $16-billion tax package, following the $23 billion in taxes he had levied at the start of the 2012-2013 fiscal year.

VISIBLY AGITATED

For the imposition of that tax package which was described by the Opposition as massive and iniquitous, Dr Phillips became, at least in the eyes of Shadow Finance Minister Audley Shaw, the new Satan on the government benches, replacing Peter Bunting.

For the period leading up to his final Budget presentation on May 1 last year, Dr Phillips was like a piece of stir fry, being shuffled around the frying pan but finding no comfort, as the oil was hot everywhere he landed. He seemingly took to heart the mockery that met every missed target he had announced for tying up a deal with the IMF. This as he stopped giving timelines after a while, becoming visibly agitated when the media pressed him for the date on which he believed the folks in Washington would approve an agreement for Jamaica.

In those dark days, Audley Shaw accused Dr Phillips of incompetence and called on the prime minister to assume the role of a referee, withdraw him from the heat of the action, and sit him behind the substitutes' bench. Dr Phillips, it was said at the time, was handling the final IMF negotiations with as much skill as a masturbator with two injured wrists.

The liberties taken must have breached the threshold of tolerance for Dr Phillips when the National Democratic Movement found time to craft a press release, calling on the prime minister to take him out of his misery and relieve him of the portfolio because of his incompetence.

NDM Chairman Peter Townsend took the trouble to give the prime minister instructions on how to handle the removal of Dr Phillips. He declared that Mrs Simpson Miller ask him for his resignation, failing which she should give him the boot.

MOVING FORWARD WITH IMF

Fast-forward to the present and, despite the raging poverty, joblessness, exorbitant cost of living and a near worthless currency, Dr Phillips isn't looking too shabby at all. He and his team have successfully led the country through three tests under the new IMF programme, in the process meeting the targets set down after consultations with the men in suits from Washington.

Many won't like to hear it said, but his handling of the IMF programme has so far been first rate, and the level of transparency which he agreed to in allowing the establishment of the Economic Programme Oversight Committee has won him the trust of influential private-sector leaders. Yes, we know that meaningful growth has been elusive, but he has just chalked up two straight quarters of positive movement in that regard.

Considering that the reality could be far worse, we must not be afraid to commend Dr Phillips for his handling of his portfolio to date. He's a long way from overall success as a finance minister. But he's several steps further away from being the failure he was being painted out to be.

Selah.

George Davis is a journalist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and george.s.davis@hotmail.com.