Bureaucracy is economic pickpocket, says Samuda
Published:Sunday | October 17, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Karl Samuda, the investment and commerce minister, has branded public-sector bureaucracy an economic "pickpocket", the fight against which is the most difficult he has ever engaged in, but which the Golding administration is determined to win.
In a speech last Wednesday night at the launch of the public-private sector partnership to promote Jamaica's goods and services at the 2012 Olympics, Samuda explained that part of the difficulty in unravelling red tape is fear by government bureaucrats that loosening regulations will "let in the (private sector) bandits".
The minister's remarks came against the backdrop of a growing chorus here for the Government to remove impediments to doing business, which, Samuda said, influenced his recent summit of public and private-sector leaders to identify and dismantle barriers.
While claiming that the meeting last week helped to clear areas of public-private-sector misunderstanding, and sharpened the project to dismantle barriers to business, Samuda told his audience: "Bureaucracy is the greatest pickpocket there is. It denies the productive sector an opportunity to act expeditiously and to go about the business of creating wealth."
He said when Prime Minister Bruce Golding's Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) came to office three years ago, removing red tape and creating a business-friendly environment was at the top of their agenda.
"It is the single most difficult challenge I have ever faced - the removal of bureaucracy," Samuda said, explaining that this was, in part, because of the legislative changes required and the sheer breadth of things that have to be done.
Fear
But there was also the fact that many officials "just fear that by removing bureaucracy, you are going to let in the bandits", the minister added.
This public-sector distrust of the private sector, Samuda suggested, was like giving credibility to the adage of being "penny wise and pound foolish", which the Government does not want to be.
"We are prepared to hedge on the side of those elements that release those elements that constitute the bureaucracy if it means that by doing so we expand production, create growth and jobs, and make the economy more vibrant," he said.