Eye on elections
Published:Sunday | April 17, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Arthur Hall, Senior Gleaner Reporter
Economic analyst Anne Shirley has agreed with claims that the $544.7-billion budget crafted by the Government for the 2011-2012 fiscal year reflects a platform for a possible general election campaign.
General elections are due next year, and despite presenting an almost flat spending plan in real terms, the Bruce Golding administration has faced criticism that it has crafted an 'election budget'.
So far, there has been no response from the administration, but Shirley told last Friday's Gleaner Editors' Forum that the administration had given itself enough room to spend on projects to create a "feel-good effect".
"Money is in it for new fire vehicles, and they have left in money for cleaning drains," Shirley declared.
"Why am I mentioning these things? Because cleaning drains is an ongoing thing and it is one of those that you can employ very quickly," Shirley added.
She argued that the Government's provisions for items such as energy saving could leave it with more money for feel-good programmes.
"If the Government is, for example, to save $1 billion on its JPS (Jamaica Public Service) and Water Commission bills, that is money that it could free up for its social projects, and the potential is there if those projects really get cracking ... ," argued Shirley.
According to Shirley, she has identified a further $14 billion allocated in the Budget which could quickly be moved to election-geared projects.
"There is $7.4 billion for something called a liability-management exercise, and a contingency of $6.9 billion to pay for guaranteed loans. Those are sitting in the Budget."
Social programmes
She argued that these allocations could have been used for social programmes, but they have been set aside to pay for items which may not be needed.
"There is a lot of fluff in the Budget, and when you see these numbers, this is where an election can be financed," declared Shirley.
"It is both of them (political parties); they will do the same thing," added Shirley as she argued that the Opposition People's National Party had done similarly in the past.
Former finance minister, now opposition spokesman, Dr Omar Davies, has never managed to explain away a comment he had made following the 2002 general election when he implied that he had made fiscally imprudent spending decisions ("Run wid it") to bolster the party's chance of a victory at the polls.