http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090510/focus/focus2.html
Published: Sunday | May 10, 2009
Kevin O'Brien Chang

Well done, Bruce, Portia, Audley and Omar. You have collectively given Jamaica its best Budget debate in living memory. A tone of friendly cooperation was maintained from start to finish, and there was lots of substance to go with the style. Navigating the world financial crisis without fatal damage will require inspired leadership and, so far, our politicians have risen to the task.

We love to curse our elected officials, and sometimes rightly so. Look at all those crocodile tears shed in Parliament when Housing Minister Horace Chang related that nearly a third of Jamaicans are squatters. It's no secret that our high crime rate is directly related to this widespread phenomenon, for illegal settlements do not have the same sense of ownership and self- policing as established neighbourhoods. It's also no secret that many of our over 700 squatter communities are politician constructed voter 'garrisons'. Yet, many MPs shamelessly expressed outrage at a problem they either helped create or perpetuate!

signs of statesmanship

So, yes, our politicians must be condemned for, too often, sinking to the lowest common denominator, and not often enough rejecting violence. Still, it can't be denied that we are seeing signs of statesmanship these days, in the sense of putting the nation's well-being before personal interests and petty partisanship.

For one thing, our leaders seem to be listening to each other. Many have condemned the Budget debate as a sham, where the Government simply lays down the law, while the Opposition tries to create populist sound bites, with no constructive dialogue ever taking place.

But this was certainly a listening Budget, where the Government took onboard four major suggestions of the Opposition. It agreed with Dr Omar Davies' recommendations about lifting the $500,000 wage cap for NIS contributions, and using some of the Tourism Enhancement Fund to build housing for tourism workers. In line with Mrs Portia Simpson Miller's and PNPYO demands, the proposed GCT on books and basic food items has been revoked, to be replaced by increased taxes on alcohol and cigarettes. The Opposition leader's call for a comprehensive restructuring of the legislative framework dealing with the police force was also publicly accepted by the PM.

Two heads always better than one

No one I have talked to can remember anything like this happening in the past. Let's hope it's not a one-off, and that the Government continues to take on- board any good suggestion made by the Opposition. Two heads are always better than one.

The prime minister's presentation was a superb combination of intellect and emotion. He displayed an unsurpassed mastery of the facts, addressing almost every conceivable problem facing the country. This, in itself, was mighty reassuring to Jamaicans. Yes, our problems might be grave. But at least we have a man in charge who is fully acquainted with the realities of the situation, and has thought and consulted widely about possible solutions.

Indeed, a friend described Golding's speech as almost Laraesque. For as the great Brian Lara used to smash the ball to all parts of the boundary, so Golding dealt with every imaginable national issue. Lara did not merely accumulate runs, but won the admiration of even opposing fans with the beauty of his stroke play. And likewise, Golding did not just reel off facts and figures, but genuinely connected with listeners by displaying a heartfelt understanding of the common man's plight. Who could fail to be moved by the story of the inner-city young girl he helped with spinal surgery, who came back a few years later to show him her CXC seven grade ones and five grade twos? Equally touching was his concern that proper compensation be paid to the parents of little Janice Allen, who died so tragically. Crisis Budget speeches don't get much better.

Now you can regret saying these things. But is it too far-fetched to wonder if this presentation might in future times be regarded as the beginning of a long-needed paradigm shift? For if Jamaica is to become a country where everyone has access to good education and health care and no one lives in dire poverty, we all have to change our ways. Rearranging the education budget by pumping more money into early childhood and primary-level schooling must be a good start. A house with shaky foundations can never be stable, no matter how fancy the roof.

It may all turn out to be empty, grandstanding rhetoric - bitter experience warns you not to be sucked in by the sweet-mouth promises of politicians. But Golding's call for every Jamaican to develop a sense of individual responsibility is long overdue. As he said, we are all to blame for our problems - irresponsible breeders, lackadaisical parents, lazy students, tax evading businessmen and patronising politicians.

revised paternity law

Yet, I wanted to hear Mr Golding throw his support behind Ronnie Thwaites' call for a revised paternity law, giving the mother the right to put the father's name on the baby's birth certificate, with court-ordered DNA testing for disagreements. The parenting commission is a good idea, but is at best a Band-Aid remedy. Irresponsible parenting must be tackled at the root, namely by making sure every Jamaican child has a registered father, who can be forced by law to mind the fruit of his loins.

Underneath the stirring rhetoric was lots of unsexy but crucial factual data. Because merely buying new tyres and buffing up the paint job will never make a car go faster. To get an automobile running properly, the mechanic has to delve into its engine and get his hands greasy.

And, while such things as improvements in the planning and development approval rate will never make headlines, they are fundamental to improving national productivity. For the percentage of applications disposed of within 90 days to rise from four per cent in 2007, to 94 per cent at the end of March 2009, is tremendous progress, even if this does not include the parish council level. Let's hope the promised 'complete one stop 90 days' approval process will soon become a reality.

an afterthought

Though, as usual, it came across as an afterthought, Golding's comments on crime were very interesting. Having 56 police arrested for corruption last year is a huge step in the right direction. And he is surely right - if we can't rid the police force of corruption, we will never be able to rid the country of crime. Again, let's hope that the National Identification System is in place by 2012.

Incidentally, the move to get government ministries out of rented New Kingston premises into government-owned downtown ones should not only save money, but lead to urban renewal and help cut crime. Bringing our ministers and senior civil servants closer to the on-the-ground reality might well spur them to take serious action against everyday squalor and disorder.

Omar Davies (foreground) and Audley Shaw in Parliament. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

grown as a speaker

After his Budget speech, a friend and I marvelled at how Bruce Golding has grown as a speaker. He's come a long way from the brain-numbing, technocratic discourse he gave at his first JLP conference as leader when his bored captive audience basically walked out.

My bottom-line friend then tersely remarked that he was looking for the same kind of improvement in Golding's decision making. For if his fine words are to become anything more than ineffectual rhetoric, the Government will have to soon make some tough calls. The talk had been talked. Now let's walk the walk.