Legacy or Lunacy

[Q3210]

In the bosom of corruption
The last days of the PNP's final term
Arlene Gaynor
Sunday, August 07, 2005



The recent reports of the Auditor General and the Contractor General on the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) have once again raised the ugly issue of waste in the Patterson administration.


Former NSWMA boss Alston Stewart, whose name figured prominently in the probes of the agency.
We notice that despite numerous requests the report was not released until conveniently the last day of Parliament just before the Emancipation Day holiday.

The calculating administration, we believe, intended for the report to be lost in the celebrations of Emancipation Day and, therefore , fall not just in the usual "nine days wonder" of our folklore, but also into the feel-good factor of the holidays.

This, however, does not seem to be working this time for the administration. The outrage of the nation is felt in every circle. Every conversation that you hear on the street speaks with disdain of the wanton use of public money by some in public office.

The question which now must be asked is how much longer this government can last with this kind of conduct. Do they still have the moral authority to lead the nation in the context of the amount of waste that exists in the public sector? Is the nation satisfied with the stewardship of this administration?

The government took power in the last election, winning only 34 of the 60 seats in Parliament in 2002 and then went on to lose 13 of the 14 parish council in the local government elections.

It is clear that the popularity of the government has reduced significantly. And in regard to the way in which the country's affairs are being conducted the confidence of the nation must now, be considered to have been totally eroded. How much more waste does this government intend to oversee before it seeks a new mandate from the people?

Do they really believe that the mandate that they got in 2002 can still be regarded as being effective?

The figures as to how much money has been wasted under this administration are astounding. Even if we put it as "waste/breach of procedure" - as Minister Miller responding to the Opposition spokesperson on local government, puts it - and not downright skullduggery and stealing as most of us believe, the matter is totally untenable.

These are only some of the waste:
. 1990 Furniture Scandal - $11 million;
. 1989 Zinc Scandal - $500 million;
. 1991 Shell Waiver - $30 million;
. 1998 Public Sector Salary Scandal - $60 million;
. 2001 Net Serv/Intech Fund Scandal - $1 billion;
. 1997 Operation Pride /NHDC Scandal - $5.5 billion;
. NSWMA- over $2 billion;
. Sandals White House overrun - US$40 million or over $2 billion;
Total: $9.1 billion and counting.

The list goes on. We note that Minister Simpson Miller is now seeking to have parish councils comply with government guidelines. It seems, however, a lot too late. Why wasn't this oversight done at the NSWMA, or at the parish councils when they were all controlled by the PNP.

Perhaps if the minister had kept a closer eye, the St James Parish Council, for example, would not have had the Bogue land issue where lands were pretty much given to PNP supporters without any proper lease agreements or payments.

But an even greater requirement is for this government to vacate office and relieve the Jamaican people from the burden of the nation's scarce resource being plundered by people connected to this government.

Teacher, nurses, all civil servants were coerced into signing a MOU which saw their salary being frozen for 2 1/2 years while inflation above what was projected continues to make their income almost worthless. Fire stations are without basic tools to fight fire. Cost-sharing for education is a burden for parents.

The police are inadequately equipped to fight crime. Parish councils are asked to old strain and can't provide basic road repairs for parochial roads because the minister's budget does not allow it. But yet the government has $9.1 billion in waste and procedural breaches.

Something is clearly wrong with this picture. The prime minister does not even have the decency to speak to the nation on the issue and to date has not publicly addressed the NSWMA matter.
But what can he say?

The report speaks for itself. Enough is now clearly enough. This government must seek a new mandate to continue and they must do so in earnest.

Arlene Gaynor is a lawyer and member of G2K, an affiliate of the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

[Q3210]

Re: Legacy or Lunacy

Golding scoffs at Patterson legacy, PNP leadership campaigners

BY ARLENE MARTIN-WILKINS Sunday Observer reporter
Sunday, August 28, 2005



OPPOSITION Leader Bruce Golding Friday night poured scorn on what is being touted as Prime Minister P J Patterson's legacy, saying legacies should be defined by good governance and not by highways and recreational parks.

"What it seems is that his legacy is being measured by himself and others in terms of things that perhaps are irremovable and therefore when we speak about the Patterson legacy we tend to hear them talk about highways, stadiums, edifices, monuments during the period of his service," Golding said.


Jamaica Labour Party leader Bruce Golding (left) greets Jeremiah Gordon, 78, of Decoy district in Toll Gate, Clarendon, who has given 43 years service to the party in South West Clarendon. Gordon was recognised for his four decades of service at the constituency's fundraising banquet held Friday night, at the Terra Nova Hotel in St Andrew. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

He was addressing a group of Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters at an awards banquet hosted by the South West Clarendon constituency at the Terra Nova Hotel in St Andrew.
Government and governance, according to Golding, involved much more than what seem to be the foundation of Patterson's legacy during his almost 13-year tenure in office.

"Governance is about something far more lasting. Governance must involve consideration as to whether our children today are better educated than before, whether people who have to seek employment are finding it easier to do so, whether health services are more accessible and more affordable or whether people feel safer," said the JLP leader.

He criticised the government for not doing enough to create jobs and questioned the integrity of arguments that suggested Jamaica was now enjoying the highest level of foreign direct investment ever recorded.

"Someone needs to explain to me how do you invest US$2.6 billion in our economy over a five-year period and you succeed in creating only 6,800 jobs," he said.

He said Patterson's legacy should not only be sold to the international community but explained to the island's poor, the unemployed and uneducated and those who were educated but were unsuccessful in finding meaningful jobs.

Golding also argued that many "hidden" aspects of Patterson's legacy needed close examination, particularly areas that spoke to crime.

"We have to make sure that as part of his legacy, we make reference to the 600 people, who die every year because they could not get on a dialysis machine," he pointed out.

"And we also have to mention the 1,500 people who were murdered each year in Jamaica under his stewardship and emphasise that it did not have to happen," Golding said.

Turning to the finance, security and local government ministers - all of whom are vying for the leadership of the People's National Party - Golding charged that they were pursuing their own legacies and compromising the tasks at hand.

Finance Minister Dr Omar Davies, he said, was preoccupied with his leadership campaign instead of seeking to address the little progress the country had made economically with him as head of the country's finances.

Local Government Minister, Portia Simpson Miller, was "completely engrossed" with trying to become the party's next leader when she should have been otherwise busy, trying to sort out the fire department situation and the National Solid Waste Management Authority mess.

As for Security Minister Dr Peter Phillips, he said: "He should be determined that this year is the last year we are going to have a record number of murders.

This year we could outrun Colombia and South Africa with the highest murder rate in the world." All three PNP ministers, he argued, were instead focussing all their energies on their leadership campaigns.

"They are all speaking about visions for Jamaica," he argued. "But why after (so long) in government they suddenly come up on these visions?"

"And if they are not new visions and something they have always held in their minds, then they must explain to us why did they keep them secrets from us for so long and why did they keep them secret from their own colleagues with whom they sit in Parliament," Golding scoffed.

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