On April 23, 2008, I was among three political analysts invited to participate in a post budget discussion on the popular public affairs programme, The Breakfast Club, aired weekday mornings on News Talk 93 FM. The following is a fuller account of my assessment. The Prime Minister’s Budget presentation was, at best, unimpressive, and at worst, disappointing. It was not a masterful presentation, neither in terms of the eloquence nor (managerial and technocratic) purposiveness, of which PM Bruce Golding has become known, and to which the Jamaican people have become accustomed, and for which they rate him highly. In light of the latter, I wish to lodge the following caveat.
A Note on Eloquence
In rating the Prime Minister’s Budget presentation, some people misguidedly focused purely and minimally on Golding’s extraordinary ability to articulate – his fluency, expressiveness, persuasiveness and confidence. This is, no doubt, understandable. In a society beset with chronic language skills problems and a poor overall literacy record, any ability to demonstrate above average coherence and reasoning is often misconstrued for greatness. “Man can talk,” we often utter in succumbing to the awe of the individual’s ability to use language creatively.
Mind you, eloquence and the capacity to articulate ideas are critical to drawing people to listen, and essential for them to retain their keen attention to your message. Pure eloquence, however, does not make a great presentation; a singular ability to talk does not constitute a great leader. This kind of “Obama-ism” will not wash in any serious assessment of Golding’s budget presentation. Having appealed to people’s ear, there must be something of substantive importance that you have to tell them. You must sustain their attention through personal credibility, and the trustworthiness of the ideas/facts being presented to them. They must be convinced of the sincerity of your pronouncements, that what you say is of benefit to them.
Bruce’ Speech - Hollow and Incomplete
The nation is hungry for hope and direction, especially within the current context what PM Golding himself declared, as serious global challenges – food insecurity, rising oil prices and the persistent inflation crisis. The decay within our own Jamaican society is so deep, the social crisis so extensive that the people became convinced that the ‘course must change’. Throughout the 2007 national election campaign, Bruce Golding and the Jamaica Labour Party painted a persuasive picture of 18 years of utter and total disaster. The JLP successively drove home the failures of the People’s National Party to accomplish anything of benefit to the Jamaican people. And many Jamaicans bought wholesale into the notion that the society is effectively at square one.
It therefore follows that having suffered for 18 years the disaster which was the PNP, and having had 18 years to prepare perhaps the most significant speech of his career, many people, including myself expected to hear a new vision articulated. I waited to hear the PM’s outlining a direction for the country, not only economically but socially and culturally. I waited to hear Bruce Golding’s vision of what this new society would look like, a mental picture of the society he says he wants to help to build. I waited to get a sense of how we may get there. I am a young Jamaican of 32 years, and so I waited to have my hope renewed in Jamaica. What I heard was uninspiring. I heard a mechanical delineation of budgetary allocations, unconnected to an overarching philosophical or political framework. I heard an almost perfunctory description of increased allowances, promises tantamount to ‘political handouts’, done in a vaguely covert spirit of political point scoring.
There were positives …
There were many positives initiatives and suggestions announced by the Prime Minister. These must be acknowledged, and also taken into its correct context. The broadening of the PATH programme to include a great number of beneficiaries, increases in the Minimum Wage by some 16 per cent, increases in financial assistance to students, increase in benefits under the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and increases in allowances paid to special needs people. The PM also reiterated the government’s abolition of user fees in health institutions, abolition of tuition fees as well as the 500b spent to subsidise prices on basic food items. The new government’s renewed focus on agriculture, energy conservation as well as finding new energy sources are commendable. The Prime Minister’s interest in continuing the Justice Reform programme, which was introduced by the PNP administration, is a vital announcement. Affording the Police Commissioner increased autonomy, as well as legislative steps aimed at strengthening the investigative and prosecutorial of the country’s judicial system are important components in the fight against crime.
So is his suggested willingness to upload discussions concerning political party financing onto the parliamentary agenda. The latter is a longstanding issue, long overdue but highly relevant to the quality of our electoral democracy. That Prime Minister Bruce Golding also acknowledged the supremacy of the constitution with regard to the recent ruling of the Supreme Court in the election petition against West Portland Member of Parliament, Daryl Vaz, and the precedent it set for other MP’s on his side of the House is to be acknowledged. It must be difficult as a first time Prime Minister to be faced with the kinds of challenges that Bruce Golding particularly has since taking his seat in a Parliament in which he holds only a whisker of a majority.
It is, however, important to place these positives into their proper context. If we don’t, we run the risk of getting carried by away by expected budgetary pronouncements, and fail to identify the extent to which these developments are tied to an overall improvement in the lives of the citizenry. The PM’s Budget speech instead assumed an economy reductionist approach to Jamaica’s deep seated problems. In other words, the speech presumes that if you fix the economy, then everything else will fall into place. Jamaica’s problems go beyond the economy and so do the solutions. Indeed, in his stampede to parallel the social justice agenda of former PNP President and Prime Minister, Michael Manley, and, like former JLP leader Edward Seaga before him, attempt to sweep that agenda social justice agenda from under the PNP, the Hon Bruce Golding seems to have confused ‘growth’ with ‘development’.
Simply growing the economy is, however, not tantamount to development. It therefore follows that abolishing user fees in health institutions in health institutions is not the same as providing quality health care in an atmosphere where patients feel cared for. Abolishing tuition fees is not the same as providing quality education, producing first class graduates, creating an atmosphere where teachers feel respected, where violence is not the order of the day. Whereas bringing more people into the PATH programme and increasing their allowance is welcoming as it may be able to fetch them an additional item at the supermarket per week, it does not change people’s overall standard of living. It does not change their quality of life.
Introducing casino gambling may indeed $US1 billion dollars into the Jamaican economy, but it may expand the negative social trends in a society already disintegrating under the burdens of social decay. These initiatives will have to be carefully regulated in order not to create more problems that it solves. In the same breath, to distribute building permits like confetti – in the name of development and job creation– as Prime Minister Golding seems to propose, is blatantly at odds with the government’s desire to protect the natural environment. What we in Jamaica often see as “unused land”, many other cultures (such as environmentally conscious and focused New Zealand) sees as retaining the integrity of the land. Indeed, serious flooding in Ocho Rios is appearing to be a real example of the detriments posed by such an angular view of development. In short, throwing money around will not go very far at solving the fundamental social problems that Jamaica has. This is because the beast we are fighting is not just physical poverty but a fundamental poverty of the mind.
Biggest Gap in the Budget
There were a few gaps in this budget. The absence of a real discussion of crime – the dominant concern for Jamaicans, was, in my view, the biggest gaping hole in Bruce Golding’s presentation. The Prime Minister spent approximately 3 minutes flagging some issues in the crime agenda, yet he droned on for about 20-25 minutes in defense of his decisions regarding the firing of the former members of the Public Service Commission. This blatantly exposed the real priorities of the Government in this new dispensation. The fundamental catastrophe which is crime requires a meaningful address from the new government, not a few passing sentences arriving at page 28 and some 3 plus hours late in a four hour speech. A mere flagging of planned legislative changes, continuing justice reform and creating autonomy for the Commissioner is a far departure from what a people expect from its Prime Minister is his critical first speech, and in a context where 1500 of our citizens are slaughtered every year. I expected to hear how the new government intends to address attitudinal issues, declining norms and the constant assault on the values of decency and discipline throughout the society. 2007 exposed in the most elemental way, that we do not speak in the same language concerning fundamental concerns – human rights, crime and justice. There is no consensus on what it means to be a Jamaican, our obligations and duties. In other words, we exist at war with ourselves and a house divided against itself cannot stand. No concern for these fundamental issues was outlined or hinted at by the Hon. Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister, however, premised his discussion on the troubles of inflation, and food insecurity which plague even highly industrialized societies such Sweden, Australia etc. This is a false veil. PM Bruce Golding knows fully that the success of societies such as India, China and Russia is not simply based on an economic strategy but premised on a deep sense of order and discipline, a highly developed work force, high rates of literacy, technical and social skills as well as a deep sense of service and a highly developed work ethic. There was also no mention made about the youth except handing out cash to them, no mention of the potential economic benefits of the creative industries and no mention of the continuing value of tourism in a global economy largely serviced based.
Cassava Politics
Whereas a stronger focus on agriculture and calls for an increase in domestic food production is, for me, one of the highlights of the PM’s presentation, there can be no bonus points for this announcement. A focus on agriculture is not an extraordinary proposition. The government is simply responding to a global situation which demands this very obvious response. It begs the question however: was it not for America emphasizing a potential food crisis etc, would the government’s concern be agriculture? That we imported almost all our food is certainly not exclusive to Jamaica. America imports most of its food. Since the late 1980’s, many developing countries were dragged kicking and screaming into an increasingly competitive global economy. Agriculture took a battering from post GATT agreements where it became cheaper to access imported food. It was/is expensive to eat locally produced items. The global emphasis also naturally and logically shifted since the early 1990s to service based economies premised on human capital and industries such as tourism, information technology and the creative industries. Many countries, including Jamaica, wanted to be on this bandwagon.
Had it not been seen as a desperate necessity, would the JLP opt now to sell the virtues of farming to our people? Many people will recall that self-reliance became a despised idea, a ‘communist’ notion, particularly for those who opposed the radical ideas of Michael Manley. To now shove ‘cassava’ down the throats of a people already conditioned to the consumption of imported grains is hollow politics. In just the same as the PNP myopically rendered tourism the monocrop of the 1990s, so is the government’s proposition of almost a wholesale return to agriculture a myopic solution. If Bruce Golding led government fails to invoke the revenue earning potential of the creative industries, tourism, technology services etc, and instead drives only the agriculture train, we run the risk of replacing the previous monocrop – tourism, with the original monocrop – agriculture.
Mind you, nothing is wrong with renewing our focus on agriculture and feeding ourselves. No one can argue against the positives of the government’s proposition in this regard. However, the problem has never been that we do not produce enough of our own food to feed ourselves. The fact is that we have not been able to produce or offer quality at an affordable rate. Poor quality, unattractive packaging (check the local carrots in your supermarket, and let me know if those things are fit for human consumption) and the fact that we have continuously out priced the poor, means that foreign goods will always be the ones rolled outside in the trolley when we go grocery shopping. A focus on agriculture will have to address our embedded culture of materialism in which agriculture is a dirty busy; it must address contingencies for drought, natural disasters, praedial larceny, poor quality products, poor packaging and expensive costs for local produce. Indeed, if PM Golding is truly serious about a return to agriculture, there would be no stampede to assist one small pig farmer to secure lands, but a comprehensive programme to assist all small farmers who face challenges. Political public relations have no place in a budget presentation. That kind of politicking must be reserved for the campaign trail.
Conclusion: When a passing grade of 60% means failure
Asked by Breakfast Club host, Professor Trevor Munroe, how we would rate Prime Minister, Bruce Golding out of ten, with one being the lowest and ten, the highest, I offered Bruce a 6.5/10. Political Analyst and Editor of the Western Mirror Newspaper, Lloyd B. Smith also graded the PM budget speech a 6/10. By any standards, this is an unsatisfactory performance but not a failure. This grade, which, in my view was the fairest I could muster, means that the PM’s ideas were too scattered, unconnected to an overarching vision of where he wants to take the country. As the driver, there was no direction, no destination, and a failure to determine how we may get there.
For those commentators you insist that the Prime Minister’s vision was already outlined in his campaign manifesto, I reiterate this point: the campaign Manifesto of the People’s National Party and the Jamaica Labour Party is a particular document created for a particular election purpose. It is not extensively read, it will not have the reach and power as an annual Budget Speech, especially one from a new government who had been out of power for eighteen years. As a communications specialist who has written many a political document and speeches on behalf of governments and political organisations, I will also say this: good ideas can and ought to be repeated wherever the opportunity arises. If nothing else, it underlines your commitment to them. Other commentators felt that the Prime Minister could not have presented the ‘nuts and bolts’ and a ‘vision’ in the same speech. My response is, and will always be ‘why not’? Nevertheless, in my view, the budget presentation fell flat both in terms of ‘nuts and bolts’ (manifested in specific plans and time lines for their achievements and how they may be funded), and it fell down significantly in its charting of our course for the country’s future.
Putting people at the centre of governance is more than handing out cash to them. It means creating an improved quality of life for them, restoring their hope in the future of their country and inviting their full participation in the decision making process outside of the voting booth every five years. Prime Minister Bruce Golding is fully aware that his debut budget presentation arrived at an unprecedented moment in our political history, when party’s hold on power is, at best, feeble. He walked a tightrope on Tuesday (April 22, 200
between political point scoring and demonstrating that he is a leader of a nation. His statesman eloquence vaguely disguised his politicking. Like I said at the outset, a disappointing debut ride for the man who claims to be the ‘The Driver”.