(Published in L'express 25 June 2025)
This is what happens when a Govt, his ministers , senior and junior, are more interested in their usual show in National Assembly then engaging in a permanent dialogue with LePep…a LePep, used to the past ten years of cheap populism and welfarism, who is likely to be easily unsettled by rapid social change and bold reforms .
Effective communication is crucial for successfully implementing reforms, not from above , not via decrees in Budget speeches , not by blindly applying the recommendations of the IMF, but “lor terrain”, repeatedly engaging with "le ti pep", the trade unions , the NGOs …making them understand that otherwise they will ultimately be paying for this via the VAT and rupee depreciation…not just repeatedly criticising and denouncing the old regime in the NA which are reproduced by the media to keep LePep busy with the long-running series of intrigues and frauds..
Forget about the Jugnauths, the Padas, the Obeegadoos and other opportunist trade unionists and populists who are spreading their virus gnawing away at our solidarity; they have a bone to pick. It’s the failure of this Govt to communicate effectively and engaged in discussions with Lepep on the different pension reform options and the needed fiscal adjustment efforts continuously over the past seven months, that has revived these “cadavres politiques’. By the way, if the FCC starts performing many from the old regime and their cronies will be rotting in jail.
The Govt could have revived the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) ,an institution aiming at building a strong national consensus on the pursuit of economic and social policies for sounder and faster development. A broader NESC under a new format that includes a wider range of civil society representatives , the opinion leaders, the NGOs, relating to the environment, consumer protection, would have raised the NESC’s profile and strengthen its reach to the wider population and would have been the right forum for the application of the reform agenda.
A Commission of experts on pension reform should have started work as early as Jan 2025. The Commission would have come forward with different pension options, including a more targeted approach and the NESC would have facilitated a respectful, constructive and sustained dialogue on the pension options and the unavoidable fiscal adjustment . Perhaps the more targeted option would have led to a more positive reception because it focuses on specific audiences and their needs.
In Jamaica, the National Partnership Council (NPC), was launched in 2011, a social dialogue collaboration among a total of 23 representatives of the Government of Jamaica (7) and the trade union movement (4), the Opposition (1), private sector (4), and representatives from the Church (1), women (1), youth (1), environment (1) and academic groups (3), to address national economic and social issues. Chaired by the Prime Minister, its reports are shared on issues relating to justice, safety, security, public order, anti-corruption, adherence to environmental and planning laws and other things. The NPC facilitates the engagement of respectful, constructive and sustained dialogue on issues of national importance.
Over the past dozen years, across administrations, Jamaica has made significant strides in macroeconomic stability. By running primary fiscal surpluses, and reining in unnecessary Govt spending and wastage, Jamaica has halved its debt as a proportion of GDP, to the current 72 per cent. That ratio is projected to fall further, to the national target of 60 per cent of GDP in 2026/27. Additionally, the island’s current account deficit has declined from double digits to record a small surplus recently.
If we want to succeed in our fiscal consolidation programme , we need a new team - a team that will ensure, first of all , the credibility of our figures and that we do not continue fudging the revenue and expenditure figures- a team that does not just copycat IMF recommendations but explores new measures to curtail our unsustainably high level of expenditure and new tax revenue measures like property taxes and the broadening of the tax base.
We need :
(a) a full-fledged Minister of Finance preferably a senior Minister (b) a new team of economic advisers at MoFED and a more experienced FS and (c)
A dedicated team to review our whole budgeting process and expenditure items and implement a genuine Performance Based Budgeting (PBB) which will be crucial in determining the priority expenditures and cutting down unnecessary expenditures.
To ensure the success of PBB reintroduction, it would be most advisable to attract support from the World Bank. Its proposed budget support program could include a component of technical assistance to accompany PBB implementation. PBB execution difficulties should not be underestimated. It takes years to change the budgetary process to make PBB effective, including the overall public service culture. PBB has already failed once.
Reviving PBB without the assistance of international and experienced professional consultants, such as from the World Bank, would be a futile endeavour .
That would be Govt’s way of setting the good example -as urged by the young Turks namely Kugan, Véronique and Kaviraj- in curbing unnecessary expenditures and wastage and meeting the unquenchable thirst among the population for accountability when it comes to the allocation of public funds.
They were not setting the good examples(for example, a reduction in their pay or allowances even if is just symbolic, abolition of the duty free , of the free meals , of the position of Vice-President etc) , no immediate measures to contain on the contrary they were giving the wrong signals -parties, all kinds of nominations, new press attachés, missions abroad with a whole delegation… .u won’t believe that the country had a Damocles sword over its head…Sanzman didn’t really mean genuine Sanzman.
There is a seemingly unquenchable thirst among the population for accountability when it comes to the allocation of public funds.
