Dear Editor,
It is often said that politics is the art of the possible, which to me means that people in politics are able to accomplish much more than service clubs or even most of us ever can.
But in Jamaica, our leaders on both sides of the political divide frequently make excuses as to why this and that is impossible, and we accept them. Enter an International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement with serious conditionalities and clauses to which we must agree. What is it that the IMF will make us do that we couldn't do on our own?
For one, pass 40 Bills -- quite a record. Now the IMF is going further, it is mandating that, by 2016, the public sector wage bill must be reduced to 9.25 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product(GDP). Even though the Government is abolishing many positions that they say have remained idle for years, it is likely that some people will lose their jobs.
Roger Clarke said that to get the IMF agreement we had to grovel; to keep it I believe that we will have to be humiliated. But the IMF can make things possible, something our leaders have made excuses to do. When the IMF cracks the whip they jump, whether it is passing a record number of Bills or laying off public sector workers or raising the GCT on gasoline. What we need is for the IMF to effect conditionalities that will force our leaders to:
1. reduce crime significantly
2. resuscitate the railway
3. stabilise the dollar
4. reduce trips abroad that do not benefit the country
Our leaders, most of them anyway, have collectively sat on their backsides and found a problem for every solution. Now because they have failed to do what could have been done without coercion, they will be embarrassed. The IMF can get them to jump through hoops, perform all types of contortions that we apparently couldn't do for ourselves. It is sad, isn't it?
The people whom we elect to represent us will only jump when the IMF says so. Well, if that is the case, maybe we need the IMF to set up permanent residence in Jamaica. As embarrassing as that may seem it may be just what the doctor ordered.
Mark Clarke
Siloah, St Elizabeth
mark_clarke9@yahoo.com
Who says you can't teach new tricks?
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It is often said that politics is the art of the possible, which to me means that people in politics are able to accomplish much more than service clubs or even most of us ever can.
But in Jamaica, our leaders on both sides of the political divide frequently make excuses as to why this and that is impossible, and we accept them. Enter an International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement with serious conditionalities and clauses to which we must agree. What is it that the IMF will make us do that we couldn't do on our own?
For one, pass 40 Bills -- quite a record. Now the IMF is going further, it is mandating that, by 2016, the public sector wage bill must be reduced to 9.25 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product(GDP). Even though the Government is abolishing many positions that they say have remained idle for years, it is likely that some people will lose their jobs.
Roger Clarke said that to get the IMF agreement we had to grovel; to keep it I believe that we will have to be humiliated. But the IMF can make things possible, something our leaders have made excuses to do. When the IMF cracks the whip they jump, whether it is passing a record number of Bills or laying off public sector workers or raising the GCT on gasoline. What we need is for the IMF to effect conditionalities that will force our leaders to:
1. reduce crime significantly
2. resuscitate the railway
3. stabilise the dollar
4. reduce trips abroad that do not benefit the country
Our leaders, most of them anyway, have collectively sat on their backsides and found a problem for every solution. Now because they have failed to do what could have been done without coercion, they will be embarrassed. The IMF can get them to jump through hoops, perform all types of contortions that we apparently couldn't do for ourselves. It is sad, isn't it?
The people whom we elect to represent us will only jump when the IMF says so. Well, if that is the case, maybe we need the IMF to set up permanent residence in Jamaica. As embarrassing as that may seem it may be just what the doctor ordered.
Mark Clarke
Siloah, St Elizabeth
mark_clarke9@yahoo.com
Who says you can't teach new tricks?
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