Dear Editor,
I read with laughable interest your front page story on Tuesday, June 2, 2015, titled 'PSOJ sympathy -- Private sector says civil servants deserve wage increase, but...'. Frankly, I am not fooled, as the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) knows that it is coming under intense public backlash for its misguided support of the Government and its faulty policies.
Statements of late by William Mahfood and Dennis Chung make it obvious to all of Jamaica that the PSOJ has gone completely off the reservation in its now overboard efforts to show its undying love and support for this Government.
Jamaicans are at their wits' end with an economy that continues to struggle; a Government that has, on far too many occasions, shown nothing but disrespect to the Jamaican people; government policies and initiatives that are inimical to growth and development; and an economic programme that, despite noble objectives, is wreaking havoc on Jamaican consumers and businesses alike.
The dollar in the last three years has devalued by over 35 per cent and the cost of living has gone up by over 40 per cent. All this while exports continue to decline, businesses collapse, the public debt remains roughly the same, unemployment and poverty continues to increase, and public sector salaries remain frozen after so many years. What exactly are we hoping to achieve?
The PSOJ, rather than pointing to the obvious fact that things are not OK and put on record the urgent need for change, is simply propping up the Government and adding more pillows to its bed. The PSOJ would do well to at least call for the removal of non-performing and failing ministers, like Industry and Commerce Minister Anthony Hylton, Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson, Youth Minister Lisa Hanna, and Water Minister Robert Pickersgill. The PSOJ would also do well in calling for ministers to cut back on excessive first-class travelling overseas at taxpayers' expense and maybe selling the massive taxpayer-funded SUVs and replacing them with less expensive but still respectable vehicles. The PSOJ would also do well in seriously pointing to the many obvious areas of inefficiencies in government, including a cut in a way too big Cabinet and junior ministers. They could also call upon Minister Phillip Paulwell to clear the air on Jamaica's telecommunications sector, which seems firmly on track to the dark days of a monopoly.
Messrs Mahfood and Chung, please get out of your air-conditioned offices and look around. Things are not well, gentlemen, and your continued kissing up to the government is turning off a whole lot of people.
Tiesha McLeod
May Pen, Clarendon
tm4mcleod@hotmail.com
PSOJ just propping up Gov't
-->
I read with laughable interest your front page story on Tuesday, June 2, 2015, titled 'PSOJ sympathy -- Private sector says civil servants deserve wage increase, but...'. Frankly, I am not fooled, as the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) knows that it is coming under intense public backlash for its misguided support of the Government and its faulty policies.
Statements of late by William Mahfood and Dennis Chung make it obvious to all of Jamaica that the PSOJ has gone completely off the reservation in its now overboard efforts to show its undying love and support for this Government.
Jamaicans are at their wits' end with an economy that continues to struggle; a Government that has, on far too many occasions, shown nothing but disrespect to the Jamaican people; government policies and initiatives that are inimical to growth and development; and an economic programme that, despite noble objectives, is wreaking havoc on Jamaican consumers and businesses alike.
The dollar in the last three years has devalued by over 35 per cent and the cost of living has gone up by over 40 per cent. All this while exports continue to decline, businesses collapse, the public debt remains roughly the same, unemployment and poverty continues to increase, and public sector salaries remain frozen after so many years. What exactly are we hoping to achieve?
The PSOJ, rather than pointing to the obvious fact that things are not OK and put on record the urgent need for change, is simply propping up the Government and adding more pillows to its bed. The PSOJ would do well to at least call for the removal of non-performing and failing ministers, like Industry and Commerce Minister Anthony Hylton, Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson, Youth Minister Lisa Hanna, and Water Minister Robert Pickersgill. The PSOJ would also do well in calling for ministers to cut back on excessive first-class travelling overseas at taxpayers' expense and maybe selling the massive taxpayer-funded SUVs and replacing them with less expensive but still respectable vehicles. The PSOJ would also do well in seriously pointing to the many obvious areas of inefficiencies in government, including a cut in a way too big Cabinet and junior ministers. They could also call upon Minister Phillip Paulwell to clear the air on Jamaica's telecommunications sector, which seems firmly on track to the dark days of a monopoly.
Messrs Mahfood and Chung, please get out of your air-conditioned offices and look around. Things are not well, gentlemen, and your continued kissing up to the government is turning off a whole lot of people.
Tiesha McLeod
May Pen, Clarendon
tm4mcleod@hotmail.com
PSOJ just propping up Gov't
-->