Dear Editor,
It's not so long ago that Jamaica was at a crossroads as the country's lawmakers deliberated whether we should engage the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or try to move the country forward without it. The decision was as hard as it was easy.
It was easy because it was Hobson's choice, we had to engage the IMF otherwise the country's economy would have ground to a halt. It was hard because, even as we prepared to make that decision, we knew that it was going to mean hardship for the country, especially the poor and disadvantaged. We knew that we would not be able to continue to ask civil servants to forgo a wage increase, but we also knew that we would not be able to give them an increase, certainly not what they deserved.
It was easy because it was Hobson's choice, we had to engage the IMF otherwise the country's economy would have ground to a halt. It was hard because, even as we prepared to make that decision, we knew that it was going to mean hardship for the country, especially the poor and disadvantaged. We knew that we would not be able to continue to ask civil servants to forgo a wage increase, but we also knew that we would not be able to give them an increase, certainly not what they deserved.
We navigated our way around the issues then, and somehow settled the economy and the country to some extent. But now we are here again. We are at a crossroads again; faced with another fundamental decision to make on whether we give public servants the type of salaries they are demanding and erode the gains made, or hold strain and cause the workers of this country to demonstrate, strike, and destabilise the country.
The Government will have to reassess its priorities, we will have to work with investors, both local and international, to increase production, like never before. We will have to make the people a part of the plan, outlining to them the part that they will have to play and what that means. The politicians must lead from in front in terms of the sacrifices that we will all have to make. It cannot be that the ordinary people alone are expected to make sacrifices again.
We have done this over the last 50 years and it has not worked. We will now need to shift the focus from the masses making the majority of the sacrifice to the politicians and the business sector taking on the bulk of the sacrifices. A paradigm shift that will see politicians drastically cutting their salaries or even taking no salaries until the economy starts to improve appreciably. Let's start with a five- to 10-year partnership plan and then take it from there. We need all hands on deck going forward.
Let's do it here, let's do it now, and let's do it for our people and for our country.
Valencio Lindsay
Scarborough Canada
nathanval04@gmail.com
Jamaica at a crossroads
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It's not so long ago that Jamaica was at a crossroads as the country's lawmakers deliberated whether we should engage the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or try to move the country forward without it. The decision was as hard as it was easy.
It was easy because it was Hobson's choice, we had to engage the IMF otherwise the country's economy would have ground to a halt. It was hard because, even as we prepared to make that decision, we knew that it was going to mean hardship for the country, especially the poor and disadvantaged. We knew that we would not be able to continue to ask civil servants to forgo a wage increase, but we also knew that we would not be able to give them an increase, certainly not what they deserved.
It was easy because it was Hobson's choice, we had to engage the IMF otherwise the country's economy would have ground to a halt. It was hard because, even as we prepared to make that decision, we knew that it was going to mean hardship for the country, especially the poor and disadvantaged. We knew that we would not be able to continue to ask civil servants to forgo a wage increase, but we also knew that we would not be able to give them an increase, certainly not what they deserved.
We navigated our way around the issues then, and somehow settled the economy and the country to some extent. But now we are here again. We are at a crossroads again; faced with another fundamental decision to make on whether we give public servants the type of salaries they are demanding and erode the gains made, or hold strain and cause the workers of this country to demonstrate, strike, and destabilise the country.
The Government will have to reassess its priorities, we will have to work with investors, both local and international, to increase production, like never before. We will have to make the people a part of the plan, outlining to them the part that they will have to play and what that means. The politicians must lead from in front in terms of the sacrifices that we will all have to make. It cannot be that the ordinary people alone are expected to make sacrifices again.
We have done this over the last 50 years and it has not worked. We will now need to shift the focus from the masses making the majority of the sacrifice to the politicians and the business sector taking on the bulk of the sacrifices. A paradigm shift that will see politicians drastically cutting their salaries or even taking no salaries until the economy starts to improve appreciably. Let's start with a five- to 10-year partnership plan and then take it from there. We need all hands on deck going forward.
Let's do it here, let's do it now, and let's do it for our people and for our country.
Valencio Lindsay
Scarborough Canada
nathanval04@gmail.com
Jamaica at a crossroads
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