Dear Editor,
Anything and everything that can be sold by the Government, it would seem, is up for sale. It would prove challenging to refute such claims. A fire sale of the country's assets is clearly on and foreigners are "buying in" in no uncertain terms.
Our bauxite industry has Russians as its principal while the Chinese and Japanese have more than a toehold in our sugar and coffee industries, respectively. The Spanish, not to be outdone, have snapped up some hotels, and the French are "eating a food" courtesy of the toll roads. Don't discount little Trinidad, by the way; they have impacted our construction sector by virtue of acquiring the cement company. I won't even bother to mention Air Jamaica or the Jamaica Public Service Company.
Now with all the "bright" and experienced (pronounced 'old') people in Government, plus the plethora of consultants floating around like millstones about the necks of the taxpayers, one would have thought innovative, workable ideas would be a dime a dozen. Unfortunately, that is not the case. To my simple thinking, the ideal to strive for would be to maintain ownership of our assets, acquire more, and ensure they turn a profit, while providing badly needed employment for Jamaicans. In other words a win-win-win situation for team Jamaica.
When these assets are sold to foreign interests they get them to operate profitably, so why is it so difficult for our Government to do likewise? Just compare the then National Lottery in the hands of the State to the greater success that lottery has become in private hands.
I see now where moves are afoot to dispose of two of the country's mineral baths, Milk River in Clarendon and Bath in St Thomas, as well as the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston. What I find quite disturbing about all this is that there seem to be no dissenting voices. There is this great hoopla about foreign direct investment but, conveniently, no one bothers to mention the greater outflows at the end of the day when the people convert the funds to their country's currency and send it home. Granted, National Housing Trust is far from perfect, but at the very least its performance is an example of what is possible.
What is currently taking place here in Jamaica would be hilarious if it weren't so tragic. It reminds me of Africans selling fellow Africans to slave traders back in the day. Oh, if only some enterprising individual could organise for a Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart) or George Orwell (Animal Farm) type to come here for six months and pen a novel on the goings on. Surely a best-seller!
Robert Mitchell
Christiana PO, Manchester
mitcib@yahoo.ca
Gov't selling out and foreigners buying in
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Anything and everything that can be sold by the Government, it would seem, is up for sale. It would prove challenging to refute such claims. A fire sale of the country's assets is clearly on and foreigners are "buying in" in no uncertain terms.
Our bauxite industry has Russians as its principal while the Chinese and Japanese have more than a toehold in our sugar and coffee industries, respectively. The Spanish, not to be outdone, have snapped up some hotels, and the French are "eating a food" courtesy of the toll roads. Don't discount little Trinidad, by the way; they have impacted our construction sector by virtue of acquiring the cement company. I won't even bother to mention Air Jamaica or the Jamaica Public Service Company.
Now with all the "bright" and experienced (pronounced 'old') people in Government, plus the plethora of consultants floating around like millstones about the necks of the taxpayers, one would have thought innovative, workable ideas would be a dime a dozen. Unfortunately, that is not the case. To my simple thinking, the ideal to strive for would be to maintain ownership of our assets, acquire more, and ensure they turn a profit, while providing badly needed employment for Jamaicans. In other words a win-win-win situation for team Jamaica.
When these assets are sold to foreign interests they get them to operate profitably, so why is it so difficult for our Government to do likewise? Just compare the then National Lottery in the hands of the State to the greater success that lottery has become in private hands.
I see now where moves are afoot to dispose of two of the country's mineral baths, Milk River in Clarendon and Bath in St Thomas, as well as the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston. What I find quite disturbing about all this is that there seem to be no dissenting voices. There is this great hoopla about foreign direct investment but, conveniently, no one bothers to mention the greater outflows at the end of the day when the people convert the funds to their country's currency and send it home. Granted, National Housing Trust is far from perfect, but at the very least its performance is an example of what is possible.
What is currently taking place here in Jamaica would be hilarious if it weren't so tragic. It reminds me of Africans selling fellow Africans to slave traders back in the day. Oh, if only some enterprising individual could organise for a Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart) or George Orwell (Animal Farm) type to come here for six months and pen a novel on the goings on. Surely a best-seller!
Robert Mitchell
Christiana PO, Manchester
mitcib@yahoo.ca
Gov't selling out and foreigners buying in
-->