We share the concern of Monsignor Richard Albert regarding poverty in Jamaica's inner-city communities and, indeed, poverty anywhere in the country.

But there are a few points from Monsignor Albert's speech to the Rotary Club of Kingston last week which the Roman Catholic priest might want to expand.

According to Monsignor Albert, the poor living conditions of inner-city residents "make a mockery of what the government calls independence". This statement needs clarification. For it is unclear whether Monsignor Albert meant independence in the sense of liberating inner-city residents from a social and political dependency, or whether Jamaica made a bad choice when it ended its colonial relationship with Britain. Or just that the country has made a mess of national independence and just can't hack it in this sphere.

Knowing Richard Albert and his own belief of the right of people to self-determination, we would insist, and recant only in the face of his most vehement opposition, that the latter interpretation could not represent his view and that, at worst, he did not fully, or clearly articulate his position.

For the truth is, while Jamaica has made a number of political wrong turns, particularly during the period of the 1970s, and that the country's economic performance is substantially below expectations, independence has hardly been a mockery. It brooks no argument that the nationalist movement and, ultimately, independence, provided confidence and space for the majority of Jamaicans who were designated to the bottom of the social ladder. While, for instance, we argue, correctly, about the standard of some of our educational outcomes and the quality of some of the educational institutions, access is almost universal, far different when a few were allowed through the sieve.

Moreover, Jamaican institutions have fallen under substantial stress, but unlike in many other places, they did not break down. Jamaican democracy, notwithstanding its many flaws, remains robust.

We agree that targeted poverty alleviation programmes, as Monsignor Albert suggests for inner-city Jamaica, can in some circumstances help lift people out of poverty. And as much as we must do these things and engage in short-term containment measures, these, ultimately, do not provide the solution to deep, structural poverty. If Monsignor Albert reflects on it, this might be a lesson from his own heroic work, over nearly three decades, in Kingston's poor communities.

Handing out jobs to the urban poor because they are urban poor is more a palliative - sustainable for a handful - rather than a real solution. While divisive tribalism contributes to the degradation of many urban communities, the fundamental cause of poverty in Jamaica is not a failure of social engineering but of economic policy.

Jobs are created when economies grow. Our economy has puttered anaemically along for far too long. We need surpluses to invest in education, health and infrastructure, which are important for inner-city renewal.

Businesses may do good deeds, but are not social welfare agencies. Providing goods and services for which one is paid is not "making money off the backs of the poor", for which firms should feel compelled to distribute uneconomic jobs.