Delroy Chuck

An election is about the battle of ideas, policies, visions, personalities, passions and promises. With an election around the corner, the political competition is intense. Like any other competition, the candidates seek to win the hearts, minds and votes of the electorate. Yet, credibility, trust and confidence are key ingredients. Who can really be trusted?

The PNP government's record is appalling. It simply cannot be trusted. It promised to remove the university cess, high school cost sharing by 2005, to implement the historic 2003 bipartisan education agreement, to re-introduce hanging for the past 18 years, to grow the economy according to the 1996 National Industrial Plan by 6 per cent annually, to make Jamaica pothole free and, in Portia Simpson Miller's first presidential address, to provide $635 million for an immediate island wide beautification. Are they not broken promises? Clearly, its words and announcements are worthless and cannot, and should not, be believed.

Provide a blueprint

To be sure, a political party must paint a picture and provide a blueprint of what Jamaica could become under its stewardship, but it must be credible. Three significant promises made by the JLP, my party, are for removal of tuition fees,elimination of public hospital charges, and first-class residential roads around the country. Everyone is asking where is the money?

Are we to deprive other ministries or borrow more money to implement these promises? Actually, why do we behave as if the revenue of the country is fixed? It is only fixed if the economy is stagnant. If the economy is growing, new businesses spring up, more jobs are created and, thus, more revenue become available.

The greatest failure of this government is its inability to grow the economy, which inevitably stifles and deprives every ministry of needed resources. Any annual growth of less than 3 per cent is meaningless, which minimal growth has not even been achieved once in the past 15 years. An economy cannot grow when the cost of capital is unreasonable, uncompetitive and unattractive - it is better to leave money in the bank, which is exactly what has happened under Omar Davies's tenure. An economy can only grow if capital becomes readily available, accessible and reasonably priced.

Thus, an immediate target of a JLP government is to bring interest rate to single digit from its present 12 per cent and more. If achieved, this interest rate reduction would ease the $90 billion and more interest that the government is paying annually on the national debt. At least $5 billion would be saved and available if the interest rate fell by one per cent and more, which is more than is needed to fund the JLP's promises of free tuition fees, free health care and road repairs.

Moreover, lower interest rates would make capital more attractive and consequently ignite and jump-start businesses presently on the drawing board, inspire large commercial projects and start delayed housing projects. The boom in job creation would be unimaginable and Christmas 2007 could be a bright and satisfying one for virtually every Jamaican.

Less burden on governments

Simple common sense further dictates that if businesses are making profit and jobs are created, the burden on government's social services become less; for example, more persons can access private health care. When the government policies are geared towards promoting and enhancing businesses, the private sector ultimately eases the demands on the government's social responsibilities and, more interestingly, boosts revenues to discharge the government's duties of law and order, upholding human dignity, delivering justice, and fixing our disgraceful and shameful road network.

A JLP government can succeed if it succeeds in growing the economy. Bill Clinton noted 'it is the economy, stupid", got it right and succeeded. Unless we get the economy right, nothing else can survive and be maintained for long, which is the PNP's Achilles heel. Get the economy right and everything else will fall into place, which is the JLP's promise.