Letter of the Day - Despite errors, Bruce Golding meant well

THE EDITOR, Sir:

By the time this letter is published, Bruce Golding will be a few hours away from becoming a former prime minister of Jamaica. I do wish him well, and am thankful for his leadership over the past few years.

Will history be kind to Mr Golding? I hope so as, despite his mistakes, I believe he meant well. It is interesting that it took someone outside this country to appreciate what we have in Jamaica. According to the Economist magazine, Bruce Golding was doing a good job in stabilising the economy in the face of a most severe and harsh economic recession. The article went on to state that Mr Golding was the most successful politician Jamaica has had in decades. I agree with this statement.

Like many Jamaicans, I was truly disappointed with the turn of events from the whole Manatt-Dudus affair. However, I had also recognised that despite his failings, I was willing to continue to support the leadership of Mr Golding as prime minister, especially after observing his performance over the last four years.

First, Mr Golding was willing to refuse a 15 per cent salary increase at a time when the increase was granted to civil servants in 2008 because he believed the country could not afford it. He also called on other parliamentarians to do the same, and only MPs from the governing party followed in his footsteps. The Opposition was not willing to do so.

Pension arrangement

Second, Mr Golding recognised that former Prime Minister Patterson's decision to introduce a pension arrangement that would see retired prime ministers getting a pension that was equal to the pay of a sitting PM was wrong. Note that this does not happen anywhere else in the world and is downright immoral. Mr Golding decided to change this arrangement, and rightly so, though it would affect him only as the other PMs would still benefit from the previous pension arrangement.

Third, I recall that Mr Golding held off on acquiring a new car because of the economic recession, even though the vehicle assigned to him as PM was unreliable. Not many leaders would willingly deny themselves of anything, even in the face of a recession.

Fourth, despite the messy handling of the Coke extradition request, I know of no other PM who was willing to apologise or admit that he or she had done anything wrong, and Mr Golding did so in relation to this matter, had done and even went as far as agreeing, though reluctantly at first, to a commission of enquiry to examine his own conduct and that of his government.

Finally, Mr Golding was willing to do what was right for his party and the country by stepping down when he did. His predecessor was not willing to do so, even when it was clear he was no longer wanted.

I believe for these reasons, coupled with the fact that our economy has been able to achieve some amount of stability during a worldwide recession, that Mr Golding did a fairly good job. Nevertheless, we have a new PM and I believe that he has seen the wisdom in the policies pursued by his predecessor. My encouragement to him is to take it higher during his tenure as prime minister.

J. BARTLEY

Kingston 8