Samuda blasts Portia for 'irresponsible' comments

Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer

President of the People's National Party (PNP) Portia Simpson Miller has been hauled over the coals in the aftermath of her biting criticism of Prime Minister Andrew Holness' stated commitment to the concept of continuity of the policies of his predecessor, as election debates rage on and off political platforms.

Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Campaign Director Karl Samuda was no less acerbic Monday, as he characterised as irresponsible and egregious, comments made by Simpson Miller.

He charged that in her rush to derail the JLP's campaign machinery, Simpson Miller's comments have effectively thrown Jamaica's future into a tailspin of uncertainty.

"This short-sighted, vested self-interest approach that has been adopted by the Leader of the Opposition and her team strikes a clear demarcation between the approach of the Government and that of the Opposition," he told The Gleaner.

Samuda charged that Simpson Miller's pronouncement goes to the heart of destroying Jamaica's time-honoured tradition of credibility. "It is impossible to retrieve a lost reputation in terms of honouring contracts made between a government and the private sector," the former government minister warned.

Simpson Miller told supporters at a political rally last week that many of Jamaica's assets that have been divested by the JLP administration could be reversed by a government that she leads, if her party wins the next election.

The veteran politician came to Holness' defence. "It is unworthy of anyone in her position seeking to return to office as head of state and it is to be roundly condemned," asserted Samuda.

"Any utterance, irresponsible as it was in nature, as that made by the opposition leader when she warned the investing community to watch it when contemplating acquiring properties being divested and implying that they would reverse the process, that singular utterance on her part is the most egregious."

Added Samuda, "I make no apologies for that, because it is in the spirit of our time-honoured tradition that our prime minister indicated to the wider world in his inaugural speech that he intended to govern through a process of continuity.

Simpson Miller and her team have also been critical of Holness' stated undertaking to continue what it described as "the failed policies" of the Bruce Golding administration.

Samuda countered, "there is no responsible administration that is not mindful of the fact that in order to attract both domestic and foreign investment, one of the most important ingredients is the concept of continuity of policy.

"Were that not the case, then investments would be looked at on a cyclical basis in that you would simply be investing today, knowing fully well that a change of administration in four or five years would require a new set of strategies in your business because the question of uncertainty would be ever present."

He argued that uncertainty would also persist in the administration of the public sector. "In circumstances like these, the message has to be sent that there will be an honouring of certain fundamental policies by a new administration and that is the underlying necessity for anyone contemplating an investment in your country whether domestic or foreign," argued Samuda.

Citing the agreement between the Government and the Caribbean Alumina Partners, Samuda said the P.J. Patterson/Portia Simpson Miller administrations made commitments which proved to be very deleterious to the sustainability of any form of economic development, but were honoured by the post-2007 JLP administration government.

Samuda said the administration, of which he was a part, also had to honour the agreement to pay teachers 80 per cent of the salaries paid to private-sector tutors. "That was devastating to our revenue flows, but we had to honour them because that is the tradition that has made us a reliable country.