After the retreat let's see the JEEP... and Brown Burke's documents

Now that the Portia Simpson Miller-led Cabinet has had its first retreat, the Government should now have a clear idea about which of its programmes are implementable and within what time frame.

Specifically, the administration would be clear as to whether the promised Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP) is roadworthy, or if it is just an empty election promise.

Last week, the parliamentary Opposition served notice that it will be pressuring the Government for answers on the much-touted JEEP.

Karl Samuda, the opposition spokesman on transport and works, said he will be tabling a series of questions on the programme in the Parliament this week.

Since coming to office, the Government has announced that funds from the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP) loan are to be reallocated to fuel JEEP.

It is the second time that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is attempting to use the Parliament to get answers on JEEP. The first occasion was in late 2011 when, almost as if to ridicule the idea, Ernest Smith said the People's National Party, then in opposition, should debate the proposed job-creation vehicle.

The motion was seen for what it was - an attempt to gain political mileage on the backs of unemployed Jamaicans. It was never debated, and the people of South West St Ann sent Smith packing in the December 29 general election, pretty much in the way the country relegated the JLP to opposition status.

Missing parts

Now, Samuda is the one moving to get answers on JEEP, and rightly so. Not only is the shoe on the other foot, but the country has witnessed at least one occasion where it appears the Government would refer to any job-creation initiative as JEEP. Let us recall that Prime Minister Simpson Miller either ill-advisedly misled, or deliberately hoodwinked, the country by first announcing the imminent launch of JEEP two weeks ago. Days later, she retreated, as it was found that the 'parts' to be used in JEEP were 'stolen', and the Inter-American Development Bank-funded road-rehabilitation programme was not even a distant relative of JEEP.

We believe that it is imperative for the Government to speak fulsomely on this job-creation vehicle in Parliament. We need to know if the Chinese lenders have given the go-ahead for the redirection of a portion of JDIP funds to implement JEEP. We also need to be given the time frame, as well as an estimate of the number of jobs to be created.

JEEP can no longer remain a pie in the sky.

If Samuda follows through with his questions, we know Dr Omar Davies would be anxious to speak. He will be eager because the funding of JEEP has been tied to JDIP, and Davies and the Government will not pass up any opportunity to further expose the cavalier manner in which the programme has been implemented.

Answers we seek

The Gavel, though, serves notice that the answers we seek should be about JEEP. They must go beyond the political punch. They must clearly pinpoint deliverables in this much-talked-about job-creation strategy.

In the meantime, we see that the Senate is due to sit for the first time on Friday.

We hope that Angela Brown Burke, before walking into the chamber, displays the relevant documents to prove that she is legitimately qualified to sit as a senator.

After been sworn in as senator, and then elected as deputy president of the Senate last month, Brown Burke told this newspaper that she was not in possession of documents from the United States to prove that she has renounced her foreign citizenship.

Under the Constitution of Jamaica, no person who, by his own act, is under the acknowledgement of allegiance or obedience to a foreign power shall sit in the Parliament.

Brown Burke said that on January 11 she took the oath of renunciation and returned her US passport along with the Certificate of Naturalisation to the United States.

"I await the receipt of the certificate of loss of citizenship, which becomes effective as at January 11, 2012," she said.

It is not that The Gavel is unwilling to take Brown Burke's word, but given the deception of Sharon Hay Webster, which the country learnt of only via WikiLeaks, we believe it is very important that she displays her renunciation documents.

The integrity of Jamaica's Parliament demands nothing less.

Email feedback to thegavel@gleanerjm.com.

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