THE EDITOR, Sir:

Phillip Paulwell, particularly in his second stint as Cabinet minister, has seemingly been on a mission, whatever the fundamental motive, to deliver some tangibles to the people of this country.

Since his return as the science, technology, energy and mining minister in January 2012, despite some foul-ups along the way, he has demonstrated his capacity to comfortably think and act outside the box in coming up with creative ways to make life a little better. Hopefully, being older, his actions will not have to be justified this time around as being 'youthful exuberance', as some initiatives by him then cost us dearly.

Even if Mr Paulwell did not conceptualise some of the initiatives he has been championing, that he has demonstrated the necessary fortitude to see to their realisation is commendable and important enough. After all, some fellow Cabinet ministers are similarly positioned but have demonstrated no such commitment and ability to so act.

Only recently, he announced a pilot project to examine the feasibility of the mining of rare earth minerals in Jamaica. Should we safely pursue this venture without any major harm to our environment, our limping economy could benefit largely from this multibillion-dollar industry.

He announced in Parliament days ago a pilot project aimed at introducing the concept of prepaid electricity to the Jamaican market, which, if given the green light, is expected to be a huge hit along the lines of prepaid telephone service.

Our economic future is largely pinned to our ability to source cheaper electricity. The feather in Mr Paulwell's cap would be his ability to accomplish this.

As recalled, it was Mr Paulwell who liberalised the telecommunications sector, resulting in more Jamaicans being able to access such services. And during his current stint, even though it was a plan in train under the previous Jamaica Labour Party administration, he has moved to ensure lower telephone charges to the Jamaican people.

Sadly, some of the benefits of those gains are being eroded by actions, possibly illegal, of Finance Minister Peter Phillips, who is desperate to find ways to bring about well-needed revenue.

KEVIN K.O. SANGSTER

sangstek@msn.com