Jamaica needs culture shock

Martin Henry

What the minister of finance and planning said out of Parliament may be more important than what he said in the House in this latest iteration of the largely pointless Budget Debate. But this is not particularly unusual, as various governments are in the habit of making major announcements at party conferences, press conferences and in an overabundance of speeches delivered to a variety of groups.

Dr Peter Phillips' time, to date, as finance minister for the last 15 months, has been consumed with securing an International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal. It has been the macroeconomy, stupid! as debt management and meeting economic prior conditions for a Fund agreement took centre stage. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we now have an IMF agreement. The first tranche of US$202.6 million of the total US$958 million was deposited with the Bank of Jamaica within days of the agreement.

In a moment of respite before the first-quarter IMF test falls due, the minister, in a speech delivered at the launch of the Jamaica Chapter of the Caribbean Growth Forum (CFG), pleaded for a shift in attitude and culture if the full benefits of the IMF agreement are to be realised.

Well, some of us, certainly this columnist, has been making this call for a long time. I was on the ground as a participant in Prime Minister P.J. Patterson's Values and Attitudes Campaign which was launched in 1994 as part of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of universal adult suffrage and a year before his Government said ta-ta to the IMF. Universal Adult Suffrage in 1944 gave all adult Jamaicans resident here the vote, with a few exceptions like lunatics and prisoners. It did not give the attitude and character of responsible citizenship.

Independence, 18 years later, was to launch us on a pathway of self-directed national development, as the national pledge says, "so that Jamaica may, under God, increase in beauty, fellowship and prosperity, and play her part in advancing the welfare of the whole human race".

I have written a bundle of columns on culture, attitude and development even as the Patterson Values and Attitudes sickened, died, and was buried in an unmarked grave, unlamented.

SHIFT VALUES

A shift in values, attitudes and culture may be far more important than any macroeconomic machination to rescue Jamaica from its situation, which the senior resident representative of the IMF, Dr Gene Leon, describes in his newspaper piece, 'Time for a more promising future for Jamaica'. "For the past three decades," he writes, "Jamaica has had little to show from its economic policies: Annual rates of growth have averaged less than one per cent, public debt is among the highest in the world, and serious social challenges in the form of high crime rates, poverty, and unemployment are present ... . This is not a pretty picture ... ."

True to the nature of the beast, its representative here offers a macroeconomic prescription to fix the problem: "We want to see Jamaica break the vicious cycle of chronically low growth and eroding international competitiveness. To break the cycle, Jamaica needs to implement and sustain a credible reform programme. That is what the IMF is working towards with the Jamaican authorities. Economic reform will need the support of the Jamaican people to be effective and lasting, and while these reforms cannot all be done at once, they are necessary and urgent," Dr Leon writes.

Furthermore, "with the IMF's support, Jamaica's economic programme will grapple with the short-term vulnerabilities of falling international reserves and limited access to finance. But even more importantly, it will start to address deep-rooted structural impediments to sustained and stronger growth - for example, through creating a tax system that is fair and predictable, with lower rates and fewer discretionary exemptions, and fostering a business environment that instils confidence and promotes investment and employment. It is also important for the Government to establish a credible track record of economic policy implementation to restore confidence more broadly in its policies."

Among the necessary actions to be taken as listed by the resident representative are: "strengthening procedures and execution of the government budget, enhancing cash management, and improving rules-based decision-making and compliance mechanisms, along with reforms in tax policy and administration; in the financial sector, strengthening oversight and improving regulation; and for growth and social policy, implementing measures to improve the business climate, lower the cost of energy, reduce crime, and enhance programmes like PATH. The strategy also seeks to implement policy safeguards to lock in gains achieved and reduce business uncertainty."

But a real challenge ahead is the implementation of the programme, the IMF rep warns. "Achieving the agreed budget surplus target and reducing the government debt will require strong fiscal discipline," Leon advises. "On the revenue side, reforms that broaden the tax base, reduce rates, and enhance tax administration are essential. On the expenditure side, wage restraint, public-sector pension reform, and public-sector and social expenditure rationalisation, as well as the savings from the NDX, will all contribute to stronger fiscal management."

There is absolutely no question that these things have to be done.

But hear Dr Phillips, the Doer-in-Chief: "There is an important component we need to recognise. We need to realise that a change is required in attitude, a culture shift if you will, to aid and support growth," Phillips told the CFG function.

"It may be that there is some symbolic significance that the day after the board agreement we are here discussing growth," he told his audience, "because it is a fact - and certainly the view of the Government - that this extended fund facility will have represented a wasted opportunity unless we are able to use the time to actually promote effectively a growth agenda," he said.

But sustained growth requires more than macroeconomic 'structural adjustments'. Necessary, but not sufficient.

The news story says, "The CGF is a regional initiative aimed at identifying policies and initiatives that contribute to economic growth and job creation in the region, focusing on their implementation over the medium term."

I remind Dr Phillips that the planning arm of his ministry, through the PIOJ, assembled two years ago under the previous administration formed by the JLP an excellent 'Growth-Inducement Strategy for Jamaica in the Short and Medium Term'. The Strategy is good to go and is crying out for serious implementation attention. And it should be shared with the CGF. Despite everything, Jamaica is, naturally, a leader in CARICOM.

Certainly, an urgently necessary attitude and culture shift in the political domain is sticking to policies and programmes for the long haul and exchanging contentiousness for sensible collaboration across parties, across Government and Opposition for the good of the country. The political culture of political tribalism and strife has done more to damage this country than any other factor and perhaps all other factors taken together.

Minister Phillips wants us to build trust. "We must also realise that we have embarked upon a national endeavour and all parts of all communities must be invested in our growth strategy for us to recognise success."

Trust has now been widely studied as social capital necessary for growth and development. Low-trust societies don't flourish. But trust cannot be commanded or spoken into existence. Government, as the largest player in this low-trust society, must lead the way in building trust, by the way it conducts its business and uses public resources. And nothing strengthens trust more than delivering on promises, which requires promising only what can be delivered.

The execution of the IMF programme offers a golden opportunity to build trust by transparent, equitable and consistent action clearly communicated to the people. The IMF, which has given up its muteness to have a public voice, says in the media through its resident rep here, "For the authorities to build support and sustain reform, there must be effective communication and dialogue at all levels of society."

There are some critical attitudinal and cultural problems acting as brakes on development, no matter what 'macroeconomic framework' might be provided. The high levels of indiscipline, petty lawlessness and proneness to violence, poor work attitudes and school attitudes, the soon-come attitude to time, the attitude of entitlement and dependence and freedom 'fi tek'. The 'bly' culture. The bling attitude and the infantile attitude of instant gratification. And the biggest and hardest to fix, the endemic animalistic attitude towards sex and having and raising children.

Evangelist Phillips, fresh off the Damascus Road, was out preaching at the Caribbean Growth Forum event. I offer him, before his new-found zeal wilts under macroeconomic pressure, the same word of advice which I offered Mr Patterson for his Values and Attitudes Campaign years ago: It is not the business of Government to preach. The Government should judiciously use what it has in its hands, the rod of law and policy, to direct attitudinal and cultural shifts.

Simply enforcing what are called quality-of-life laws and enforcing universal compliance with state regulations would have an enormous stimulus effect for transforming attitudes and culture. And setting a good example in Government's own conduct would help no end.

Martin Henry is a communication specialist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and medhen@gmail.com.