Park that JEEP debate
Published:Monday | September 26, 2011 | 12:00 AM
ALL EYES will be on the House of Representatives this week to see if the Government members will be continuing their push for a parliamentary debate on the Opposition's proposal to establish a Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP) if it is elected to form the next government.
South West St Ann Member of Parliament Ernest Smith did the unexpected last week when he tabled a motion for a debate in Parliament on the JEEP; a move The Gavel understands was the brainchild of a veteran politician and Cabinet minister.
It was a strange move bearing in mind that the JEEP is a creation of the Opposition party, and if it gets traction as a result of a Parliamentary debate, Smith could be rolling the wicket for a no-confidence motion against his Government.
With more than 50 motions on the Order Paper, the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) through its parliamentary group, has signalled that the matter of job creation is so important, it will be debating JEEP in the House.
The Gavel is at a loss as to how such a debate would take place. The Opposition has contended that it would not be participating in a parliamentary debate on JEEP, because the rules do not allow for it.
We believe it would be pure politics if there is a debate on JEEP in the Parliament.
If the Government is as committed to job creation, as it claims it is, then Smith should be urged to withdraw his motion and have one properly framed around the broader issue.
Bring the nuts and bolts
And if the Opposition is so convinced it has the answer to the unemployment and low production that are facing the country, it should bring the nuts and bolts of JEEP to the Parliament and have the parliamentarians examine in that broader debate for which he has called.
The Gavel, though, would not be surprised if the method we are suggesting is not taken on. The fact is that neither the Opposition nor Government wants their shallow policies exposed.
It is the election season or 'silly season' and both parties will be making promises that they both know they will not be able to implement, so neither will want a parliamentary debate on the pronouncements from the campaign platform.
Only last week the Opposition, despite its leader Portia Simpson Miller saying the JEEP could withstand any terrain, stopped short of admitting that what was presented at the party's 73rd annual conference was really a shell and not a ready vehicle.
The elements are be further worked out, Opposition Senator Mark Golding has said and judging from the sparsity of information coming from the PNP on JEEP, it appears that this much-touted job creation vehicle has no engine.
Things are no better on the Government side either. Despite thousand of jobs being lost in the past four years (approximately 100,000 by some counts), the failure of new job seekers to get employment, rising poverty rates, escalating energy costs and a general sense of hopelessness, Finance Minister Audley Shaw says the Government's "plan is working".
Shaw has pointed to record-low interest rates, low inflation rate, strong positive net international reserves as well as a stabilised foreign exchange market as evidenced of a strong macro-economic framework for growth and job creation.
And so, because the Government's plan is working, Shaw says there is no need to take a comprehensive job-creation strategy for consideration and debate alongside JEEP.
Embryonic idea
No wonder Jamaica is in a bind. On the one hand, the People's National Party, after spending 18 years in government and then the last four years in opposition, is determined to retake state power, yet its ideas for job creation and economic growth are at best embryonic.
The Government on the other hand, has found it possible to make job-creation a big political issue even though its record in that area, as well as the rhetoric heading into the 2007 general election should be enough reason for them to shut their mouths.
And by Shaw's own posture, if we ever think Parliament will get the chance to critically assess the job-creation strategy of the government, we should all forget it.
As far as The Gavel is concerned, the entire debate around JEEP is smoke and mirrors. It reflects an opposition party grasping at straws as it tries to grab power, and a government without a compass on a sailboat, taking the country in any direction the wind blows.
We are in support of debates in the Parliament, in town centres, churches and schoolrooms on job creation but we are fearful that such debates may be becoming more emotional rather than cerebral.
Let's hope that for Jamaica's sake, our legislators park the idea of debating JEEP by itself and make a genuine attempt to fix our unemployment problems though a methodical, less partisan examination of job-creation opportunities. Jamaica deserves no less.