JLP a responsible or a very weak opposition ?

As I listened to the news and could not help but wondered aloud , is the JLP a responsible or simply just a very weak opposition. We were told that the PNP government would have added a  $3.00  tax on each liter of fuel, which should have come into effect this week. Last week, Petrojam in preparation for this additional burden lowered the fuel prices by an average $2.00 for each liter of fuel.

I had predicted that in the coming week, Petrojam would be adding back that $2.00 to avoid any public outcry, should $5.00 be added in one shot. Well today , like clock work, Petrojam added an average of $2.60 per liter of fuel, which would have in effect nullified the reprieve we received during the course of last week.

I decided to review this new tax that the PNP has proposed and look back at what I thought was a similar proposal which was made by the then JLP government and the response of the then opposition PNP and what I found was interesting.

April 21, 2011 

Gas Tax Rollback – Government Cuts Petrol Prices, PNP Calls Off Protest

 

THE BRUCE Golding administration yesterday rolled back the rate of ad valorem tax on fuel at the eleventh hour from 15 per cent to 10 per cent, effective Thursday, in an apparent bid to ward off national protests.

Following a marathon meeting of Cabinet, the Government stated that the temporary reduction in the gas tax would lower petrol prices by between $4 and $5 per litre.

The Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) yesterday signalled that it would take to the streets if the Government did not respond to calls by various interest groups to cap the tax on fuel.

This was what Wayne Jones, the President of the  Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA) was reported to have said of the then government

” “The Government needs to take urgent action to relieve Jamaicans of the pressures that are brought on by the constant increase in oil prices and the attendant inflation in the prices of goods and services that affect, in particular, the poorer people of the working class,” Jones pointed out.

“It’s a direct tax on the people, even though it is not being taken directly from their salary, because they must eat and they must travel and buy other services, and so to that extent, we believe the Government needs to reduce its take from the gas tax to bring some relief to the people,” Jones added.

Where is the voice of Wayne Jones today, is he still in Jamaica and if so is he still the President of the  Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA)

In the mean time Audrey Lecky, president of the Bakers’ Association of Jamaica, wants the Government to immediately place a ceiling on the gas tax.

“The gas tax affects bakers in two ways. It affects us in our production, and it affects us with our delivery. Every week, I face an increase in the cost on the road when the delivery is made,” she complained.

So the PNP in opposition was able to galvanize the people in protest against the government and force the government to make changes that was more palatable to the Jamaica people, but we did not even get a whimper from the JLP now in opposition ,  who seems out of touch and unable to rally the people against a rampant and fumbling PNP in government .

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110412/lead/lead1.html

Courtesy : Jamaica Observer

Businesses looking to trim staff to ease operating cost.

With additional taxes being added to the cost of operations, some business operators are now looking to trim staff members and combine job functions as a way of reducing the fully burden employee cost  and overall operating cost.

The new education taxes now means the employers has to now pay 3.5% of each employee earnings over the government as taxes. This is on top of the new custom fees, which were announced the Finance Minister back in June. One must also note that many of these business would have invested their surplus in stocks and bonds as a way or making some extra income.

Now that the GOJ has imposed two JDX in a single month as well as additional tax on dividend, many business operator will experience significant decline in their balance sheet as well as operating income.

The removal of waivers , which were not properly tied to anything will also go, thus making life for business operators in the hostile Jamaican environment even more difficult, with many seriously  considering pulling up stumps and going into an environment more conducive to doing business.

Based on what is coming across my desk, GOJ will once again miss its revenue target and will be once again forced to make more adjustments later in the year.

 

The GOJ will find itself in a pickle once again and raising taxes any further will kill all growth prospects and the PNP Govt would not want to go down the rd the JLP went, leading to the collapse of the previous agreement.

Public sector job cuts, which have been avoid thus far would then take effect and the unions and public sector workers would have once again been betrayed by the caring government.

Today in speaking with one business leader he bemoaned the fact that he has no idea what is going to happen after an IMF has been signed as nothing is forthcoming post IMF deal ?

I asked that question weeks ago” what is the plan after we have a signed agreement”?

May the good lord help, he must be growing tired of hearing Jamaica asking for help and will soon suggest we ” Use our brains and make more informed decisions going forward”

Tourism Minister Wykeham McNeill’s unfortunate comments

Sections of Negril have been complaining about the unavailability of water and the Hotel sector in particular are bemoaning the fact that they have to spend so much money to truck water to their hotels to satisfy the needs of their guest.

Mr McNeil saw it fit to go on record to address the issue, but I thought his comments in part exhibited poor judgement  or maybe just poor choice of words and makes a very strong case for Members of Parliament not being Government Minister.

The member of parliament wanted to remind business operators that he must think about the welfare of his constituents in this crises and while he understands the concerns of the tourism business operators as Tourism Minister he wants them to be more understanding . ( Not sure how you communicate this to your guest who forked out US$1000’s  for a vacation in paradise and expect a basic commodity such as water. I guess the MP believes somehow that the hotel operators can spin that to his/her guest.  If he thought he was such a good spinner, why not go and address the guest at the airport as they arrive on those AA airlines that we are paying top dollars to taking guest in.)

He lamented the fact that water truck operators were “raiding” the NWC water supply system to satisfy the need of hotel operators,  but this action was resulting in low water pressure in the water supply system for everyone else.

This statement serves or could serve to “setup” the hotel operators against the residents, since it could be inferred that the hotels are the ones responsible for the low water pressure as a result of their actions in paying trucks to delivery water to their properties.

The fact is ( for those who are unaware , is that Negril has been having this water supply problem from as far back as in 2000 ( and possibly before that time). I recall many hotels such as Grand Lido Negril, Hedonism II, Point Village resorts, would have been spending thousands of dollars to purchase water from truck operators. ( Sandals Beaches was fortunate to have a desalination plant on site and so suffered less than the other properties)

Thirteen years late, Bloody Bay has developed even further,  more rooms have been added, a new sewage system was put in place, but it does not appear that much work has been done on the water supply system.

The NWC increased its revenue as a result of the sewage supply system because hotel operators not only had to pay for each gallon of water it received, they also had to pay sewage cost for the equivalent gallon of water..

Eg Water Received = 10,000 Gal ,

Water Charges = 10,000 x $ water rate per gallon

Sewage charges = 10,000 Gal x $ rate per gallon

 

The question is what was this increase revenue used to do and why it was not pumped back into improving the water supply system at Logwood and at the Great River Pumping station.

So Mr McNeil, what is the long-term plan to address the Negril water supply system or is that awaiting  the conclusion of an IMF deal. 🙂

 

 

When the PNP is finished with Jamaica ….

Given the current trend and strategies adopted by this present administration, I am not sure much will be left of Jamaica by the time the PNP completes its 5 yr term in Office. I shudder to think what would have become of Jamaica in 2013 had the PNP been re-elected to run(ruin) the country between 2007 & 2011.

The PNP has demonstrated (for years) that it is not a party that governs properly even in the good times, so it befuddles the mind that we could think they could do any better in a time of worldwide economic crises.

The Government recently issued a directive to ALL state agencies that told them to turn over ALL surplus they may have, into the consolidated fund.  This means that should any of these agencies hit a bump in the road, they have absolutely NOTHING to draw on because the Government has taken everything.

Some bright person will ask ” what options does the government has” ?

I say let’s go to the much heralded Progressive Agenda. In addition I would say let’s re-look the party manifesto and then let’s do  gap analysis. ( Don’t tell he these are irrelevant already,  after all ,they took a long time to develop and were carefully crafted after much analysis  )

The economic situation worldwide has not changed much between 2011 and today and if the ideas which were being championed in the Progressive Agenda and the party manifesto are miles from today’s reality, it really shows how bad the PNP technocrats were in assessing the Jamaican situation vis a vis the global economy and then creating a plan which would be based on that assessment, which would n0 doubt give you very poor results.

If the party is expected to plan for 5 yrs and misread the economic variables so much in just one year, can someone please tell me what kind of plan can the PNP create, while they are in the middle of fire fighting.

Its a known fact that its very difficult if not impossible to create any sensible plan while you are fighting many fires and it most cases the focus is on how to get these fires out now and then plan later how to prevent more from starting.

To the PNP credit, they have had 5 retreats, which were  supposed to be those sessions, where the party takes a look at the current situation, takes a look at their original plan, determine the gaps that may exist and revise their plans given the changing dynamic that they may have wrongly forecasted given their evidence based and data driven approach. ( Bold for emphasis and taken directly from the front page of the progressive (more like regressive) agenda.

Alas, if any such realignment in strategies were arrived at and/or developed  the general public and the business sector are still in the dark on what those are.

What is interesting is the PNP raid on public sector bodies, is the provision they are using to facilitate such raid, was conceptualized and passed by the wicked and uncaring JLP Government.

Sister Poor-sha,  your simply the best, better than all the rest.

See both documents below.

ProgressiveAgenda PNP

pnp_manifesto_2011

As many commentators on this blog would say ” We ( Jamaica)  are not really short on plans,  in fact we have some very good policy documents. We are  however PISS POOR  on EXECUTION and this is soley because WE JAMAICANS don’t hold OUR government accountable”

We instead choose to focus on party vs looking at governance in a holistic manner. Until Jamaicans are able to separate party from actual governance from a total country perspective , we truly will get were we are currently heading in a hurry.

Bless.

Sliding dollar is good for Jamaica !

The private sector is concerned about the rapid slide in the dollar, but the PNP government is not, given that the Peter Phillips is on record as saying its good for Jamaica.

Business confidence is low, but the PNP government in unconcerned, as after 5 whatnot retreat they have done nothing.

The only people who appears to concerned is business persons and the middle class. The PNP has told the poor that the more the dollar slide the more they will get for their remittance , but not that the price increases would wipe out all that gain.

PNP say sliding dollar is good for Jamaica and from its the PNP say so, it must be true !