In a column I wrote recently I suggested that Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett had hit the ground in so fine a sprinting form that it appeared as if there had been no break between the time the JLP lost in February 1989 and September 2007, the month it took back power.

When I expressed those sentiments two weeks ago, I had no idea just how close I was to the actual. Last Thursday, when I spoke with the tourism minister it was against the background of increases in visitor arrivals over 2007. As a release from the JTB said, 'The Jamaica Tourist Board has announced its strongest winter travel season on record, totalling 653,000 stopover arrivals from December 15, 2007 to April 15, 2008. This record number of visitors represents a 13 per cent increase over the same period last year, and brought in a total of US$724 million, reflecting a 10 per cent increase in tourism revenue from the previous season.'

Said the minister to me when we spoke: "You were right about that period between 1989 and 2007. We have never stopped working. In fact, so sterling were our efforts that some were of the opinion that we, the JLP in Opposition, were doing more than the Government."
The minister went on to explain that both himself and Bruce Golding as leader of the Opposition had engaged the proposed new players in the hotel/casino gambling attraction. "As far as we in the JLP were concerned we were not going to wait on an election win to plan for the future. And so, once September 3 came around we knew what the moves and the new directions had to be," the minister said.

When I asked him about his general plans to increase tourism earnings he said, "Jamaica now takes in three million visitors per year and earns about US$2 billion. In five years we intend to move those numbers, increasingly each year, to five million visitors which ought to earn us, based on the increased take per visitor, US$7.5 billion."

With the huge increases expected not just from stopover visitors but in room count, the Government will find itself in a bind if there is no increase in airline seats into and out of the island. For this reason I am imploring the Government not just to speed up the process of divesting Air Jamaica, but to set its sights on opening up space for the low-cost airline, Airone.

This has to be treated as top priority.

Largest single investment ever!

The new hotel/casino (The Palmyra Resort and Spa at Rose Hall) will be an investment of US$1.8 billion. "Contrast that with the total investment of the Riu hotels of just under US$1 billion," said Minister Bartlett. In plain language, in terms of the sheer size of the investment, it will be the single largest money investment in Jamaica's modern history!

News that under the last administration casino gambling was being negotiated was quite surprising to me, given the PNP's oftentimes umbilical link to the 'church'. Tourism interests have suggested to me that the PNP planned to allow the Tavistock Group hotel/casino investment without quite calling it Casino Gambling.

Said a large hotelier, "Maybe what they planned was to fill up the place with slot machines at the outset then slowly move in the board games. At some later stage the Government would mount a very skilful argument to convince the public that Casino Gambling was already here, so why not move to have it fully and legally instituted." Interesting position to hold.

Given that the Tavistock group were given territorial rights (why?) against a background that there is no shortage of investors in the hotel/casino gambling market, it seems to me that the present Government had to do some fancy legal shuffling to allow in another tourism interest in the Casino Gambling market, considering those very territorial rights. I have heard some rumours, but I will keep them close to my chest.

I could not have a telephone conversation with Minister Bartlett without asking about Portland, the forgotten tourism resort, the original home of tourism in Jamaica. "Mark, we are going to use Portland for the high-end market. There should be no suggestion that we will be embarking on a type of development which mimics the resort areas on the North Coast," said the minister.

After we talked shop on Portland, the minister said that he wanted to introduce 'high-touch service' to Portland's tourism. "We want the parish of Portland to be known for a type of service, not servitude, that is absolutely second to none, not just in the island but in the region. Can't tell you everything now. Announcements will be made soon," said Bartlett.

It is quite obvious to me that the tourism minister has the prime minister on board with all of his grand, workable plans, and even in the face of diehard comrades berating me for 'bigging up' Golding and Bartlett, I will continue to do so just as long as I as a public commentator remain convinced that they are on track.

For this reason I have no problems in saying, Congrats Minister Bartlett. Because you are on the verge of delivering on one part of the JLP's mandate of making Jamaica a better country, more will be expected from you.

Putting politics in the pot of governance

Selfishness taken in the parts making it up has been given a bad reputation. If a stepfather feeds only his children and shows a mean face to the others, he is a selfish and wicked man. If, instead, he ensures that all the children are well fed, not just because it is his duty to do so, but because it is right, he is considered a good man.

If he does it because it also makes him feel good, isn't that a bit of selfishness on his part? Was he not trying to gratify himself in the process of assisting others? And is it wrong for him to gratify himself in completing that act? Certainly not!

If we place the ego as the topping out of this type of selfishness, we give birth to that creature known as the politician. Whenever people ask, why is it that politicians seek the job of 'service' when it is oftentimes a job requiring one to love those who reserve the right to hate you, are we not forced to devise our own answers? Assuming that most politicians do not set out to be corrupt, it is my belief that it is the ego driving them. If they perform their job successfully, they are almost worshipped and given positions of power above all others.
Isn't that the ultimate ego trip?

Watching Prime Minister Golding in the House last Tuesday, one would have to be a myopic, dyed-in-the-wool, orange-shirt comrade to not admit that he was a master at his craft. Recognising that the politics of 'seat-count' may have implications for his governance in a time of national and global economic uncertainties, the prime minister would have much preferred if the matter of the constituency seat split and the court cases concerning them were behind him.

Robert Mugabe is one sick Joke

Inflation in Zimbabwe is now over 165,000 per cent up from 32 per cent just 10 years ago. It is now approaching the hyperinflation level of Germany in the post-World War I period when people collected their pay in wheelbarrows, prices were doubling by the hour and it took 200 billion marks to buy a loaf of bread in 1923!

Robert Mugabe is nothing more than a black blot on the world stage. He makes it easier for rabid racists to say, "See, I told you so. The blacks cannot lead anything."

Let me leave you with this beauty of a joke I found on a blog:
'Mugabe of Zimbabwe, George Bush of the USA and Hu Jintao the president of China are flying, and suddenly the aeroplane loses both of its engines. There is only one parachute on the plane.

Bush says: "My friends, I must use this parachute, being the leader of the most powerful country in the world."

"No," says the Chinese leader, "I represent the biggest population and fastest growing economy in the world."

"No, no, no, let's put it to a vote," says Mugabe. They vote and Mugabe wins by 16,000 votes.

Economic realities and political considerations

One publication recently said: "Riots in Haiti over explosive rises in food costs have claimed the lives of six people. There have also been food riots worldwide in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivorie, Egypt, Guinea, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

The Economist, which calls the current crisis the silent tsunami, reports that last year wheat prices rose 77 per cent and rice 16 per cent, but since January the price of rice has risen 141 per cent. The reasons include rising fuel costs, weather problems, increased demand in China and India, as well as the push to create biofuels from cereal crops."

At home, it is no easier on the poorer households whose members are facing huge increases in basic food items and cooking fuel. Surprisingly, a significant majority of people are aware of the global picture in terms of rapid price movement in food staples. I have not seen any empirical evidence to suggest that even in this gloomy economic climate the electorate would be prepared to give poor marks to the six-month-old JLP Government.

To my mind, an election at this time must always be seen as a last resort. The question is, if those who started it, the PNP, cannot naturally find the energy to reach the finish line, is it not the duty of the JLP to complete the race for it?

Some have questioned Danville Walker's qualification as a citizen to be involved in any future elections. Said one online reader who believes that Walker's integrity is beyond question, "The sad thing about this issue is the message it sends. Here we have a Jamaican-born naturalised US citizen who returned to Jamaica to help to build the country now being persecuted because of partisan politics. I agree that Vaz should have been reprimanded, but this issue with Danville is purely political. It turns my stomach. The PNP ought to be ashamed."

At some stage I believe the PNP as it is now structured at the top will try to worm its way out of forcing Golding into an election. At that stage I believe that that party will have been so weakened that Golding the politician may want to step in and take more, if more is for the taking. One reader believed he would be a foolish man to miss that chance. "Bruce should not lose - unless he procrastinates as Portia did. He needs to call that election as soon as possible with the least amount of campaigning time. The PNP lost the poker game and now wants its betting money back."

Golding, the politician has unfinished business

The prime minister has much to settle politically. On election night the lame-duck prime minister, now Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller did not leave the seat of her throne without incident. Idle words not befitting a prime minister were used and it was Golding who steadied the ship.

After that, there were three seats that were seen as must-wins for the JLP, which eventually went to the PNP. The result of the Vaz vs Dabdoub case only reminded him that too many negative political factors were in close proximity to his ability to focus on running a government.

One person in the Diaspora issued his position, but to me it was void of that understanding of the realities which bordered a strict and maybe misguided application of the law. Said he, "The results of the September 3, 2007 general elections are not settled until all related actions are dealt with. The G-G erred in installing Golding as PM and needs to step in and reverse this action. The G-G should take over until the political dispute is resolved. Golding should not be allowed to exercise the prerogative of calling a snap election in view of the fact that his party does not enjoy an undisputed majority."

Unfortunately, the person did not supply the meaning of, 'The G-G should take over.'

He goes further but is apparently unaware of recent polls showing the trending down of Simpson Miller's popularity in comparison to Peter Phillips and also the ascendancy of Golding and the JLP in the findings.

He says, "Yes, I believe some sacrifices will be made - namely Portia Simpson and Daryl Vaz.

Here's the scenario that I visualise. Dabdoub is gonna stick to his guns. Golding is gonna call a snap election ( which Dabdoub is gonna oppose in court). Portia is gonna step down as party leader and Phillips is gonna be elevated to the post unopposed.

"Outcome? Golding is gonna lose the elections. Sky-rocketing consumer prices and the demise of Cash Plus have already turned the electorate against the JLP."

While some have suggested that in any impending snap election the PNP would be forced to clutch at straws in seeking issues to campaign on, others have said that the Cash Plus fallout could be ready-made for the PNP. My banker/economist friend does not see it that way.

Says he: "If I were the minister of finance, or the prime minister I would have strong words with Derrick Latibeaudiere. The BOJ governor is, by law, and by reality, the only financial advisor to the Government; the financial secretary sees about civil service and fiscal, as distinct from monetary policy. Cash Plus is a subject of monetary policy. It is the bounden duty of the BOJ governor, even in a whisper to the minister of finance or the prime minister, to say "Sir, there are some nagging doubts about this. I want to use my powers under the Banking Act, or on your instructions to set up 'quiet investigation into this' as it will show our awareness.

Heritage Week or Halloween?

Alton Ellis a true gentleman — Roger Steffens

Cameal: Sittin' On Top