Senator Kern Spencer, the junior minister for industry, technology, energy and commerce, apparently believes that the Jamaican people are idiots.

For how else can we explain his ridiculous attempt in the Senate last week to defend the importation of Cuban social workers to help distribute fluorescent light bulbs to Jamaican households?

According to Senator Spencer, more than 1,500 Cubans - 25 per constituency - will be involved in distributing more than four million fluorescent bulbs donated by the Cuban government under an energy-saving project being implemented by his ministry and the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica.

These Cubans, who will work alongside Jamaican social workers, are here as "part of the package that was negotiated with Cuba", Senator Spencer told his colleagues.
Why?

Because, said the junior minister, every single bulb needs to be accounted for, and the Cubans have experience in implementing this kind of programme.

Frankly, we are unable to see why Cubans are needed to help distribute fluorescent bulbs here and, like Senator Chris Tufton, we are curious as to why the services of civic and community-based organisations were not engaged for this project.

Senator Spencer therefore needs to inform the country of the bona fides of these Jamaican social workers he has on this project. For he has implied in his justification for the presence of the Cubans that the Jamaicans working with them need to be monitored. If, therefore, Senator Spencer is saying that these Jamaican social workers cannot be trusted to distribute the bulbs to the people for whom they have been imported, why employ them?

We note too that the junior minister did not, in that Senate debate, deny that his image appears on the brochures informing residents about the programme. If that accusation is true, it raises the question of whether this programme is being utilised for political purposes in what is expected to be an election year.

Our other major concern with this programme is its cost to taxpayers. According to Senator Spencer, the total bill is US$5.7 million. However, because the bulbs are free, the spend is US$3.4 million.

Senator Spencer now needs to say on what are we spending this US$3.4 million. He should include that in the "fulsome document" he has promised the country.

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