Use local poll to show disapproval of economy, says Seaga
OPPOSITION leader Edward Seaga last night urged Jamaicans to use next month’s local government elections as a way to register disapproval of the Patterson administration’s handling of the ailing economy.
Speaking during a national broadcast, the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) predicted rough times ahead for the economy under the ruling People’s National Party.
Voting for JLP candidates, he said, would send “a strong signal” to the administration of Prime Minister P J Patterson: “Shape up or ship out!”
Patterson has called local elections for June 19.
Seaga last night laid blame for rising prices and unemployment squarely on the government, which he accused of mismanaging the economy for short-term political gain. The immediate consequence, he said, has been more taxes and the downward, roller coaster ride of Jamaica’s currency against the US dollar.
In recent days, the dollar has stabilised following the government’s aggressive intervention in the market. But Seaga said the dollar’s slide is bound to resume after local elections, if the PNP’s policies continue.
At the same time, he predicted an approximately 50 per cent increase in the cost of goods and services, and warned that “the impact on the poor will exceed the damage in 1996 when the banking system nearly collapsed”.
“And it will certainly far exceed the damage in 1978 when he PNP government of (Prime Minister) Michael Manley imposed a wide range of new taxes,” he said. “The economy is once again in a state of crisis for the second time in less than 10 years. This time the panic is ever greater.”
In an example of what Seaga said was the Patterson administration’s politically-motivated financial management, he claimed that in last year’s budget it had failed to pay $8 billion of wage and salary increases owed civil servants and other workers.
“Instead, it was decided to spend the funds on projects to win the general election. They hid this monstrous misuse of funds from the country,” he said.
As a result, Seaga said, a “massive new tax increase had to be imposed this year to pay the salaries which should have been paid in the budget last year”.
Such actions have led to a lack of credibility, “and there is a feeling that government will continue to mislead the people for political reasons”, Seaga said.
“Hence, when the value of the Jamaican dollar was recently restored to under J$60 to US$1, it invoked a cynical public reaction that this is nothing more than an election strategy, and as soon as the election is over, the dollar will run again,” he added.
Jamaicans “withdraw their savings and convert them into US dollars because they have no faith anymore in a government which deceives them with lies and creates problems which it cannot fix,” Seaga said.