THE Jamaica Labour Party called out its supporters for street protests against rising prices, at a time when Prime Minister P J Patterson will be hosting regional leaders at a summit to discuss Venezuela’s PetroCaribe energy initiative for Caribbean countries.

But the party’s leader, Bruce Golding, has warned that tomorrow’s demonstrations must be peaceful and within the law.

The JLP’s boss gave the charge to party organisers at yesterday’s meeting of the party’s Central Executive, its highest decision-making body, outside of the annual general conference.

“There has been much speculation (about the timing of anti-government protests),” Golding told the meeting at the Stony Hill HEART Academy in St Andrew.

“… I want you to leave here with a clear mandate, a clear charge that is coming from the leader – the time is Tuesday and anything that we do we will be within the framework of the law.”

Golding said the demonstrations were not to be held today so as not to disrupt the start of the new school term, but he made no mention of tomorrow’s summit in Montego Bay.

The presence of his colleague regional foreign leaders here will likely not only embarrass Patterson but gain substantial regional publicity for the JLP.

In yesterday’s speech, Golding urged parliamentarians, local government councillors and other party organisers to use the 48 hours available to them to “map out your strategies and identify the locations where the protests would be mounted”.

“We don’t want you cutting down any trees or burning any tyres,” he said, in stressing the peaceful nature of the planned demonstrations.

“. We want you to provide the leadership and ensure you are there to guide them.”

Golding and his party apparently hope to tap into popular discontent with a recent rash of price rises, particularly for utilities, which have pushed inflation beyond the level projected by the government.

After nearly a decade of single digit inflation, prices have over the past two years moved into double digit, reaching 14.1 per cent in 2003, and 13.7 per cent in 2004.

The government had largely blamed Hurricane Ivan last September for last year’s price movements.

The government had hoped that with the help of an agreement with trade unions that freezes the wages of public sector workers for two years, it could claw inflation back to single digit this year. But at mid-year, with inflation running at 8.8 per cent up to July, officials conceded that the target will not be met and projected that prices will rise, on average, by 15 per cent.

The government has blamed high oil prices and two mid-year storms for its dilemma, but Golding yesterday rejected these arguments, saying that the hike in petroleum prices was a convenient excuse for the government.

Instead, he blamed the problem on the inadequacies of the administration’s economic policies and what he believed to be a cosy relationship between the government and utility companies, especially Jamaica Public Service (JPS), the monopoly supplier of light and power.

He drew a comparison between Jamaica and Barbados, the latter of which has for years run inflation in the low single digit, while price instability has been a feature of Jamaica.

“They buy oil like us,” Golding said. “Somebody must explain why price increases are so volatile in Jamaica.”

Part of the problem, Golding argued, is that the administration had failed to enter proper arrangements with the utility operators, suggesting that they had been protected from already weak regulatory agencies.

The government, he said, was “playing a three card trick” with consumers on the issue.

“Everything is being blamed on oil prices,” the JLP leader said. “It is the reason why light, gas, chicken, bread (and) water rate going up, and is also going to impact on the rate of inflation.”

The Opposition, however, intended to rally Jamaicans to force the government to do something about prices.

Parliamentary resolutions and the Vale Royal talks between the Opposition and the administration on governance and other issues have failed to achieve much.

“Who is standing up for the people of Jamaica. If the government isn’t standing up the people cannot be left leaderless. And that’s why we have called you here,” Golding said.

The Opposition leader suggested that one way the government could “ease the pressure on Jamaicans” would be to roll back the General Consumption Tax (GCT) to 15 per cent – from the 16.5 per cent to which it was pushed in May.

This, he said, would not lose the government revenue as the increase in the inflation rate would result in more GCT being collected than was projected.

The government has projected to raise $36.7 billion from GCT this fiscal year, against $25 billion in 2004/2005.

Golding also suggested a freeze in the tax being collected on fuel since the movement in the price of oil during 2005 was considerable more than the original price projections.

Golding also called on the government to honour its promise to public sector workers through the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by topping up salaries to reflect the difference between the promised single inflation rate and the actual inflation rate.