LIKE most Jamaicans I am saddened that the Trinidadians seem set to own another piece of us in Air Jamaica. I am peeved, not because the Trinidadians own the cement company and the Bajans are big in our insurance industry, but each time we find that we are forced to sell off another state asset, it means that we screwed up in the past and that past has resurfaced to haunt us.

A cursory examination of the cement company tells us it is close to the perfect business. The factory sits on its raw materials, it is situated on the waterfront, and demand for its products seems endless. With all of that advantage, it should never have slipped from us, but that is water under the bridge.

All things being equal, most Jamaicans would prefer to see Air Jamaica in the hands of the pilots’ association (JALPA) than under the ownership of the Trinidadian-owned Caribbean Airlines. If JALPA were really serious, it would have sent in its bid on time instead of now whining and hoping that industrial action will force the hand of the authorities to sell Air J to them.

Parochial thinking has caused emotion to get the better of us and we do not seem to understand that the motions of capital are not any more impeded by borders. In a post-recession world this is likely to increase as the dollar seeks out the most profitable berth.

Just as how successive governments, especially the previous PNP administrations, padded the civil service, Air Jamaica over many years was simply treated as another government department whose main role was to provide jobs. As a result, for the number of planes it operates, it has one of the highest ratios of staff (including pilots) to plane.

The emotion being generated in many quarters is understandable. We are parochial thinkers and most times what we seek is consensus on a policy or a position which is supported by the loudest parochial voice. As a result, we are being told that the government is “wicked” and heartless and that JALPA must somehow get a skip to the front of the line, even though it came in last.

There are real fears that somehow Caribbean Airlines will choose to use the newly acquired fleet of Air Jamaica’s planes to bolster Trinidad’s tourist industry. Well, if it should do that, Jamaica has little or no leverage in forcing its hand. At the same time, I do not believe that the Trinis are fools. Jamaica is still a viable tourist destination, and if Caribbean Airlines is in it to make money (what else?) it would be stupid to drop routes that are currently profitable.

Second, too much of the debate is making it sound as if Caribbean Airlines will be the only airline flying to and from Jamaica.

Let us look at two scenarios. Caribbean Airlines purchases Air Jamaica against the wishes of a majority of Jamaicans. Two years later it runs into a significant cash flow problem. Could it seek assistance from the Government of Jamaica? Hell, no!

The other scenario is JALPA owning Air Jamaica – that little piece of Jamaica that flies – and it runs into cash flow problems. With the acclaim that it would have received from the people of this country, what would happen should it turn to whichever government is in power? The people of this country would raise up their voices: “Unnu help dem nuh man. A wi bredrin yu know.”

Pretty soon, on every injection of cash or guarantees that the government would make, it would be forced to seek an equity partnership for the amount it lent the company, simply because, without that, there would be no guarantee of repayment. In maybe five years the government could find itself holding the majority shares of Air Jamaica, and the cycle of idiocy would be completed.

The world has long grown into directions that tend to “respect” power, might and money. Jamaica, it seems, has not yet caught up with that reality and is still into allowing the tears of emotion to wash over the harsh reality of the motions of capital.

Over the last 50-plus years it has been politics that has dictated every economic policy of note. Indeed, some would say that parochial politics has so reared its ugly head in Jamaica that it has displaced sound economic policy.

The fact is, the Golding administration has no other choice but to face up to the reality that the chickens have come home to roost. If some long-term good can come from the government’s hands being forced into fiscal prudence, what we should be doing is sighing silently instead of loudly mouthing the same old argument which got us into our long-term pickle in the first place.

Granted, the government still does not have the political clout to be believed on any issue, important or no. So, it is forced to head to its objectives while many of our people are calling the prime minister’s stance bullying.

When he said nothing, it was seen as poor communication. When he awoke from his seeming slumber and made his pronouncements, he was seen as a bully. What must he do? Invite the chief representatives of JALPA to Jamaica House to drink beer? Should he hold their hands and tell them that even though their bid came in long after bids were closed, because they are Jamaicans he is cancelling all other negotiations with third parties and arranging a “bly” for them?

What stupidity that would be. If the pilots’ association were really serious about acquiring Air Jamaica, its bid would have been the first one received. To come in last then try to “extort” its way to the table first by its union muscle is probably OK, as the power motions go, but let us not pretend that we do not see it for what it is.

The priority is to ensure that Jamaicans who fly and tourists who wish to come to Jamaica do so with the least inconvenience. I would expect that even as the negotiations with Caribbean Airlines continue, the tourism minister would be entering into viable arrangements with other North American and European airlines to ensure that the Caribbean Airlines deal in not a bear trap for our tourism.

The bigger problem is that one is never sure whether in such agreements the real beneficiaries are the people. The skulduggery of the past ought to inform us better.

observemark@gmail.com