The global economy has been experiencing some challenges over the past four years. These challenges have come within the context of a shift in the global power structure. A significant portion of the financial resources of the world economy is being shifted from the north to the south. The traditional powerful economies of the USA and Europe are coming under significant stress as this global transformation takes place.

In the early 1990s countries like China were granted Most Favoured Nation Status by the US. This has worked to China’s advantage and has resulted in that country emerging as a new economic superpower. China now boasts international reserves of over US$1 trillion and is the largest creditor to the United States. Other countries such as India, Brazil, Australia, and South Africa are also benefiting from this shift. Countries such as Jamaica have to recognise this shift and redouble their efforts to strengthen relations with these economies.

The People’s National Party, from the 1970s, had established a strong relationship with these countries through its inspirational leader and former Prime Minister Michael Manley. Some of these relationships were made possible because of the organisation’s connection with Socialist International. Several of these political parties are now in power in their respective countries and have been adopting modern approaches towards governance. It is these modern approaches that are contained in the Progressive Agenda being advanced by the PNP.

A critical element of this approach is consultation with the citizens who are supposed to be at the centre of development. It requires people to participate in the decision-making process at every level of the society, with specific targets and designed outcomes. Such a people-centric approach, can only redound to the greater good of Jamaica.

In 2007, Jamaica was well on its way to achieving some of these critical objectives. This is why when the PNP administration demitted office, we were seeing several positive social and economic indicators. The economy had grown by 3.5 per cent. Poverty had fallen from 31.7 per cent in 1989 to 9.7 per cent in 2007 and has subsequently risen to 19.3 per cent in 2011. Unemployment stood at 9.8 per cent. It is now up to 12.3 per cent. The Net International Reserves (NIR) was at US$2.4 billion; it is now at US$2.080 billion, despite the massive inflows resulting from the loans and grants from various multilaterals.

Well, after four years, most, if not all who contributed to the narrow victory of the JLP in 2007, have been expressing profound disappointment. They have seen over 130,000 jobs lost over that four-year period. Poverty has jumped to 19.3 per cent, and according to data from the World Bank, 43 per cent of the population or 1.2 million Jamaicans are living on US2.50 ($210) per day. And most significantly, we are once again in the “jaws” of the International Monetary Fund.

On going to the IMF in 2009, the government sought a programme from this multilateral institution to deal with some of our budgetary and balance of payments challenges. It was pointed out to the government by the PNP and other civil society groups that:

(1) No consultations had been done with the people on whom these policies were going to impact.

(2) The targets set out in the agreement and the time frame for implementation, were unrealistic.

Today, we are in difficulty with the IMF as some of these targets have truly proved to be problematic for the government. They have been unable to implement any of the needed reforms. Consider, for example, the pension system for public sector workers, which objectively needs to be reformed, in general, no public sector worker, except for parliamentarians, is contributing to the pension being paid by the Accountant General. The Government has also encountered major challenges with the wage freeze that it imposed unilaterally on public sector workers because there was no provision for the salary adjustments in the 2011-2012 budget, resulting in larger than expected expenditure. All of this is after there were massive taxes of approximately $50 billion that was imposed in the 2010-2011 budget cycle and contributed to the contraction of the purchasing power of Jamaicans.

The government now finds itself in a precarious position because the people who would be impacted by this programme that was agreed with the IMF, were not consulted. There were no stakeholder “buy-in” and when this happens, one cannot expect to get sympathy.

The PNP has placed the Progressive Agenda on the table as a template and a model for governance. At its core, consultation and participation are fundamental features. It has outlined in the document, a strategy to engage countries to the south which share its democratic principles, in the process of development. It has delineated how it intends to engage groups such as the youth, women and the disabled in the process of national development. All of these approaches have been adumbrated in the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP) and Culture, Arts, Recreation and Education (CARE) initiatives, which constitute a sneak preview of projects to be implemented by a new PNP administration.

The PNP under the leadership of Portia Simpson Miller has therefore set its clear priorities.

(1) To drive production and create employment through JEEP.

(2) To unlock the potential of every Jamaican and to show that we care through culture, arts, recreation and most importantly, education.

(3) To renegotiate the IMF agreement after the necessary consultations with the various stakeholders and to have a more realistic time frame for the tough policy decisions to be implemented.

I am confident that the PNP, under the leadership of Portia Simpson Miller, can drive the country on the correct trajectory. The organisation has the track record of moving the country out of a borrowing relationship with the IMF in 1995. The organisation has the experience and knowledge of individuals like Omar Davies who successfully negotiated MOUs with various stakeholders in the public sector. And most important, the organisation has the skills and talents of a people-centric leader, who after 35 years of national service, is still regarded as the most trustworthy and honest politician in the country today.

Floyd Morris is a former senator and minister of state in the PNP administration.

morrisfloyd@gmail.com