THE Opposition Jamaica Labour Party yesterday expressed disappointment with Wednesday’s budget presentation of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

The Opposition chided the prime minister for what it said was “the lack of specifics in her address to the nation and her failure to articulate a fluent and credible approach to transformative policy development”.

JLP General Secretary Dr Horace Chang, while commending Simpson Miller for the passion with which she delivered the speech, said she “missed the mark”. He also described the speech as a repackaging of several previously announced JLP initiatives.

Said Chang: “She came with a ‘bag of goodies’ to make some people happy, and spoke about the need for the country to go for growth. However, it is worrying that neither she nor her finance minister outlined a clear plan of action for growth or committed to meeting any quantifiable medium-term growth targets. Her speech revealed that the Government lacks an appreciation of the need for sustained wealth creation in this country.”

“It is clear that transformational leadership was a major theme of her presentation, but her use of the term showed that she doesn’t appreciate the concept. Transformational leadership, in the context of Jamaica’s challenges, must show that you are prepared to take the tough decisions and commit to a programme of implementing tax reform, pension reform and public sector modernisation. It must show that you are committed to better governance and that you are fostering a new vision for the transformation of the nation. She failed to do that in her speech,” he contended.

Dr Chang, noting that one of the major announcements of the speech was that of benefits to be derived by contribution to the National Housing Trust (NHT), said there was nothing transformational about the plans as they were simply refurbished ideas proposed and implemented in varying degrees by previous prime ministers. He also expressed concern that no information was presented on the viability of the NHT, “even as the Government continues to raid it”.

Added Chang: “The politics of transformation is distinctly different from the politics of distribution which was promulgated by the prime minister. She didn’t push forward the debate on corruption and proper governance nor did she give any idea of how the Government will spur wealth creation.

“There was no tying together of Government policies to signal that they intend to put the nation on a growth path. Furthermore, after criticising the Opposition’s position on tax reform, the Prime Minister didn’t provide any new ideas, or even state her administration’s position on tax reform,” he said.

“The Opposition is disappointed that all the people got from the prime minister in her address was ‘sweet talk’. It is ironic that she stated that there could be no playing to the gallery in rescuing Jamaica, but the speech demonstrated little more than that,” said the JLP official.