Dear Editor,

Jamaican leaders tend to adopt catchphrases, one of which was “Yes we can”, from President Obama’s first term in office. The current phrase is ‘transformational leader’, but there are examples of what a transformational leader is, and one such is Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil.

Like Portia Simson Miller, Lula can be described as coming from the bowels of the poor, but he doesn’t hold it up as a badge of honour and use it to beat us over the head. Lula had little formal education; he did not learn to read until age 10 and quit school after the second grade in order to work to help his family.

At age 12 he was as a shoeshiner and by the time he turned 14 he was a street vendor. This didn’t stop Lula from achieving greatness. After losing a number of attempts at being elected, he was finally successful. In office, his administration achieved a satisfactory primary budget surplus in only two years, as required by the IMF, exceeding the target for the third year.

By 2005, they paid off Brazil’s debt in full, two years ahead of schedule. In his second term, Lula introduced a Growth Acceleration Programme that involved:

1) Investment in the creation of and repair of roads and railways.

2) Simplification and reduction of taxation.

3) Modernisation of Brazil’s energy production.

Lula implemented the Ministry of Social Development and Eradication of Hunger. Brazilian foreign trade increased dramatically, changing from deficits to several surpluses since 2003. In 2004, surpluses reached US$29 billion. After decades as the largest foreign debtor among emerging economies, Brazil became a net creditor.

Lula’s economic policies also helped to raise living standards significantly, the middle class rose from 37 per cent to 50 per cent of the population. Social programmes included:

1) Creation of water cisterns in Brazil’s semi-acrid region.

2) Actions to counter teenage pregnancy.

3) Strengthening of family agriculture.

4) Distributing minimum cash to the poor.

Under Lula, Brazil became the world’s eighth-largest economy, as more than 20 million people rose out of poverty.

Now, Mrs Simpson Miller and Mr Andrew Holness, that is transformational leadership.

Mark Clarke

Siloah PO St. Elizabeth

mark_clarke9@yahoo.com