If she’s gonna fly, bring home bacon
Dear Editor,
Portia Simpson Miller is often criticised for her numerous travels abroad, but her detractors and supporters alike are both misguided.
According to her critics, the prime minister should exhibit fiscal prudence by travelling less; since this action represents that the country’s burdens are being shared equally. Her supporters vehemently disagree with her perspective that leaders must travel since they are expected to forge partnerships with their foreign counterparts and even Jamaica being a beneficiary of grants from China and Europe clearly suggest that the prime minister’s travels have been a success. But both views are flawed.
The former perspective is incorrect because the prime minister is being criticised for the wrong reason. The issue is not that her travels are too much, but they are rather unproductive. For example, if the prime minister travels to China and she receives a grant or loan, there is no reason for applause. After over 50 years of Independence we shouldn’t be relying on the goodwill of other countries. Others may argue that the loan will be used to build infrastructure, but the reality is that it will form part of our debt stock and Jamaica has a history of incurring overheads when developing major projects, largely due to corruption and inefficiency. So there is very little reason to be happy.
The latter view is simplistic because the products of the prime minister’s sojourns overseas can hardly be classified as achievements, there is no achievement in depending on the goodwill of other countries. However, being a leader requires global engagement, so the prime minister should follow her counterparts and embark on more productive ventures. For example, the Government of Singapore in collaboration with private sector recently established the one-stop centre in Shanghai that is dedicated to helping SMEs venture into the Chinese market. It is also responsible for providing advisory services.
Irrespective of what some of us believe, Jamaica has no serious partnership with China or any other country, we simply beg.
Lipton Matthews
lo_matthews@yahoo.com