Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy. — Winston Churchill

Last week three of the e-mail I received met my criteria of worthwhile challenge and recommendation. Two were matter of fact. I Iike those. “What are your core beliefs about government?” “Who do you think should be in the Cabinet if the Jamaica Labour Party [JLP] wins the next general election?” And, “Stop quoting the murder figures; no country in the world with as violent a past as Jamaica is peaceful.”

The length of the third e-mail was akin to a national broadcast by Fidel Alejandro Castro.

Full of ‘Chavismo’

The reader identified herself as a Venezuelan who resides in Miami, Florida. Jamaica was her home from 1973 to 1977, she said. She castigated me for ‘swallowing’ the “biased” reports filed by the

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) during the recent parliamentary election in the Bolivarian Republic.

“You do not have a total appreciation of the facts and the many achievements of “Chavismo”, she lectured. Her stout defence of the Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro administrations was entertaining. The rusty razor blades in her epistle were conspicuous and formulaic socialist diatribe. I need not repeat them. Why? Politics ought to be about the facilitation and provision of workable, verifiable and sustainable economic and social opportunities for all who desire them. The rule of law is indispensable to developmental politics. The chief purpose of politics cannot be facile romanticism and/or bloated philosophising.

What is the state of the Venezuelan economy after 18 years of ‘Chavismo’ styled socialism?

“Ravaged by inflation in the triple digits, regular scarcities of basic goods, and GDP growth expected to hit negative 10 per cent, it would have taken a great deal to win back the benefit of the doubt. And Maduro and his cronies can no longer turn to the central bank to buy them loyalty from the people.” (

The National Interest, December 14, 2015)

How did mighty Venezuela come to this sad point?

“Venezuela has long been among the 10 largest oil exporters in the world, and with oil prices through the roof, it had staggering amounts of cash to spend. And spend the Chavistas did, on food and electricity, on education and housing, and on doctors from Cuba to replace Venezuela’s own emigrating educated class. Where countries like Chile and Colombia set up stabilisation funds to squirrel away national wealth for the end of the boom cycle, Venezuela spent like there was no tomorrow. Beyond the public programmes that kept the system in place, much of the bonanza was lost to corruption — the personal enrichment of a new socialist elite and their families — as well as international largesse programmes like PetroCaribe which, through generous oil diplomacy in the region, allowed Venezuela to punch outside its weight class geopolitically for a time.” (

The National Interest, December 14, 2015)

Much of the formula above are echoes of the 70s in Jamaica under Michael Manley. The squandering of the bauxite levy is a matter of public record. I will deal with that in another piece.

The 2015 Legatum Prosperity Index (LPI) ranks the Venezuelan economy at 103 of 142. Personal freedom is 132 of 142 countries. “The Prosperity Index is the only global index that measures national prosperity based on both wealth and well-being (objective and subjective data).” (LPI 2015)

The 2015/16 Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) ranks Venezuela’s institutions among some of the worst in the world. Its overall ranking was 132 of 140 countries. “The Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016 assesses the competitiveness landscape of 140 economies, providing insight into the drivers of their productivity and prosperity. The report remains the most comprehensive assessment of national competitiveness worldwide.” (GCI 2015/16)

The 2015 Gallup Law and Order Index (GLOI) says, among other things: “Venezuelan adults are the least likely to say they feel safe walking alone at night, with only 22 per cent [lowest ranking in the world — my insert]. The economically troubled country has the second-highest murder rate in the world after Honduras. The report was based on more than 142,000 interviews with adults in 141 countries in 2014.” (GLOI, September 19, 2015)

My Venezuelan friend in America’s Sunshine State says the

BBC and I have “misjudged the love Maduro has for people”.

“In a televised speech on Tuesday, following his legislative loss, a clearly resentful Maduro told his audience: ‘I wanted to build 500,000 homes for you this year, but now I’m not so sure.’ He explained, ‘It’s not because I can’t, of course, I can, it’s because I asked you to support me, and you didn’t.” (

National Interest, December 14, 2015)

Maduro claims the Opposition is in fact plotting to axe social projects like the ‘Great Venezuelan Housing Mission’ in which authorities build or refurbish homes for low-income families. But leaders like Marialbert Barrios say such projects should, instead, be improved, pointing to the fact that residents do not have property titles, which she says allows them to be pressured into voting for ‘Chavismo’. “We’re going to strengthen the ‘Missions’,” she said. “Why don’t they give them property rights? How can they give you a house and then take it away depending on whether you vote or not?”

The direct quotes are those of Marialbert Barrios, a newly elected deputy from the Venezuelan coalition of Opposition parties (MUD). She spoke with

Reuters in Caracas on December 14, 2015. What great love, indeed?

We need to get our petroleum house in order. Country folks put it best: “Tek sleep mark death.” Learn from the signs and realities around.

“Tomás Guanipa, secretary general of Opposition party Primero Justicia (Justice First) and re-elected deputy at the National Assembly, asserted that the qualified majority won by Opposition coalition Unified Democratic Panel (MUD) would promote a social agenda. He also urged the Government to ‘listen humbly’ what voters conveyed at the ballots on December 6 in the parliamentary vote.

Guanipa explained that the new National Assembly to be installed in January will revise international oil agreements the Government has signed through the PetroCaribe oil alliance.

“ ‘We cannot continue selling oil due in 20 years when we need resources immediately. We will promote that our oil is for Venezuelans,’ Deputy Guanipa remarked.” (

El Universal, December 15, 2015)

Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez, a geopolitical risk analyst based in Chicago and professor in Latin American business at the Kellogg School of Management, says: “Venezuela’s economy has collapsed due to a crude blend of cheap oil and inspired mismanagement.”

I agree.

I expect I will receive another epistle from my Venezuelan friend in Miami soon. But then maybe not.

Political furniture

“After order and liberty, economy is one of the highest essentials of a free government,” said Calvin Coolidge, 30th president of the United States. Coolidge’s view of government coincides with my core beliefs about why government exists and what it exists to do. Government must be fettered by financial and social frugality.

I believe in efficiency in government. Inefficiency in government is a scourge on Jamaica’s representational politics. It helps to perpetuate what former Prime Minister P J Patterson described as “the fight for scarce benefits and spoils carried on by hostile tribes that seem to be perpetually at war”.

Getting a Cabinet post is self-actualisation in our politics. Prime ministers appease the ‘maddening crowd’ by doling out Cabinet largesse oftentimes to people country folks call ‘hurry come-ups’ and ‘frighten Fridays’ [status deprived and incompetent]. This needs to stop.

We could do several PhD essays on how inefficiency in government has helped to retard the economic and social growth of our country.

These are who I think should be in the Cabinet of a JLP Administration.

Andrew Holness — prime minister, defence, development

Audley Shaw — finance, planning

Floyd Green — public service, worker innovation and productivity skills

Ruel Reid — education, human development

Senator Kaminia Johnson Smith — foreign affairs, foreign trade

Derrick Smith — national security

Dr Horace Chang — health

Dr Christopher Tufton — employment, investment, industry, commerce

Dr Andrew Wheatley — science, technology, engineering and mathematics

Pearnel Charles — local government, labour, social welfare

Marlene Malahoo-Forte — environment, land, water, climate change

Mike Henry — housing, works, transportation

Robert Montague — agriculture, fisheries, rural development

Olivia Grange — sports, youth, culture, creative industries

Delroy Chuck — justice, reparation, repatriation, public good

Karl Samuda — small businesses and start-ups

Daryl Vaz — media

Edmund Bartlett — tourism, entertainment

Crime watch

Now to the ‘e-mailer’ who rebuked me for the frequent inclusion of the crime statistics in my columns. Among other things crime is killing Jamaica. “The figures are staggering. For the 10-year period 2003-2013, more than 10,000 Jamaicans have been murdered by the gun, with 75 per cent of all murders committed with illegal guns. Eighty-four per cent of the approximately 250 gangs operating across the island are perpetrators of violence involving the use of firearms.” (

The Gleaner, April 1, 2013)

The debilitating impact of crime on our lives was commented on by a globally respected publication: “If Caribbean countries were able to reduce crime levels to those similar to Costa Rica (with a homicide rate of 8.1/100,000), their rates of economic growth would increase notably. In the cases of Jamaica and Haiti, GDP growth would be boosted by a massive 5.4% annually.” (

The Economist, March 20, 2008)

Since the start of the year, 1,189 Jamaicans have been slaughtered. This is a 22 per cent increase over the corresponding period last year.

The crime monster can be tamed. We need to start by attacking the causes of crime. The respected

The Independent newspaper in Britain on November 20, 2015, name ‘Six once-dangerous countries that are now safe holiday destinations’. These are: Croatia, Namibia, Colombia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Nicaragua.

Nearly one million or one in 10 Rwandans were murdered in a genocide in 1994. Horrific does not begin to describe the unmitigated evil that took hold of Rwandans for 100 days.

“ ‘As many as 10,000 bodies from Rwanda’s massacres have washed down the Kagera River into Lake Victoria in Uganda in the last few weeks, creating an acute health hazard,’ a senior Ugandan official says. Cloaking the countryside with the stench of death, the bodies — as many as 100 an hour — are being washed ashore in the Rakai district of southern Uganda or onto islands in Lake Victoria and have been seen as far north as Entebbe.” (

The New York Times, May 21, 1994)

Rwanda was named as one of the safest countries on the globe by the 2015 Gallup Law and Order Index. The report ranked Rwanda alongside Hong Kong and Singapore. Paul Kagame has provided leadership beyond his generation — Lee Kuan Yew’s formula for transforming a society from the ashes.

“The World Bank has ranked Kigali [Rwanda’s capital] among the six top cities in the world that demonstrate global competitiveness. The ranking, contained in a report that sought to examine the key dimensions of globally competitive cities, saw the bank put together a collection of detailed economic data for 750 cities in the world, which it used to distill the factors that drive economic competitiveness.” (

The New Times, December 22, 2015)

Rwanda has achieved an average of eight per cent economic growth annually over the last 10 years.

After 22 of the last 26 years in power, the People’s National Party needs to explain why Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nicaragua, Haiti, Honduras, Panama, the Philippines, Grenada, St Kitts, and several other countries — some with less developed human and fewer natural resources — are achieving meaningful economic growth and we are not.

Jamaica can be transformed for the positive benefit of the majority of her citizens. Here I take liberties with the Peter Tosh: “We need to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and start all over again.”

The current Administration does not have the ideas, street currency, will, and/or skills to transform Jamaica.

When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon. — Thomas Paine

PS: Happy Holidays to all my readers and, indeed, all Jamaica.

Garfield Higgins in an educator and journalist. Send comments to the Observer orhiggins160@yahoo.com.