Dear Editor,

I was fortunate enough to witness the super glitzy “5 in 4” (five per cent growth within four years) launch over three years ago by Michael Lee-Chin and his team on the Economic Growth Council. At that time, myself and others wondered out loud if the plans being outlined were, in fact, realistic, as they seemed to simplify very complex problems and made our reaching the stated target sound like a mere formality.

The “5 in 4” was actually thought to be a conservative goal by some of the most learned people in the room, despite our somewhat stagnant growth rate for years prior.

Looking at Lee-Chin’s resume, and that of others present, I figured who was I, a mere mortal, to question these wise and noble geniuses?

Fast-forward to last week, we are now made to believe that the reason for being woefully off the “5 in 4” target is government bureaucracy and, in particular, the performance, or non-performance, of the current permanent secretaries.

Lee-Chin has now also had his ‘eureka’ moment declaring that some in the public sector put political allegiance over national patriotism. Wow, where was he and his team living for the past few decades?

The reasons for our apparently missing the target are now coming fast and furious, and clearly excuses and scapegoats are being provided at this stage as a precursor to the obvious and imminent news that the “5 in 4” target was merely a pipe dream.

I now ask Lee-Chin and his team why they did not take the make-up of the public sector and the political tribalism into account when making their projections, seeing that every Tom, Dick and Harry walking the streets knew of the situation that Lee-Chin, Hill, et al seem to just now be taking note of.

People making plans and projections cannot use ideal circumstances but must take into account the state of the wicket on which they have been put in to bat. If Lee-Chin were a CEO in one of his own companies and made such a blatant miscalculation and then cited silly reasons for missing targets — when those reasons were all known prior — I am certain he would be immediately fired and relieved of all duties. This, however, is Jamaica and those of the Lee-Chin ilk call the shots.

I do not expect the prime minister to have the cojones to do anything with the Economic Growth Council aside from perhaps posing for pictures with its members at the next uptown social gathering.

I remind Lee-Chin et al that we are not all fools to believe the nonsensical and insulting reasons for missing the “5 in 4” target.

Leroy D

leroy.dixon651@gmail.com