Opposition spokesman on finance and the public service Mr Mark Golding will one day make a fine minister of finance, that is if he uses his time in Opposition to hone his political skills and learn to operate in the emerging social paradigm.

In the meantime, he should turn his back firmly on old-time ‘politricks’ with which the Jamaican people are increasingly fed up. If he is required to issue a press release now and then, he should make it count.

The most recent one does not.

“The Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) says the sharp drop in the rate of economic growth to 0.3 per cent in the second quarter of the fiscal year, as reported by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), should be of grave concern to every Jamaican.

“At a time when Jamaica is exiting the IMF (International Monetary Fund) Programme and the country should be moving forward with confidence, the engine of our economy is faltering. Growth has slowed to less than 1-in-4, leaving the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation with a failing grade.”

He goes on: “Alongside this paltry growth performance, fear grips the land. Crime is out of control, with murders and other serious crimes even higher than last year. The dengue crisis continues, with public health services in a dismal state. The Government has also acquired a dismal track record for corruption. All in all, as the year draws to a close, prosperity remains an illusion and the people will be looking for better in 2020.”

Mr Golding should understand that this is a waste of a good brain. On one hand, he is party to that reckless call for the Government to find, on a whim, over $1 billion that was not provided in the 2019/2020 budget to give to members of the security forces, no matter how well deserved. At the same time, Members of Parliament want a salary increase.

Mr Golding needs to tell the country where that money is going to come from, if indeed the economy is faltering, as he says it is in the release.

He also needs to explain whether he is among those Jamaicans whom he says should be gravely concerned about “the sharp drop in the rate of economic growth to 0.3 per cent in the second quarter of the fiscal year”.

You can’t have it both ways, Mr Golding.

DEVOTE REVENUE FROM MEDICINAL MARIJUANA, HEMP TO SOCIAL INTERVENTION

The real problem of the country’s lagging social intervention programmes is lack of resources, now to be exacerbated by the phasing out of donor funds on which we rely so heavily. It does take cash to care.

May we suggest that as Jamaica develops the medicinal marijuana and hemp industry that the revenue to come be entirely devoted to the funding of the social intervention programmes in order to ensure their sustainability?

No such programmes can be expected to succeed if they are not sustainable in the long term. Our problems did not land on our doorsteps overnight. And we do not have the requisite money.

The marijuana money is not yet in hand and, if Jampro is to be believed, it says local and international investors are being encouraged to take advantage of “the numerous opportunities that are available in Jamaica’s medicinal cannabis industry”.