Merry Christmas, Mom! Congratulations on your 105th. I love you, but can’t be there; next year for sure. I hear you rooted for Miss World Toni-Ann Singh. Mom, you want to come home, but Jamaica has changed, and you must not confuse what private people achieve with what Governments do — though a self-serving politician is always beside the winner. Yes, we now have good highways, but Cabinet neglects the ‘A’ roads ordinary folk use so foreign toll collectors get the traffic. So the rich pay tolls and the poor buy spare parts to cope with potholes.

Jamaican people have been exceptional; not our governments. The Portia Simpson Miller Cabinet’s handover to Andrew Holness is unique, but limited to economic fundamentals; so the challenge now is growth and it’s not going well. The moral is politicians can get us to sacrifice, but can’t get us to produce.

Private Jamaicans did well in 2019. The Jamaica Stock Exchange (private) got accolades; some firms opened in Africa, Dominican Republic; Bob Marley’s music was a top earner; Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Usain Bolt are now retired, but gave star power to our brand; and Miss Universe Toni-Ann Singh is a standout. Jamaican business, individuals, families gave us all these joys; did the Government make us proud?

Now, Mom, check the “Big 5” a Government is supposed to do:

#Housing: Uptown people build high-rise housing like crazy, so why no government cranes in depressed areas? Scripture says “to him who hath shall be given”. The annual deficit is 15,000 houses, yet Cabinet plans to deliver 20,000-plus over three years — better than most, but they know half of you will suck salt! Our trading partners promote rental housing for all, as they know the cost of kids who grow in squalor is too much for society. Our Cabinet promotes no rental options and so Kill Bill grows!

#National security: Job 1 of every Cabinet is to protect; yet murders, road kill, domestic violence increase; and decency, honesty, and civility decline. Some say our men behead women, gut and abuse girls, rape old women, and are unproductive because of slavery. Mom, if criminals were programmed by slavery they never knew we can’t blame them, eeehh? With values undermined by this determinism and zones of special operations (ZOSOs) and states of emergency (SOEs) not effective; Mom, please don’t come home!

#Education: Mom, you fought to get us through school, but the 70:30 problem which Teacher Allen and Mr Glasspole solved in the 50s has returned. Back then 70 per cent of kids were excluded from secondary, so they got no shot at tertiary. Today all get into secondary, but 70 per cent still don’t qualify for a shot at tertiary. Yes, Mom, much chat but little results.

#Food: Mom, we are not as food secure as in your days, and we produce a fraction of those days. Cabinet has no local food targets to determine what we must import as supplement or how much we should export to pay for inescapable imports. As a first step, they should empower our animal protein industry via a mother farm in each parish for pork, milk, beef, goat, with default processing to can, desiccate or preserve. We import subsidised farm protein so others pollute on our behalf. I say, let’s farm, pollute, subsidise our own, and keep the jobs. Let’s also produce insect bread (using crickets) as cheap protein and save the environment.

#Healthcare: The ‘Jamaica Moves’ project, fine-tuned and pursued relentlessly, can be a winner as prevention is key. Ganja pharma will not help us as general health care needs management, facilities, nurses, and doctors; so let’s recruit from Africa and India with whom our salaries compare well.

So, what of the Big 5 in 2019? If we knew Cabinet’s planned deliverables in a time frame we could score using data. We could help too. What is Cabinet’s strategy? After the war, Russia gave social services free in return for a single-party State; Democratic socialist Britain, Germany, France built welfare states using high tax regimes and entrenched services for all. Capitalist America took the path of food stamps, farm subsidy, Medicaid, Medicare, an veteran services requiring regular House approvals and subject to politics. Which model should we adopt and tweak?

In 2019 the word for Cabinet was “corrupt”, and for security “failure”; nought to celebrate. Which of the Big 5 can we celebrate like Toni-Ann? None! But if Cabinet inputs disproportionate resources on one with a deadline to meet service standards, would this be better than all as priority but none achieving? Then do one more the next term, for as we learn we might speed up and end mediocrity in public services in our time.

The haemorrhage of resources is massive; the returns minimum, so try this business model. May the joys of Advent be yours…Merry Christmas to one and all! Stay conscious!

Franklin Johnston, D Phil (Oxon), is a strategist and project manager; Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (UK); and lectures in logistics and supply chain management at Mona School of Business and Management, The University of the West Indies. Send comments to the Observer or franklinjohnstontoo@gmail.com.