There is something to be said for the art of problem-solving and the efficiency, effectiveness and foresight it requires to be properly executed. This art is used in our everyday lives and certainly has its place in the governing of our country.

In fact, if nothing else, our leaders must be able to demonstrate and exercise an impeccable ability to come up with the most efficient, effective and sustainable solutions to our nation’s problems for us to consider them good leaders. There is also something to be said for the art of decision making and the good it does for a people when its leaders are masters at it. We want leaders who are able to make decisions that are rational and that which create the best possible outcomes for the country. Sad to say, however, that we continue to have to question these skills within our leaders today.

There is an obvious and consistent tactic in the way our Government solves problems and that has been to apply bandages to big wounds and then feign shock when the wound continues to bleed through the bandage. The crime plan comes to mind but that’s a conversation for another article.

In 2017, we heard great talks of a scheme to get better quality taxis in the nation’s fleet as the minister of transport at the time, observed, and rightfully so, that the majority of vehicles operating as taxis are much older and as such not the finest style to have the public driving in. He therefore proposed a Special Import Regime for vehicles to be used as taxis to allow taxi operators to acquire newer vehicles that would allow the general public more comfortable and safer transit to their whereabouts. Following this regime, which was implemented that same year, used cars of up to eight years old could be imported for the purpose of taxis — distinct from used cars being imported for personal use which could only be up to five years old (JIS, 2017).

The idea in and of itself was a plausible solution to the problem. Wound — Band-Aid. What failed to be taken into consideration at the time, however, was the effect this would have had on the local used car market. Some of these older cars, as they were cheaper, were being bought for personal use and because of how cheaply they were being sold disrupted the profitability of the local used car market based on the account of the President of the Jamaica Used Car Association, Lynvale Hamilton and his colleagues (Collinder, 2019) — thus the bleeding began. The thing is, finding solutions is so much more than finding a quick fix — there has to be other measures put in place to ensure that the solution works the way that it should and that it continues to do so for time to come. This one certainly did not, as the Government failed to put effective frameworks in place to police and ensure that these older cars being imported were indeed being used for taxis and that non-taxi operators wouldn’t take advantage of this as a means of buying their cars cheaper.

As of 2019, the regime has been discontinued and nothing has been mentioned of its renewal since. That is to say, instead of simply coming up with a framework that would make this otherwise plausible solution to a worthy problem a workable solution, the leaders of our countries thought it best to just get rid of the solution altogether — an excellent demonstration of poor problem-solving and poor decision-making.

At the mention of poor decision-making, I now have to turn my gaze to the recent and questionable decision to make a private company, AutoTerminal Japan Ltd (ATJ), the sole provider of pre-inspection of used vehicles to be imported into the country and standing directives that this same entity be the only one used to sanitise the vehicles in addition to their inspection before they are shipped, despite public complaint from the JUCDA about the inconvenience this sanitisation directive causes for them in a 2019 The Gleaner article (Thompson & Hector, 2019). A later article that same year, entitled “Auto dealers blame pre-inspection agent for import delays” revealed to the public the immense delays importers have faced in the importation process which used to take anywhere from two to five weeks but now can take up to five months since the pre-inspection company became a factor in the process (Graham & Hector, 2019).

It then begs the question of whether this private company can bear the weight of the industry and on what basis it was chosen by the Government to fulfil such an important responsibility, especially when there are other options. One such option is the world renowned and veteran inspection organisation Société Générale de Surveillance (General Society of Surveillance [SGS]) founded in 1878 and is widely accepted as the global benchmark for inspection of this type. This organisation has far more experience in this venture and has a much bigger capacity to inspect our imports which is a thriving market that requires efficiency to meet its demand.

The questions then still stand: Why ATJ and not SGS? Why quick fixes and not sustainable solutions? Are these vehicles still being imported?????

Hugh Graham is Member of Parliament for St Catherine North Western, and CEO of Paramount Trading Company Ltd.