The long-awaited and now-available public hearings of the Financial Sector Adjustment Company (Finsac) Commission of Enquiry, established in 2009 to investigate the factors that led to Jamaica’s financial sector collapse in the 1990s, will serve as cathartic news to some. But to others, the cogent details in the archive will be a huge blow to their solar plexus.

Jamaicans, mostly black Jamaicans whose lives were smashed to pieces, most of them because they dared to embrace a thinking and matching actions that would have helped them to have more control over the source of their subsistence, and simultaneously they dared to begin the climb up the ladder of generational wealth that is common to some peoples elsewhere, will doubtless get some merited emotional relief from this public archive.

Those who presided over deleterious policies, the negative results of which set this country back for some 30 years will not be happy that their highly incompetent deeds are now on public show. They will deploy intellectual contortionists and worst. Their assignment is to convince us that they saved the day and did not, in fact, crash the car. Appalling!

The preventable financial meltdown in Jamaica in the 90s was a national tragedy by any objective measurement. The very foundation of Jamaica’s black business class was almost incinerated. This took place at a time when Caribbean and Latin American economies grew on average by 3 per cent yearly, and the global economy, particularly those of our major trading partners were expanding by leaps and bounds. Jamaica’s, however, was on life support.

Jamaicans were told that it was: “Black man time now!” Thousands of Jamaicans were duped by this slogan. The People’s National Party (PNP) is good at sloganeering. Recall Michael Manley’s tomfoolery, “Better muss’ come” in the run-up to the 1972 General Election. Sloganeering is the forte of socialist parties like the PNP.

As happened in the 70s, by the time many Jamaicans woke from the drug-induced political sleep in the 90s the country was in shambles. We were desperately indebted; social decline was spiralling; Jamaica’s international respect, that was painstakingly rebuilt in the 80s, was wobbling; unemployment was strangling the life chances of especially the youth population; crime, in particular murders, were rampant; corruption, especially money scandals, had reached unprecedented levels; capital flight was resurrected; and Jamaica was on the brink of failed State designation, this according to several internationally accepted benchmarks.

These were awful, very awful times.

Thousands of honest businessmen and women, whose only crime was investing in the land of their birth, were ruined.

Yola Gray-Baker, president of the Association of Finsac’d Entrepreneurs, told me on radio that many black business people were forced to migrate. She also told me that some 20 Finsac’d entrepreneurs committed suicide.

Some might reason that since the deceased are no longer reliving the excruciating and daily trauma of being ruined by the iniquitous high interest rate policies of the P J Patterson-led Administration with Minister of Finance Dr Omar Davies they are the lucky ones, because dozens today are like dead men and women walking, shattered human shells, who cannot bring themselves to pick up the pieces. Tragic!

Recall this Jamaica Observer story entitled ‘Finsac crisis blamed for Mandeville couple’s death’, on January 3, 2013. The tragic and painful details are difficult to read even up to today.

“A suicide note left behind by Morris and Grace Richards, the Mandeville couple who allegedly committed suicide on New Year’s Eve, has linked their deaths to problems associated with the 1990s Finsac crisis.

“The police said Monday that there was no evidence of foul play, and confirmed that they had found a suicide note at the scene.

“They said that, based on information from their investigations, the couple had ‘personal problems’, which may have led to them committing suicide.

“Both were in their 70s.

“The Jamaica Observer learnt from business associates yesterday that the Richardses had lost their business, Richards and Richards Construction Company to Finsac Limited — the company established by the Government to handle bad debts arising from the 1990s financial sector meltdown, which cost thousands of local entrepreneurs their properties and life savings.

“One close friend of the family, president of the Association of Finsac’d Entrepreneurs (AFE) Yola Gray-Baker, said yesterday that the couple was well known to her and other members of the association.

“ ‘They moved from owning a construction company to selling chemicals to survive after losing their properties, and I understand that the house in which they were living was about to be put up for sale,’ Gray-Baker said.

“ ‘I spoke to Mr Richards’ brother [who is living in Miami] and he said that they were having difficulties trying to make ends meet, but may have been too proud to beg assistance,’ she added.

“She said that the situation facing the Richardses was indicative of those facing most of the AFE’s members, who are still seeking to hold on to properties they had used as collateral for the bad loans.

“The police reported that the couple was found hanging at their Glenwood Close home, off Woodlawn Road in Mandeville, about 8:30 am Monday. Relatives, friends and employees of the Richards’ E-World Limited in Mandeville were in shock at their untimely death. They were described as ‘humble’, ‘hard-working’ and ‘God-fearing’.

I could cite many more heart-jerking stories from credible media which captured the devastation dumped on the lives of especially ordinary Jamaicans. The inimical and horrific polices of the Patterson Administration of the 90s were crippling.

I have not resiled from the position which I stated here some years ago, that Dr Davies would have perhaps served this country better if he had stayed in academia.

In fact, now that I have read a sizeable portion of the public hearings of the Finsac Commission archives I am even more convinced of the cogency of my rightful stance.

I hope that Davies, in the quiet moments of his retirement, will peruse the mentioned archive.

The accounts of riches to rags which he and the PNP presided over are indeed a national tragedy.

I humbly suggest that the Andrew Holness-led Administration erect a decent moment to honour the Finsac’d entrepreneurs. The just under 45,000 small- and medium-sized businesses that went under during the 1990s must never be a distant memory.

The thousands of Jamaicans who were dispossessed of their livelihoods when these major companies (abbreviated list) Mutual Life, Goodyear Tyre Company, West Indies Glass, Homelectrix, Workers’ Bank, Raymar’s Furniture, Charley’s Windsor House; Thermo Plastics, Berec Batteries, Century National Bank, Crown Eagle Insurance, Crown Eagle Insurance Commercial Bank, Island Life Insurance Company, American Life Insurance Company, Eagle Merchant Bank, Ecotrends, Times Store, capsized must never become a faded recollection.

CAT’S PAJAMAS

Two sundays ago, under the caption ‘too Big to Criticise’, I said, among other things, here: “I have read the Integrity Commission’s report. I see absolutely no reason that Prime Minister Holness’s statutory declarations have not been certified. There are many important questions which the commissioners need to urgently answer. I was hoping they would have appeared before Parliament some weeks ago when they were invited. I wonder when they will be available.”

Well, the chairman of the Integrity Commission of Jamaica, retired Justice Seymour Panton, and the body’s executive, including Executive Director Greg Christie, finally showed up at Parliament, two Tuesdays ago.

Of course, I don’t believe for one moment that the Integrity Commission’s decision to appear before Parliament had anything to do with my wondering out loud, prior.

Anyway, take no prisoners, was evidently, Panton’s approach inside Gordon House.

From the get-go, Panton made it clear that he was at Parliament as a courtesy. He was similarly unambiguous that the Integrity Commission took orders from the Jamaica courts and nowhere else. What a great guy!

As I see it, Panton believes he is the cat’s pajamas. I thought he was exceptionally rude and inconsiderate of the taxpayers of this country — who pay him.

Parliament is the people’s house, retired Justice Panton.

I warned here two Sundays ago, that “Some have foolishly fallen into a trap of believing that the value and importance of some among us is lodged in the inner core of the stratosphere.

“And there are some among us — for reasons related to the residual effects of plantation slavery, colonialism, learned timidity due to certain social realities rampant in Jamaica, overt classism, and related factors — who have succumbed to the notion that some people are so scholarly that their every utterance and pronouncement warrant unquestioning deference. I believe these rotten vestiges of an unusable past must be rejected.”

I stand by this declaration.

I sincerely hope Panton, on reflection, will examine his unbefitting performance in the People’s House and do the honourable thing. Braggadocio on steroids is not suited to the high public office he holds.

FRIGHTFUL CHORTLE

Apart from the highly unbecoming presentation of Panton, something else from the Integrity Commission’s recent appearance before the parliamentary oversight committee greatly raised my antennae.

The guffaw of some members of the committee at Panton’s palpable arrogance and condescending display inside the People’s House was shocking.

The chortle of Julian Robinson, Member of Parliament (MP) for St Andrew South Eastern and Opposition spokesperson on finance, at Panton’s jibe about the water at Parliament, for example, was very disturbing.

I was appalled.

The frightful chuckling of some members of the committee at what I believe were insults was one of the lowest moments in our Parliament.

As I see it, their ill-suited reaction was rivalled only by the cowardice of some parliamentarians to the “move on” abuse in the People’s House in 2015, by then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron.

Recall when Cameron spoke at a joint setting of our Parliament in 2015, he enjoined us to forget about the monstrous wickedness of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and “move on”.

I recall, many in our Parliament banged their desks in seeming overt approval of Cameron’s effrontery.

I guess for some their priority concern was the supposed good optics of the then British prime minister rubbing shoulders with the then Portia Simpson Miller Administration and the anticipated positive electoral impact that was hoped for with an impending general election.

I recall, too, that while the majority of the then Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Opposition members were far less appreciative of Cameron’s move on provocation, some applauded. They, as we say in local parlance, might have been following fashion, as some of their PNP peers, or maybe like their PNP colleagues, they also suffered a momentary lapse as to why they were sent to Gordon House by the people.

Understandably, there was a tremendous national backlash to Cameron’s unfeeling and inconsiderate utterance. Sadly, 9 years on, some still have not learned anything worthwhile from that disgraceful 2015 show of blatant disregard for the trust of the people.

And there is something else. I believe Panton needs to verify the accuracy of his declarations before he fires off in the People’s House.

I believe President of the Senate Tom Tavares-Finson was on the button when he opined: “Justice Panton misled the Parliament” when he suggested that information from the Integrity Commission leaks only after it is sent to Parliament. This is not so.

We had an instance occurring in November 2023 with details concerning an alleged probe by the Integrity Commission were reported on in extensive detail by The Gleaner before any report had been sent to Parliament.

In another instance, an Opposition Member of Parliament recently used a political platform to, in a most vulgar manner, predict the tabling of a report by the Integrity Commission.

Tavares-Finson’s accounts are perfectly in agreement with reportage in credible media.

As I see it, something is awfully wrong at the Integrity Commission. We need to be concerned, very concerned.

I don’t believe it is beyond us to fix what is wrong in its operations. We need to act, now!

Garfield Higgins is an educator, journalist, and a senior advisor to the minister of education and youth. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or higgins160@yahoo.com.