In a recent address, Prime Minister Andrew Holness set out what could be considered the contours of his Administration’s aspirations for economic growth. What he announced were broad and bold initiatives which he believes could set the country on a positive path towards the long-elusive growth which the country has failed to achieve over the past 50 years. Such growth has been spasmodic at best and has hovered below par for most of our lifetimes.

I would not describe the goals as ambitious, for they are what any decent country would aspire to if it wants to experience sustained economic growth. There are certainly headwinds that the Government will have to contend with. The prime minister pointed to some of these, of which two come readily to mind.

First, is the admission that the country has, over the years, suffered from a deficit of implementation. Jamaicans are among the brightest people in the world. We can account for ourselves credibly in any fora, local or international, where we must pit our brains against the brightest. So, we have not suffered from a dearth of ideas about what needs to be done to get things right and make the country what it can truly be in the eyes of the world.

Indeed, there have been many studies done, task force recommendations made, and grand projects announced. What we have not seen over the years is a careful, and well-sustained calibration of efforts to see these bright ideas and recommendations to fruition. We have tinkered at the edges and, to a large extent, have allowed political calculation to trump well-thought-out ideas which could move the country along the path to true prosperity.

So, we must identify the obstacles that stand in the way of implementing well-thought-out strategies for growth. What are the things that allow these implementation deficits to pile up year after year? The prime minister put his finger on one important obstacle, which is my second consideration here. It is what Max Weber, the 19th century German sociologist described as the deadening weight of bureaucracy.

Let us be clear that you cannot escape bureaucratic arrangements in the conduct of governmental affairs. A well-functioning civil service is an important arm of the governing process, as Weber observed. But, as he also noted, governmental bureaucracy can become an end in itself. In my view, when this happens there is a tendency for it to cannibalise the very processes that should sustain sound and productive governance.

This is exactly what the problem has been ever since we gained our Independence in 1962. We inherited a colonial civil service which we have not done well in enhancing to give the country the best results. Again, successive governments have played political football with it; threatening where it can and colluding where it is willing to assist it in its own political agenda.

There is nothing more frustrating for Jamaicans than having to deal with almost any department of government in their need to do business. The reams of paperwork that have to be filled out by businesses and ordinary citizens, coupled with the many hoops they have to jump through to get anything done, often leave people so frustrated that they give up, and thus great business ideas die.

The remarkable comprehensive public sector compensation package of which the Government boasts, while long overdue, was nonetheless an attempt to reward inefficiency and mediocrity in the civil service. There was no attempt — as far as I know — to construct performance variables as indispensable components of this large payout. To believe that people are going to be more efficient at the work they perform because they get a massive increase in their salary is a delusion at best and an argument without merit.

I can expect angry e-mail here, but this is not something you would hear from the Government. This was one of the biggest flaws of this well-needed and overdue exercise.

Putting some humanity into our almost moribund governmental bureaucracy will be an immense challenge to any Government. There is clearly need for retraining of personnel, continuing education, and a re-examination of where the bureaucracy intersects with the political directorate in carrying out its functions. How can we get from task A to task B without adding too many layers of concern to A before B is even clearly in your sights? What do you need to get more speedily and efficiently to B, while at the same time ensuring that A does not get derailed? When one task fails does it necessarily have to be jettisoned or simply revisited and refined? How much more expensive and time-consuming will be the new if you jettison the old? Just some questions to mull.

Meanwhile, hovering in the background of the prime minister’s announcement is the imminent general election that ought to come in September 2025. It is clear that not much will be done on the broad initiatives before the election, but they are good initiatives that should be pursued by whichever side wins.

The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is faced with the peculiar dilemma of realising that, despite the macroeconomic achievements, there is a wide swathe of people who are not feeling the effects of the much-ballyhooed strength of the economy. It has to be contemplating whether it will run into the same problems that the Democrats encountered in the last election in America.

I can see parallels in Jamaica, where the Democrats ignored how people felt about the economy and seemed to have dismissed their feelings as perhaps not that important. But people vote on what they feel or are experiencing at a particular time. Ignoring their feelings or telling them how they ought to think, contrary to these feelings, is a sure recipe for political disaster.

The JLP’s loss in the two municipal elections, which were a better litmus test of where people are in their thinking, should be a wake-up call. There is hardly any point gloating about the two by-elections which were not even contested by the other major political party. Bear in mind that the turnout in the municipal elections this time exceeded that in the elections that were held recently in those divisions. A word to the wise and enlightened is sufficient.

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest, social commentator, and author of the books: Finding Peace in the Midst of Life’s Storms; The Self-esteem Guide to a Better Life and Beyond Petulance: Republican Politics and the Future of America. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or stead6655@aol.com.