PARNASSUS, Clarendon — Pointing to the Dominican Republic’s ability to quickly ink a multi-billion US-dollar economic free zone deal that capitalises on current upheaval in the global economy, versus the delay in completing the Parnassus Agro Park in Clarendon, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness on Wednesday once again stressed the need to rid Jamaica of a “culture of analysis paralysis” that breeds inefficiency and contributes to corruption.

“We have to rethink the dense layer of bureaucracy that we have placed on our public servants. They don’t want to innovate or take any risk lest their names be dragged mercilessly in the public domain. That is not going to help us grow,” chided Holness.

He was speaking during the commissioning of the Parnassus Irrigation System and launch of the Parnassus Agro Park, part of the UK-funded $3.5-billion Southern Plains Agricultural Development Project (SPAD).

“There are those who believe that they can deal with corruption by shaming people, destroying people’s reputations; but they will never speak about inefficiency. They will never examine a system for its inefficiency. And what costs us, as Jamaican taxpayers, is inefficiency,” Holness told those gathered.

He argued that inefficiency is often “the flip side” of corruption.

“If you want to deal with corruption, deal with inefficiency. Treat with the systems that move slowly. Treat with the systems that have circuitous regulations. In systems that are efficient, there is no room for corruption, because efficient systems, by definition, are transparent systems. So when we talk about addressing the bureaucracy of Jamaica, we want to make our bureaucracy transparent. We want performance to be evaluated so that you can see and match effort to outcome, so that there is no secret veil that separates someone’s effort versus outcome. And that’s where we have to move with dealing with bureaucracy. So this project, in my estimation, should have been at least a year and a half earlier. So our growth has been delayed,” he added.

Bankrolled by the UK Caribbean Infrastructure Fund, the agro park will provide farmers with irrigated land, 9.6 million gallons of water per day, storage for crops reaped and 12 kilometres of new road.

Holness described the project as an “investment in our productivity” through the orderly allocation of resources and proof of his Administration’s commitment to inclusive development.

“Every farmer who comes onto this land is immediately more productive than farmers struggling out there without water, without storage, without proper roads,” the prime minister noted.

Holness said 400 acres of what was once a 700-acre sugar plantation is now in the hands of small farmers, with sections allotted to women, youth, and individuals with disabilities. The prime minister also stressed that efforts were made to include farmers who were working the land before the project came on stream. He said they were provided with “proper lease arrangements” and 240 of them received training from HEART.

“That is what growth and development and inclusive government looks like,” said Holness.

According to him, when added to the supply from Essex Valley, the commissioning of the Parnassus irrigation system will move Jamaica’s supply of arable land up from 15 to 20 per cent. He also gave a commitment of more improvements to come.

“When we complete the Pedro Plains [project] which…is going to cross the election cycle because it’s a multi-year project…we would be at about 50 per cent. That will be a profound shift in Jamaica’s agriculture,” said Holness.

He is determined to accompany that shift with a reduction in bureaucracy and had strong words for those who take issue with his approach.

“There are those who will seek to say that you are corrupt, that you are trying to circumvent procedures. But what they are really wanting to do is to hide behind a wall of circuitous regulation that leads to nowhere; and in my mind, that is the corruption…We are going to destroy that. We’re going to break down that wall of unnecessary bureaucracy. Things that don’t make sense, entities that have been formed and are on the public’s budget year after year and can’t show what they give to the public, those allocations must be questioned,” Holness said on Wednesday.

“There are many government entities that claim your taxes. They live only to serve themselves!” he added while noting that the problem of red tape is not unique to Jamaica.

In addition to the successful pivot being made by the Dominican Republic, Holness also cited efforts to improve efficiency in the UK and the US.