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JLP manifesto: Impressive first step but ...
Published in the Jamaica Gleaner: Wednesday | August 1, 2007
Election manifestos are, perforce, statements of intent, which are useful in providing voters with the deliverables for which they can hold political parties accountable once they accede to government.
But because they are promises, undertakings for the future, it is easy for the outlay to be impressive, especially for Opposition parties which have no recent record against which to be judged. We are not surprised, therefore, that the manifesto issued on Monday by the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), laying out its platform for the August 27 general election, is particularly impressive. Mr. Bruce Golding and his team have had a long time not only to refine their ideas, but to reflect on the areas of weakness and poor performance of an administration that has been in place for 18 years.
It is precisely because of the time it has had in Opposition to reflect on its policies and programmes why we believe, and expect, that the delivery of the manifesto is only thefirst phase of the JLP's offering to the electorate. For the manifesto pledges would have had their bases in much discussion and analyses and, we suspect, econometric modelling.
We expect, therefore, that JLP spokesmen will now lift the level of the debate from declarations of intent to programmes for delivery. In other words, they will talk in terms of costs, financing and project timelines. Second, the party, to help people who want to assess the efficacy of policies, should issue the background documents and analyses on which they are predicated.
Take for instance the promise of "unrestricted, universal access to health care". That sounds like a tall and very expensive order, which has cowed many rich economies.
The party has proposed to finance Jamaica's version of the plan, including free hospital charges, from the regular budgetary allocations, expected flows from health tourism and allocations from the National Health Fund (NHF), even while maintaining the NHF's subsidisation of medicine for chronic diseases. Perhaps this is possible. But it would help people who want to understand more if they were apprised of the scenarios and numbers with which the JLP policymakers worked.
Similar questions arise with regard, for example, to funding the educational transforma-tion programme which a JLP government would accelerate, as well as with the plan to launch a Diaspora bond.
Inherent in many of the plans outlined by the JLP is the presumption that a government led by that party will unleash a flow of investment, leading to economic growth far beyond the anaemic levels of the past 18 years under the People's National Party. Part of that, it suggests, will be inspired by disciplined macro-economic management, fostered by initiatives such as the creation of an independent central bank, a tight rein on debt and a slimmed down fiscal deficit. They all make sense, except for the absence of hard numbers.
The next step in the discourse must be the input/output numbers: the investment expected over a specific period to generate growth.
Perhaps the most important proposal by the JLP is its plan to launch a social partnership agreement to ensure consensus on economic policy. This suggests the JLP will have a new approach to this worthwhile issue on which it has been tentative in the past.
The JLP has placed its offering on the table, providing the basis of serious debate. Others must follow.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
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