Linton P. Gordon
The year 2014 will be a difficult one for most, if not all, of us. Our difficulty in the economic field will continue as we labour under the ‘jack boot’ of the IMF. We have ended up under the management and at the dictate of the IMF because successive Governments have failed to pursue a path of economic management whereby we lived within our means.
For years, the Government has led us down a path of living, and by this I mean spending, way in excess of what the country was earning. We continue to do so and it is for this reason that we have now reached the stage where we are barely keeping our heads above the water.
Put bluntly and simply, Jamaica has been carrying on for years like a man who is earning $100 per month but every month he spends $140. To do this, he has to borrow $40 per month. That debt of $40 per month is bound to catch up with the $100 per-month-man. Our debts have now caught up with us and it is for this reason that Finance Minister Dr. Peter Phillips has to be struggling, maneuvering, shaving the budget and doing all sorts of fiscal gymnastics to see if he can bring our level of spending in line with our level of earning.
One of the challenges the Government needs to take head on is that of bringing the underground economy into the tax net. There is no doubt that there is a huge informal economy in Jamaica and there is no doubt that most of those operating in the informal economy are not paying their share of taxes as those of us in the formal economy do monthly. What the Government has been doing over the years is picking on those who are already paying and keep asking them for more and more taxes while lazily refusing to craft and pursue a policy of getting to those in the informal economy. In his effort to close the gap between earning and expenditure, Dr. Phillips should develop and pursue a policy of bringing the participants in the underground and informal economy into the tax net.
CRIME
Crime continues to be the main concern for the majority of Jamaicans. Most of us continue to have a sense of insecurity, not only on the streets but also in our homes. Lawlessness and disorder exist throughout the towns and the streets and even in rural communities in Jamaica. The majority of minibus and taxi operators flout the Road Traffic Act and other laws daily. Young men and some not so young walk about the streets with their pants down on their buttocks exposing parts of their anatomy signalling that they are ready for homosexual activities.
Last year, the security forces recovered some one thousand five hundred illegal firearms. That large number of illegal firearms, which includes high power weapons, is sufficient to arm a small army. More frightening is the reality that this is a clear indication that the criminals have easy and ready access to weaponry and are therefore able to constantly bring a deadly capability into use when carrying out their illegal activities.
While I accept that there is a need for social intervention and for efforts to be made to rehabilitate those of our young men who have gone down the road of arming themselves and waging war against the state, I firmly believe that it is the duty of the Government to ensure that the citizens who rely on it for their safety can enjoy safety in public and in their homes. The Government has a duty to take all steps needed to bring to book all the gunmen who are terrorizing us. It should be left to the gunmen whether they decide to come in peacefully and subject themselves to the due process of law or whether they want to confront the security forces at their own peril.
Rather than making pretty speeches, quoting percentages and ‘talking tough,’ the Government should, as a matter of policy, provide the security forces with the resources and the policy direction for them to carry out a sustained and unrelenting hunt for the gunmen ((blurb))) who are waging war against the peaceful and law abiding citizens of our country. There is no lesser duty on the Government!
Whether we survive, succeed or fail in the New Year will to a great extent depend on how we approach our responsibilities, our duties and our relationships with members of our family, community and co-workers. Our future is therefore, in a way, in our hands. I wish you all peace, love, security and success for 2014.
