Power, ultimately, was a tool to effect transformation, of which Jamaica, being in a bad way, was sorely in need. So, Mr Golding, it was assumed, would never become too heavily invested in the job or its trappings, except for how it would allow him to do what was right and quickly. A single term, therefore, would be enough for Mr Golding.
Misapprehended the pm
Mr Golding should know that after more than a year and a half on the job, there are more than a few people who believe that they misapprehended the prime minister, or, as is often the wont of the species on the assumption of office, that he is in a state of political detorsion. We hope that such assertions are outrageously wrong.
But should Mr Golding be unaware of these niggling fears, we recommend to him an article last week in this newspaper by a near contemporary of his at Jamaica College, the business consultant, Robert Wynter. In it, Mr Wynter lamented what he saw as Mr Golding's failure, so far, to take the tough decision to trim significantly public-sector employment and to deal with the stifling fiscal pressures faced by the Government.
Like Mr Wynter, and as this newspaper has noted several times in recent weeks, we do not believe that the prime minister and his government have gone nearly far enough on this matter. It is so, and notoriously known to be so, that the Jamaican public sector is bloated, overstaffed and inefficient. But more critically, the State cannot afford to pay for the staff that, in the past fiscal year, cost the central government around $111 billion, or 22 per cent of the national Budget. When debt-servicing charges are excluded, wages and salaries accounted for over 46 per cent of the Budget. And that does not account for an unfunded, non-contributory pension scheme.
Indeed, if the Government were to meet its retroactive commitments for wage settlements and other increments, that wage bill would rise close to $150 billion this fiscal year, or 63 per cent of projected non-debt spending, which, obviously, is unsustainable.
Short-term palliatives
Mr Golding's preferred option, as was the case with the People's National Party earlier in the decade, is to freeze wages, rather than cutting jobs - the 22,000, as is required by the prime minister's estimate. But as is clear from the agreements concocted between the former government and public-sector unions, such wage freezes and salary caps are mere short-term palliatives. As soon as the immediate crisis passes, the problem returns with a vengeance; pent-up demands exert forceful pressure on public finances. The Government, therefore, finds itself on a treadmill, running at a pace it cannot maintain.
Indeed, as Mr Wynter reminded the PM, a decision on whether to cut the size of the public sector is not a decision for trade unions, but for the administration. Should Mr Golding fail to act now, he will soon find that the flying parts from the disintegrated treadmill are causing damage all round. There is still time, although short, for Mr Golding to dismount and make the right decision.
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