Imani Tafari-Ama | Who pays the piper calls the tune

The resignation of Jamaica’s Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke was the proverbial Nicodemus-in-the-night event. No one saw it coming. His appointment as deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is unprecedented. With the next general elections due by September 2025, speculation in Jamaica is rife that Clarke, with intimate knowledge of the economic health of the country, may have decided to jump ship at this time because the vessel is sinking.

Of course, that assumption does not deny the minister’s stellar and strategic career profile. He traversed many corridors of public- and private-sector power even before entering the government service in 2018. Dr Clarke distinguished himself as the ace card in the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) pack. He did this by creating a prosperous political class overnight, with the wave of his unilateral fiscal wand.

Are there any conventions or criteria of employment that say that key ministers cannot willy-nilly resign, in their own self-interest, if the national good may be compromised? In the wake of the minister’s imminent departure from office, the Government appears uncertain about naming a replacement. The administration seems to be sailing in the same boat as the public, which was caught on the backfoot with the disclosure of this mega development.

When Kristalina Georgieva, IMF’s managing director, made the announcement of Dr Clarke’s imminent appointment, she also provided fulsome praise for the performance of her new protégé.

“Since 2016, he (Dr Clarke) has been the IMF’s chief counterpart on successive and historically successful programs for Jamaica, including an Extended Fund Facility, a precautionary stand-by arrangement, and most recently, a precautionary liquidity line plus resilience and sustainability facility, leaving the country with robust economic fundamentals.”

CONFLICT OF INTEREST?

Could these commendations also be conjugated as a conflict of interest? Did the IMF poach the Government’s star performer, or did he take advantage of his proximity to the seat of Euro-American power to level up?

The IMF is a peculiar institution with which Jamaica has had a contested relationship. Those over fifty will recall former Prime Minister Michael Manley’s famous declaration to the IMF that “we are not for sale!” These brave words were a valiant attempt to resist the inevitability of Jamaica turning to this institution to solve the country’s balance-of-payment troubles. In the end, he bowed to the pressure of the overwhelming debt burden, but it cut against his principled stand.

The IMF is intrinsically linked to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), also called the World Bank. Together, they are known as the Bretton Woods institutions. They are located across the road from each other in the US’ Washington capital and were formed in 1944 at the end of the Second World War.

Countries like Jamaica, initially, were not eligible for loans. By the time the coffers were opened, the conditionalities were severe. The IMF insisted on a belt-tightening approach to fiscal responsibility, which sacrificed social security for economic prudence. This equation guaranteed the widening of the wealth gap between the haves and the have-nots.

The twin institutions were intended to assist war-torn Europe to regain financial footing. In its later incarnation, the authority of the establishment resides in the imposition of austere fiscal arrangements, which profit the lender institution at the expense of the borrowing nation. Michael Manley and other experts explain this unequal quid pro quo in Life and Debt, Stephanie Black’s epic documentary that critically reflects on the impact of Jamaica’s choice to follow the IMF path.

Basically, by pegging borrowing countries’ currencies to the United States’ (US) dollar, the borrower’s currency is devalued. It provides some wiggle room for meeting economic targets. For example, under Dr Clarke’s watch, Jamaica’s debt-to-gross-domestic-product (GDP) ratio shrank from 110 to 72 per cent. Paradoxically, this improvement does not trickle down to the consumer who is struggling to put food on the table, due to high-end user costs of goods and services. This hierarchical engagement also guarantees the power of the US empi at the expense of the economies that choose this crisis-relieving solution.

DAMAGE CONTROL

Now that Dr Clarke’s transition from government minister to IMF czar is a done deal, the pragmatic damage-control planning has set in. The announcement from the Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, Daryl Vaz, that he has managed to secure Dr Clarke’s approval for purchasing 300 new buses for the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) and refurbishing of articulated buses suggests that there is a bit of a scramble going on to get the minister to sign off on unfinished business before he goes.

What else does Dr Clarke need to do to set the house in order? Has he passed the baton of ongoing public-sector negotiations to someone with a sturdy conscience? This sensitivity is important to ensure that the bitterness catalysed by Dr Clarke’s infamous salary saga is cauterised.

Many people are still gagging on the bitter pill of the 300 per cent pay increase that took the minister’s salary to a whopping $24.5 million with similar paycheck hurdling for his peers. At the time, public-sector workers had to be satisfied with a 20 per cent wage boost. This asymmetry will, surely, be a prominent component of Dr Clarke’s legacy. Labour in various sectors, including medical doctors, is currently restive, due to outstanding negotiations for pay increases.

Dr Clarke’s abrupt departure from Jamaica’s political arena is due cause to shine the spotlight on this environment, which has come to be regarded as the family succession playfield. Have you noticed how many children of politicians have settled comfortably into this pattern of inheritance? From the founding fathers to the present crop, the grafting process of political succession is now well established.

Alexander Bustamante and Norman Manley were first cousins. Michael Manley was the son of Norman. D. K. Duncan, stalwart of the People’s National Party (PNP), passed his mantle to his daughters, Imani Duncan-Price and Patricia Duncan Sutherland. Former minister of multiple portfolios Dr Peter Phillips bequeathed his political legacy to his son, Mikael Phillips, currently a member of Parliament on the opposition side.

Former Speaker of the House Pearnel Charles has been succeeded by his son, Pearnel Patroe Charles Jr (and daughter Patrece Charles-Freeman in the political background). Former PNP MP Easton Douglas’ progeny, Kari Douglas, is that family’s standard-bearer.

As far as political couples are concerned, the present prime minister, Andrew Holness, and his wife Juliet and Minister Daryl Vaz (son of former government minister Douglas Vaz) and his wife Annmarie have doubled their blessings as members of Parliament in their own right.

Who determines the rules of the political game, though? Are politicians a law unto themselves? What difference can the public really make to what goes on in and beyond Gordon House?

Imani Tafari-Ama, PhD, is a Pan-African advocate and gender and development specialist. Send feedback to i.tafariama@gmail.com and columns@gleanerjm.com.