Jackson advocates for focus on microenterprise sector
Published:Friday | May 17, 2024 | 12:13 AM
Fitz Jackson, member of parliament (MP) for St Catherine Southern, wants the small and medium-sized businesses in the manufacturing sector to be placed in the spotlight and their performance examined by Parliament’s Economy and Production Committee.
However, the opposition lawmaker, who is known for his strident advocacy for Jamaicans to receive better service from the banks, has expressed surprise that most of his colleagues on the Economy and Production Committee have failed to respond to recommendations he made to discuss issues around small and medium-sized manufacturers.
Jackson told The Gleaner that, at the last meeting of the committee earlier this month, it was agreed that members would submit proposals by email on the areas that would form part of the committee’s next discussion. The views of other members would be canvassed for agreement on the proposals.
The opposition lawmaker said that, in addition to the suggestion that the committee should examine the performance of small and medium-sized businesses in the manufacturing sector, he also suggested that domestic agriculture and the mining sectors should be examined.
The entities to be invited to assist the committee, according to Jackson, would be the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, the Planning Institute of Jamaica, the Jamaica Business Development Corporation and the Small Business Association.
However, Jackson said Anthony Hylton, the MP for St Andrew Western, was the only member from his nine colleagues on the committee who responded.
“Not hearing anything from the committee secretary, I enquired and I was advised by email that only one member of the committee, in the person of Anthony Hylton, responded to the request for agreement or objection to what was proposed,” he said.
Jackson said he asked the chairman of the committee, Dwight Sibblies, on Tuesday in Parliament why he had not responded to his suggestion for future meetings. He said Sibblies did not reply.
Efforts to reach Sibblies for comment were unsuccessful as his phone rang without answer.
The St Catherine Southern MP is now questioning the interest shown by government members on the committee.
“I am forming the opinion, as it would appear from the action of the chairman and other members of the committee, that they have no interest for the committee to meet and do its work,” he said.
The opposition lawmaker appealed to Edmund Bartlett, leader of government business in the House of Representatives, to intervene and urge the committee to meet.
The committee comprises nine persons, seven government and two opposition members.
The Economy and Production Committee, prior to April 3, this year, has had a poor record of meetings. Before April it last met a year ago in March 2023.
When the administration installed government lawmakers to chair a number of select committees of Parliament, reversing a decision by former Prime Minister Bruce Golding to appoint opposition lawmakers to chair them, the reason given was that the committees had not been meeting on a regular basis.
Prior to Sibblies’ appointment as chairman, his predecessor was current House Speaker, Juliet Holness.