Letter of the Day | Let’s not celebrate for the sake of celebrating

THE EDITOR, Madam:

The recent suggestion by the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) concerning the benefits of creating a ‘run-on’ of two consecutive days in celebration of Emancipation Day and Independence Day has set off a firestorm of protest.

This seeming visceral reaction, while understandable, misses the real intent of the arguments put forward by the PSOJ, that of the production challenges which arises from the truncating of these two holidays which are a mere five days apart.

The laws of economics do not consider the emotional state of the descendants of former slaves, neither do the operating mechanism of machines. When a factory has to start up or shut down its equipment due to public holidays, there is a cost attached. For factories who are unwilling or unable to shut down equipment, workers must be engaged at twice the normal rate of pay. This invariable leads to a higher cost of production, which ultimately impacts the final price of the item produced. Has any of the proponents of keeping these holidays separate ever undertaken a cost-benefit analysis to see the real costs of keeping these two holidays separate?

Countries with a healthy economy are often the subject of research to identify the strategies employed in those economies. These strategies are then offered for consideration among economies that are struggling. Just one encounter with the IMF and this point will come home.

Having referenced this particular strategy in bigger and better-performing economies, the PSOJ is now being accused of caring less about history and more about profits. What is so wrong with us following a tried, tested and proven successful strategy? Are we so fixated on the past that we cannot look to the future?

It is prudent to pay attention to history, which should not become a shackle to our creative thinking or not, for that matter, adapting what has already been proven to work. The children of tomorrow will be far more concerned about their present and future prospects than those of their ancestors of 300 years ago. It is to this that we must attend.

Let us celebrate, but in a manner as if we truly have something to celebrate. How does it benefit us to be celebrating in an economy that is currently ‘boasting’ statistics of one of the highest murder rates in the world, with a history of abysmal economic performance, and one in which the majority of Jamaicans are said to be residing overseas primarily due to economic reasons? It is time to focus on what should truly matter, and will matter, in the years to come, and that is – the quality of our lives and the life of our descendants. Today’s economic performance will have a lot to say about that.

PERRY WALKER

professional.ja@gmail.com