EDITORIAL - Create a single divestment agency

The divestment of lossmaking government companies is, as this newspaper understands it, a critical component of Jamaica's US$958-million economic support agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

There are several good reasons for this.

For instance, when state firms lose money, resources have to be found, often borrowed, to keep them afloat. That means adding to the Government's debt and, in circumstances such as Jamaica's, exacerbating the fiscal deficit and crisis of debt.

That is why the recent yes-it-will, no-it-won't confusion over the divestment of Clarendon Alumina Production (CAP) was a matter of deep concern for many people and organisations, including this newspaper, suggesting the need for a streamlined approach to the administration's divestment programme.

The administration has named a number of separate enterprise teams to handle the sale of various agencies. Among these are the Kingston Container Terminal (KCT), the Norman Manley International Airport, the Jamaica Railway Corporation, and Caymanas Track Ltd. And then there is CAP, which the finance minister said was up for sale or lease before that position was voided by the mining minister, Phillip Paulwell.

It seems that every minister has oversight for the divestment of assets in his or her portfolio. They all seem to be working at their own pace, without need to report on the progress of their work. There has been little information, for example, on the efforts of the overlarge group, chaired by former central bank governor Derick Latibeaudiere, that was established to effect the sale of the KCT.

At this rate, we are doubtful that any of these sales will be consummated during this fiscal year and that the finance minister, Peter Phillips, if he planned on it, will have the benefit of divestment proceeds.

Our suggestion is for a return to the model used by the governments of the 1980s and sometimes in the 1990s for the sale of state assets. They should be brought under a single agency.

Further, someone of Cabinet rank, or something close to it, should have responsibility for that agency, and be held accountable for its performance. He or she should be made to give periodic testimony before Parliament's Public Administration and Appropriations Committee.

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