Oooh hush up Bruce!
Published:Thursday | March 28, 2013 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
In 2005, Bruce Golding left the party he formed - National Democratic Movement - to return to the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). On returning to the JLP, and elected prime minister in 2007, he returned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for borrowing relations. For four years he was Jamaica's chief servant. There were hard decisions to be taken. The JLP gov't under the leadership of Golding partnered with the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) by introducing for the first time a debt exchange to ease the high interest gov't would have to pay on gov't bonds, the public sector also bought into the plan for rescuing Jamaica and signed off on wage restraints, sacrificing for the good of the country. The stakeholders, the country, were willing and did give Golding and the JLP the opportunity to put Jamaica on a firm financial footing.
The IMF and Jamaica signed a deal that should have stabilised the Jamaican economy and give the country the chance to breathe again. The deal collapsed, the Golding administration vacillated for months on the hard decisions that were to be taken and the IMF would have none of it. Somewhere along the line, Bruce found it too difficult to carry out his mandate, remarking that the pressures of four as leader of Jamaica were too much for one man/him to withstand. Bruce resigned suddenly, leaving a younger man Andrew Holness to lead the JLP and the country. Andrew told the country of a bitter medicine to come, hard decisions to be taken and then called an election no more than four-five months after assuming leadership of Jamaica. The PNP won the election of 2011 and began mopping up the mess left by the Bruce Golding administration. The PNP went back to the IMF with a new plan of action, the PNP went back to the stakeholders, PSOJ and public sector, and have told the country of the difficult tax measures to be implemented.
Of the four living former PMs, Golding is the one who is least qualified to give the best advice.
DUNCAN BUCHANAN