Leading up to
the 2011 General Election in Jamaica the National Democratic Movement had an
advertisement which spoke to kakistocracy.
When I first heard the advertisement I thought it was funny, I even
thought it was a waste of airtime.
However, I was reading an article recently and the word came to
mind. kakistocracy simple put is
government being controlled by unqualified individuals, and after watching the
modus operandi of successive administration I think it is safe to
say that we have a number of kakistocrats running this country.
New Tax Package
Recently Finance Minister Dr. Peter Phillips unleashed
a surprise tax package on the people of Jamaica. Now while one cannot speak for
the entire Jamaica, this 15.9billion tax package certainly caught a few of us
by surprise. This is even more
surprising because a day before the Prime Minister and Finance Minister did a
broadcast to the nation; at no point in that broadcast an indication was given
that a tax package would be unveiled in parliament. The seemly bully mentality
of the government is even more evident when they refused to suspend the passage
of the bill to allow the opposition to review the contents. Included in the tax
package is a decision to hike employers’ portion of education tax by 0.5
percent and employees by 0.25percent.
Now to many it may seem minuscule but the government proposes to use the
money to fund the Students Loan Bureau (SLB).
The Bureau on numerous occasions approached the government for funding
and instead of fixing the root cause of the problem the government instead taxed the
people of the country to fund the SLB.
Now another measure to plug the hole in the budget is to take 11billion
per year for the next four years from the National Housing Trust. Many young professionals find it difficult to
purchase a house and instead of creating more opportunities the government is planning to raid the NHT. Every time we have a tax
package successive governments promise that the new measure will plug the
hole in the budget and bring us to sustainability. Clearly the measures are not working and the
government refuses to attack the root cause of the problem. We must cut the public sector wage bill, we
must produce and we must lower the import bill.
One cannot tax its way out of debt, the more tax impose the more people
will try and evade, it will happen as night turns into day.
The Way Forward
Now after
reviewing the way successive administrations govern it is safe to say that we
have several unqualified persons leading this country. It is time we review our political system, we
need to establish qualifications for the role of cabinet ministers. Since cabinet ministers are largely selected
from the lower house it would simply mean that there would be a qualification
requirement for Members of Parliament. The
law should also be amended to give the Prime Minister the option to select more
people from the senate to become ministers.
Moreover ministers should be individuals who are qualified in the
field they are placed to serve. The
candidates selected by the Prime Minister should also face a joint select committee
for ratification. The selection committee
should comprise seven individuals, three selected by the Prime Minister, three
by the Opposition Leader and one by the Governor General. Cabinet ministers must have a track record in
the field that they are chosen to serve and must meet a certain standard. If
a prospective candidate is not approved by the selection committee then he/she cannot become a
minister of government and the Prime Minister would have to field another candidate. It is time we raise the bar
and have more qualified people sitting in the House of Representatives and by extension
the cabinet of Jamaica.
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