No Room For Error Mr. Holness

If that twenty three minute long inauguration address by the newly installed Prime Minister Andrew Holness is anything to go by, it would indicate that we will see a new way of governance.

The speech was a call to action, one that is telling us that there is no time for complacency but a time to get the work done.  The word ‘partnership’ resonated throughout the entire presentation, partnership with the private sector, with the opposition and with the people of Jamaica, because only through effective partnerships will this government achieve its goal of prosperity.  A section of the speech that also stood out for me was when he said ‘there is no majority for arrogance, there is no space for selfishness, there is no place for pettiness, there is no room for complacency and there is no margin for error.  This has been an issue with successive governments; they get complacent and arrogant, thus, loses sight of the real reason why the people gave them the power to govern.

The Opposition

With our Westminster system of government the opposition tends to feel that their duty is to oppose, especially when they have strength in numbers.  The truth is that sometimes you cannot place blame squarely at the feet of the opposition as no one enters the race to be in opposition but instead to form the government.  I realize that Mr. Holness has extended the olive branch to Mrs. Simpson Miller the leader of the People’s National Party and who is set to be Leader of the Opposition.  The challenge now is whether the opposition will answer the call to assist this new government in continuing the business of the country. The opposition will not sit idly by and not be the watch dog of the government.  However what is important is that we have an opposition that will not oppose for opposing sake but one that will assist in the process of nation building.  The people of Jamaica will be watching and will determine when the opposition is working in the interest of Jamaica and when they are just opposing for opposing sake.  Let me also commend the People’s National Party for its stewardship of the country over the last 4 years, the handling of Jamaica’s International Monetary Fund deal was good and great strides were also made in the area of justice, education, transportation and technology. We also received favourable ratings from rating agencies the likes of Moody's and Standard and Poor's.

Andrew Holness

The Andrew Holness we see today is a different individual from the one we saw in 2011, looking back one can now say the leadership race has made him stronger.  Mr. Holness faced serious blocks and had issues communicating with the people, his speeches were always too long and after the first ten minutes he loses his audience. What is evident now is that we have an Andrew Holness who listened, he listened to the criticism and went back to the drawing board and did his homework.  What we have today is a leader who goes on a platform and easily communicates with the people, a leader who can speak for twenty three minutes and strike the right tone and the right cord.

The Real Work

The international market is accustomed to the People’s National Party not necessarily because they are better but because they have been in government much longer than the Jamaica Labour Party.  Mr. Holness now has the task of moving briskly to show the IMF that his government will continue to be fiscally responsible. The region and by extension the world has Jamaica under high surveillance, the IMF currently have us as the poster child because of our skillful handling of the deal.  The multilaterals must be our friend, the rating agencies will be inspecting, any error and the rating agencies may downgrade us and then investor confidence will fall. Our economy is too fragile for a downgrade or a dip in investor confidence. Mr. Holness must also continue with the Economic Partnership Oversight Committee, let Richard Byles continue to lead the charge; this will send a positive message to the market that the government is about continuity.

Leaders have a tendency to strike the right tone during inauguration address but fail to deliver; I go back to address of Bruce Golding in 2007 and Portia Simpson Miller in 2012. Both leaders gave excellent presentations but did not get the chance to follow through on the promises made albeit not totally their fault; sometimes due the volatility of Jamaican politics they lose track of the vision.  Mr. Holness now has the unenviable task of fulfilling his promises; it is even harder for him considering his one seat majority in the Parliament.  The real test for him is to get the promises done while managing his government and also dealing with a parliament where the line of division is so thin.