THE JAMAICA Labour Party has a complete range of specific plans to revive Jamaica's failing economy, create jobs in large numbers, radically reform the country's educational system and significantly reverse the country's rising crime rate.
That's according to Deputy Leader of the party and Opposition spokesman on Finance Audley Shaw. Mr. Shaw, who was guest speaker at Thursday's luncheon session at the annual conference of the National Association of Jamaican and Supportive Organisations (NAJASO) in Los Angeles, California, said that Jamaica's economy had been stifled "with a decade of reckless mismanagement" by a Government that has little or no understanding of how to run a market economy successfully.
Among the "failed policy prescriptions" of the decade of the 1990s, which Mr. Shaw cited were a high interest rate policy, while successfully attracting some savings from overseas, has been the largest single negative factor in triggering the erosion of equity and the collapse of the finance and productive sectors of the economy, putting thousands of people out of good quality jobs," Mr. Shaw said.
Mr. Shaw said that the JLP was alarmed at what he called the country's rapidly deteriorating educational system, and high crime rate due to increase joblessness.
, and brought his audience up to date on the party's plans. These include:
1. Create an educational revolution in which children will receive free education through high school and achieve literacy in Math, English and Computer Science by age 18.
2. Eliminate poverty and create jobs by establishing investor friendly policies that will attract large-scale investment in tourism, information technology, agriculture and manufacturing.
3. Create a just society in which people's fundamental rights and freedoms are respected and preserved.
