Dawn Ritch, Contributor
LET'S face facts, this is the most atrocious Government in the history of the country. The nation's business is being conducted on the streets. Nothing can be heard about it in the House of Representatives. Only the radio talk shows can be relied upon to ventilate issues of grave national concern.
Dr. Omar Davies, Minister of Finance, recently told the country that the FINSAC debt now stands at $120 billion. An economist subsequently said on radio that this is not including interest which, in Jamaica, is by no means modest. Dr. Davies also coolly informed the country that we the taxpayers will be carrying the burden of the FINSAC debt for decades to come. He need only have added that this debt alone dooms future generations of Jamaicans to perdition and penury.
And that does not include the numerous Jamaicans now in the prime of their lives who have lost their life's investment because of bad and inconsistent Government policies, those who have lost their homes to FINSAC, and their mothers' homes. Nor the scores of people who have committed suicide in the last few years consumed by the hopelessness of it all. The House Senate Committee set up however, to investigate the collapse of the entire financial sector cannot get a peep out of the Bank of Jamaica. They will not testify or provide the requisite information. The BoJ is claiming that this information is privileged, and can only be given to the Minister of Finance. And Dr. Davies claims his own tongue is tied by virtue of statute. Clearly we are not to be told anything about how they ruined the economy. The nation therefore has a debt of incomprehensible proportions and is neither going to be told who is responsible, nor how it came about. The Minister didn't even break-out the operations of FINSAC and its battalions of legal, forensic and other experts as part of the cost. The operations of the company, FINSAC, which is slated to be wound down and disappear from the face of the Earth leaving only its detritus, is to be protected by the same privilege. We will never know what caused the systemic failure of our financial nervous system. Nor will we know who got massive write-offs of their debts save those ferreted out by show hosts, and forced to confess on public radio to their uniquely privileged positions.
What a world of consequences we have all been forced to live in by virtue of the galloping sense of privilege enjoyed by the state and its officers. State profligacy rides like a mad demon on the back of the Jamaican taxpayer. For the first time our people have actually killed each other over Christmas money, others have even robbed the Salvation Army, which can find few volunteers for its Kettle Drive. What a state of utter public degradation. Who is responsible? In dealing with the NetServ scandal, the ludicrous claim of Mr. Phillip Paulwell, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Technology in his report last Tuesday to the House of Representatives would suggest not him, and certainly not the Government. He tells us boastfully his 'hands are clean'. As usual, obfuscation is the order of the day! But a dagger drawn at the heart of hope is the conduct of Mrs. Violet Neilson, Speaker of the House, whose main function seemed to have been the curtailing of questions from the Opposition following this Minister's dismal presentation.
Let one thing be clear. We as Jamaicans are entitled to answers for the appalling state of public governance in the country. It is the House of Representatives which has the duty and obligation to ensure this. The members of the House are expected to devote themselves to carrying out the functions for which we as taxpayers are paying them. It appears, however, that Mrs. Neilson did not have the time to devote to this important aspect of the nation's business and to ensure that it was properly ventilated. Despite the fact that Minister Paulwell had been given 50 minutes for his presentation, within 10 minutes of question time Mrs. Neilson had forgotten the need for neutrality as the Speaker of the House.
She was overheard to say "Is 10 minutes gone I hope is only him one asking questions" in reference to Opposition Spokesman Audley Shaw who asked the first question. After 40 minutes of questions she had silenced the Opposition.
My surprise is that there was no walk out at this point. Nobody worked into the night, and Speaker Neilson couldn't even stay for the whole afternoon. Passing strange for a Government which claims it is seized with urgency, and that is its only error.
Official conspiracy
Dare I suggest that there is an official conspiracy to keep the public in the dark on every crucial public issue? It seems that the Government has forgotten that the word "public" even exists, much less what it means. I guess they're trying to cover up their transparency.
The public should note that prior to the Minister's 100-page report disclaiming all responsibility for the loss of over $200 million of public funds the Financial Gleaner of Friday, December 14, 2001 referred to a four-page "Term Sheet" as follows:-... "A four-page 'Term Sheet' laid out nine pre-conditions to disbursement that required NetServ to provide 'the names, addresses and social security numbers (if applicable) of the project promoters to facilitate the relevant credit checks' - indicating that the credit-worthiness and/or track record of the firm did not figure in the decision to grant them the loan, offered at five per cent interest on the reducing balance." The Gleaner added "NIBJ's letter indicated that it was making the loan available to the information technology firm based on a memorandum of understanding between it and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Technology".
Yet the Minister claims that he had no input in the granting of the loan. I would like the Government to explain therefore, how hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers's money came to be disbursed on the basis of an 'understanding' between the firm and the Minister of Industry and 'due diligence' ignored. And since Prime Minister P.J. Patterson has direct portfolio responsibility for the antics of Mr. Rex James, head of NIBJ, it is difficult to see how the former can escape personal culpability in the matter. The public is entitled to know what precisely was the nature of this understanding referred to in The Gleaner reports. Hopefully the Speaker might have the time next year to permit a few more questions to be asked in the House of Representatives about the nation's business.
