Clarke MONTEGO BAY, (IPS):
WHEN P.J. Patterson is sworn in as Prime Minister on Wednesday, his government will begin its fourth successive term with a much smaller majority in Parliament, and prodding from the private sector and civil society to start solving the country's social and economic problems.
Patterson's People's National Party (PNP) won 35 of the country's 60 constituencies in last week's general election, 15 fewer than in the 1997 vote. The remaining seats went to the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) which also got 43 per cent of the popular vote, versus the PNP's 53 per cent.
None of the several minor parties running won a seat or attracted a significant number of votes. The relatively close election prompted former US President Jimmy Carter, who had been monitoring the polls, to urge the country to enact measures to prevent a political or constitutional crisis in the case of a tie vote. His suggestion echoes that of local analysts, anxious to avoid the kind of deadlock that occurred in Trinidad and Tobago after last December's election. Others hailed the ruling party's reduced majority as a prelude to a stronger Parliament.
''A more balanced Parlia-ment, numerically, is always better: it keeps the government on its toes. It gives the Opposition a real voice, and real influence,'' says PNP Deputy Chairman Burchell Whiteman, a Senator in the last Parliament.
The view is widely shared by business leaders like Clarence Clarke, president of the Jamaica Manufacturers Association.
''I welcome the strengthening of the Opposition in the House because it lends itself to the democratic process that we all support here, and it will allow more debates in the House and a greater sense of balance,'' he says. The new administration will be expected to tackle Jamaica's major problems of crime and violence and economic development, which have proved intractable during the PNP's past 13 years in office. Although police say Jamaica's murder rate is down 14 per cent so far this year over 2001, this still translates to just over 800 murders since January. Crime and violence must be brought under control, says Clarke.
''The number one problem which we have spoken about on more than one occasion is crime, and it has to be tackled head on. I know there are plans, and some areas (of the plans) have been implemented, but we need to follow through on that,'' he says.
Whiteman, a member of the last Cabinet, says the Government has been implementing elements of the national crime plan, published in June, and developed with input from the private sector, Opposition, and civil society. Economic growth is another major problem. Since 1996, when the government produced the National Industrial Policy, the administration has been promising annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of six per cent, but has never achieved that target. In fact, after 1996, the country recorded several years of economic decline, before GDP growth of 0.7 per cent in 2000, and 1.7 per cent last year. Several weeks before the election, Finance Minister Omar Davies noted that any party forming a government would face major challenges.
The tourism and bauxite sectors stood to be negatively affected because of problems in the US economy, he said. Tourism and bauxite are among Jamaica's biggest foreign exchange earners. The country welcomed 2.1 million tourists last year, who spent 1.2 billion US dollars, while crude bauxite earnings for 2001 were US$740.3 million. Apart from crime and economy, civil society wants the new leaders to improve transparency and accountability in government.
Those calls come against the background of millions of dollars of cost overruns on housing and road projects during the last administration.
''We have to start holding our Ministers responsible and accountable,'' says Don Cover, president of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce. According to Ocho Rios businesswoman and community advocate, Jeannie Dixon, civil society and the private sector must be prepared to insist on that accountability. ''We are all to blame for whatever bad or good government we get,'' she says. "We have to take that responsibility very seriously."
