Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter
Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, makes his opening contribution to the 2008-2009 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives yesterday. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer
DR OMAR Davies rocked back in his seat inside Gordon House yesterday. He has been sitting in that chair for just seven months.
Davies had all but made another chair on the opposite side of the aisle his own. He still sees it, but can't sit there. It now belongs to Finance Minister Audley Shaw.
For 14 years, Davies presented the Budget from that seat, but when the People's National Party (PNP) was ousted in the September 2007 general election, Davies had to move.
As Shaw prepared to make his presentation yesterday, Davies fidgeted. He slouched in his chair, bit his nails and played with his glasses. For the most part though, he appeared attentive.
The task of articulating the country's fiscal future rested with Shaw and in the midst of showing off the administration's plans, someone had to take the blame for the Government's increased taxes and certain policy decisions.
It was the PNP, which held power between 1989 and 2007, that got most of the blame. Nature, too, got the stick. But without having his name called, Davies, who presided over the Treasury when he was in government, must have known where the fingers were pointing.
Mismanagement and malpractice
Shaw said the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) now has to deal with correcting the "mismanagement and malpractice" of the past administration.
"The challenge has been to craft a budget that has been burdened by a debt that hangs like an albatross around the neck of every Jamaican citizen," Shaw said.
He added: "There are no easy solutions to the serious problems and social dislocations that we have inherited."
As Shaw spoke of his "modest" tax package and ridiculed his predecessor for having said that financing the JLP's election promises would require a massive tax package, Davies quickly responded, "Yuh struggling!"
daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com
