Portia's pressing priorities

Orville Taylor, Contributor

She might have said it with a stone-faced expression which eventually broke out into a laugh, but the joke is on those who didn't think it was humorous. Portia Simpson Miller was sworn in last Thursday as prime minister, and since she did not swear allegiance to Elizabeth II and her heirs and successors, she is the nearest thing to a queen we have. Even more interesting is that this is her second incarnation as head of Government, so it's appropriate that we can designate her Portia Simpson Miller II (PSMII).

With no time to do like Lot's wife, she has a country to run and has to look forward with great haste. Importantly, she doesn't have to worry about winning the election for another five years, and if she has learnt the lessons from when she was PSMI or from young Prince Andrew Holness, she will time the next election very carefully, but no time soon. Wisely, she has set a sober tone with a modest inauguration and a post-event cocktail for fewer than 50 persons. Unlike PSMI where she was the face of the party, she is very clear on the team concept and appointed a transition team, headed by Omar Davies.

quick assessment

For all the baggage associated with the FINSAC legacy, Davies knows about the financial governance of the country and is in the best position to say very quickly what is the magnitude of the economic task she has to handle. And, of course, having already secured her mandate from the electorate, she doesn't have to worry what the rats ask about his competence. Davies, for his part, has suggested that former governor of the Bank of Jamaica, Derick Latibeaudiere, is an important resource he wouldn't hesitate to utilise. Latibeaudiere, whose name still leaves a nasty taste in the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) mouth, was terminated under circumstances as mysterious as the relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Davies is as indispensable to Portia right now as a grief counsellor is to the JLP. And having blown open the JDIP scandal, had to be given the responsibility to manage the programme.

Quite different from PSMI, she followed the logic and has appointed the portly Peter Phillips to the second most important position in the Cabinet. Phillips, who was her campaign director and who opened Pandora's box, might be too old to represent a new set of ideas and a new generation. Thus, although being appointed deputy prime minister would have been more sensible in 2006, now at 62 it is a difficult proposition. Nevertheless, having secured a victory one day after his birthday, he should roll into his new role quite well.

For Portia, the selection of her Cabinet and policymakers and takers is a delicate task, and at an economic and 'lean' 20 is larger than that of the last JLP Government. Inasmuch as it is was felt up to a few months ago that the People's National Party (PNP) was the party with the survivors from Jurassic Park, it cannot simply discard the known for the new. With a well-preserved but still geriatric president and a general secretary caricatured as a dinosaur, the impression was that Portia and her party were just going to dust off some of the anachronisms and damaged goods and reappoint a tried, if not true, Cabinet. However, she does need new blood.

And this she has done, incorporating neophytes and parliamen-tary novices. Accompanying former Rastafarian Phillips into the Cabinet is current Ras Damion Crawford, Arnaldo Brown and Julian Robinson. Their knowledge and enthusiasm, mixed with a period of apprenticeship, should

equip them for the awesome task of succession.

no female privileging

Doubtless, the feminists would have wanted their pound of flesh and expected to see more women appointed to full ministerial portfolios and key positions in government. After all, it is 'woman time' again. However, Portia would have done a disservice to females if the dominant qualification anyone has is the abundant possession of oestrogen and progesterone. One has to be careful as to whether true gender equality is being sought and not simply female privileging.

Nonetheless, I am sure that since the issue of sex is on the 'agender', it is a short step to see if Portia will carry forward her 'don't ask' policy. Even if she believes someone is gay, will she appoint him or her to her Cabinet? This, if one pushes the gender line to the ludicrous, can be called a breakfront.

By the way, she might be caught between a rock and a hard place if she seeks true gender/sex equality, which is now enshrined in the new Charter of Rights in the Constitution. The original Constitution, up to last year, did not guarantee freedom from discrimination based on sex or gender. Let me let out a secret: The buggery laws are discriminatory against male gays. And Parliament must have been aware of this when they all conspired to insert this last year, thus opening the door for the law to be declared unconstitutional. So let's see how she handles this beyond her comments in the national debate.

But putting this issue behind us for the moment, there are more critical tasks ahead. She needs all heads on board to fix the macroeconomic framework, to move it from the bottom of the barrel of world economies. This land of wood and water, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2011-12 published by the World Economic Forum, had an economic report card which would make Bart Simpson and Goofy look like geniuses. With a government's budget balance graded at 106 of 142 nations, an annual inflation change placed at 137 and government debt-to-GDP which ranks us at 140, she barely has time to pray.

To her and her team, I say good luck, because IMF agreements are difficult to renegotiate and their austerity measures invariably put pressure on social spending, public-sector wages and employment, and the exchange rate. And if the PNP believes that the IMF has truly changed from the institution which was monikered 'Is Manley Fault' in the 1970s, it is no wiser than the former finance minister, who said there would be no serious effect caused by the global economic crisis.

trickle-down

The proposed removal of GCT on electricity bills for high-use consumers will only benefit the poor if the Government puts in place mechanisms for the gains made by manufacturers and other capitalists to trickle down. Typically, trickle-down is not based on economics but political action. Otherwise, the gains will only accrue to the poor if a socialist-type government forces it on the beneficiaries.

And, as for JEEP, well, it can run but it only has gas for a few miles. Let's hope that when they dip into JDIP, they'll find the money which is said to be there. What is the back-up plan if the Chinese hold fast and fail to bow to our request to divert 25 per cent of the funds to the programme? But let's not make fun of JEEP, call a spade a shovel, it is a crash programme, but it can put money in the economy that can stimulate small enterprises.

But that can't, by itself, solve the unemployment problem. A reader asked me to speak to the strategy to incorporate the thousands of tertiary-level students who did the right thing, stayed in school and borrowed money to make their lives better. They can't hold in JEEP, they need Coasters.

Still Regina PSMII is the leader of this country, and if she fails, all fail. Remember, like Holness, Bruce, P.J. and Seaga, her pension is set for life. Only the foolish and unpatriotic will refuse to offer her help. However, if she rejects or ignores, it's another matter.

Good luck, Queen Portia.

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in sociology at the UWI and a radio talk-show host. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.