In Focus

The following commentary is prompted by my own experiences in the public sector through boards and various projects/committees, and underpinned by my private-sector background of some 25 years.

New Year. New Government. Same old problems. Same narrow set of policy options for dealing with the same old problems.

Can Portia be Jamaica's Lula?FileJamaica's Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller with Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after the opening ceremony of the second conference of African intellectuals and the diaspora in Brazil in July...

My word, Jamaica really is PNP country, isn't it? It also appears that, in PNP country, any expressed opinion contrary to the accepted dogma of PNP perfection attracts more vilification than Harry Potter expects from Lord Voldemort.

The recently concluded 2011 election confounded many of the polls and predictions of Bill Johnson, The Gleaner, Gordon Robinson, Mark Wignall and Karl Samuda, and the hopes of many Labourites.

On December 23, Emily Crooks of Nationwide News Network called me looking for an explanation of the Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson polls published that day. That poll showed that in one week the People's National Party (PNP) had gained six percentage points to erase a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) four percentage-point lead and move into a numerical advantage over the governing party.

As I write, The Old Ball and Chain is downstairs slaving over a hot stove preparing a large dish of stewed crow for me to eat. Why? Because not only did my correct-score bet on the election go up in smoke, but my massive punt on a JLP win in the outright market is, like the JLP itself, also in shambles.

We continue our discussion of the lessons that can be learnt from the Southern California experience regarding transportation policy options for Jamaica. That region typifies the new form of urban agglomeration, called the megalopolis, that has negated the early to mid-20th century spatial form of the city or urbanised region...

Over the past month, the after-election prognostications of some of Jamaica's wisest observers have increasingly converged on one theme. Academics, journalists, businessmen, politicians and clergy now seem to agree that in the post-election period, the party that governs will be faced with the sobering task of selling unpopular austerity measures to a reluctant public.

The photo accompanying this article - capturing the gridlock on the Portmore toll road - graphically illustrates the social, spatial, environmental and political contradictions that have accompanied the private automobile-centred process of suburbanisation of the working class since the 1960s.

Public discussion has been recently focusing on governance of the country and how best to manage administration and development. The time is, therefore, appropriate to discuss the strategies of the past on governance structures and how well they fared.