The Jamaica Patriotic Movement calls upon the parliament of Jamaica to abandon the negotiation with the IMF and stop playing with the dignity and interest of the Jamaican people. We cannot pay the debt due to the IMF. The government of Jamaica should use the good name of our country in the public domain and demand the United States government exercise its voting power within the institution and write off the debt so we can use the funds and invest into our decaying infrastructure.
There are some within the business sector that will object to this course because it would reduce their parasitic intake of funds, remember the former minister of finance, the honorable Audrey Shaw recommendation, "we should use the funds from the imf and pay the bond holders" which at the time of his announcement the interest rate on the bonds was running at sixteen percent. The working class, the middle strata and the poor cannot take anymore increase in taxes.
The recent increase in the duties by custom on personal items shipped to Jamaicans by their families abroad is one of the measures contemplating by the government to satisfy the debt and meet its budgetary obligations. The requirement of the IMF proposal calls for divestment of more public bodies, freezing of wages and cutting back on important social services!! That is why the Portia Simpson led government is stalling. An already taxed laden people might disturb the social order.
We have been following this decaying path over the years seesawing between the two political parties and the result is what we have now. The time has come for us to regain our economic independence by opting out of this moribund economic system and demand a mutually beneficial arrangement. We need to broaden our trade relationship with the new economic realities that will be the driving economic force of the future. Miss Simpson must be reminded that our people have started the process of one term governance and her tenure will follow suit if the cry of the people is not heeded.