The recent general election saw the Jamaica labor Party suffered a massive defeat at the polls giving the opposition a landslide victory. The young and inexperience Andrew Holness in his pursuit of satisfying the interest of the international monetary fund and the private sector infuriated the working class when he made statement about their pension plans. What majority of Jamaicans don’t know is that the IMF plan calls for a strict austerity plan that mirrors what they are demanding from the Government of Greece.

The intent is to freeze wages, sell off another thirty public entities, and strengthen the law enforcement bodies to deal with any social protest and to have government focus only on collecting taxes. The private sector must be the sole engine of growth. That is the logic of this unworkable system that is breaking at the seam worldwide.  Jamaica has been following this economic model since independence with a short break during the Michael Manley mandate. The question in some citizen’s mind is having a popular prime minister at this time intended to blunt the resistance to this poisonous imf/private sector medicine. The Jamaican people cannot take on any more increases. They cannot pay this debt. The Jamaica patriotic movement calls for a total restructuring of both the local and IMF loan wherein the payment is delayed for ten years. The payment saved on this should be used to invest in our infrastructure, export oriented companies, agriculture the manufacturing and sector.