Phillips argues for empowering people

In a budget presentation entitled “Empowering the people: Restoring Hope” last week Thursday, Opposition leader Dr Peter Phillips asked: What is the experience of average Jamaicans after two years of the Jamaica Labour Party Administration — are they better off than they were two years ago, do they think the economy is headed in the right direction, and are they hopeful about the future?

As part of his critique, he asked “How are the workers faring?”, observing many now regard permanent workers as contract workers, meaning these workers have lost their pension rights, maternity leave rights and other rights.

He accused Government of lacking respect for the principles of collective bargaining in the current wage negotiations, and observed that Minister Shaw has not been “so successful” on growth, advising that the last PNP Administration projected growth of 2.9 per cent on average for the period 2017-2020, compared to the current government’s projection of 1.8 per cent.

Finally, with respect to raising the income tax threshold to $1.5 million, he argued that less than half of PAYE taxpayers benefited, and less than 100,000 benefited to the full extent of the promised $18,000.

Concerning the vexed issue of corruption, he argued for the implementation of the proposal by the National Integrity Agency (NIA) that no contract is too small to fall under the ambit of the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) or now the Anti-Corruption Agency, as “the issue of corruption does not vary with the size of the contract (if you steal one dollar you will steal one million dollars) and no contract should be excluded from his/her review”. Interestingly, he also argued for the criminalisation of Breaches of the Political Code of Conduct and the strengthening of the powers of the political ombudsman.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business-observer/phillips-argues-for-empowering-people_128475