Commentary: Promises and more promises

General elections are due this year, and, already, Jamaican politicians are feverishly walking communities, pressing flesh, hugging babies, and babbling out ton loads of promises. They are banking on the hope that gullible people, who have been bamboozled time and time again, will gladly hand over their votes again.

It may be a tough pill to swallow, but the current sets of political promises are likely to end up on top of the centuries-old dung heap of agreements made but not kept.

It does not matter that the majority of politicians, who since the last election, have paid little mind to the same people they are now wooing. They are the same ones who have reneged on the many promises they made during the last campaign.

But, it is a new season, a different campaign, and as far as they are concerned,the Jamaican population is forgiving on the one hand, and forgetful on the next.

This time, the government is promising to slash the bond on duties paid by new-car dealers from 100% to 20%. Serious people doubt that this will drive down costs for new vehicles.

These same politicians are also gambling against rain, hoping that their mad rush to plaster asphalt over potholes will not dissipate with a heavy downpour, returning roadways to ravines.

They have also promised some 600,000 JPS residential customers that their dreaded electricity bills will be reduced come May,as the General Consumption Tax (GCT) on the rate has been lowered by 5%. No one is reminding householders that light bills are likely to be increased over the next administrative years.

Remember that these same 63 politicians awarded themselves up to a300% salary increase, costing taxpayers $1.7 billion, two years ago.

But now they are promising to pay the thousands of public sector workers a total of $496 billion in compensation packages from the $1.26 trillion budget Fayval Williams, the finance minister, presented in parliament last week. The promise is that medical consultants, dental surgeons, parish court judges, and probation/aftercare officers are to be paid from this amount.

In casting the budget, Fayval was not detained by the fact that Jamaica’s economic prognosis is dire. She said that the net reserve, sitting at US$5.6 billion, is healthy, although it has been on a downward spiral in recent years.

Fayval said the reserves would vanish overnight if the financial sector loses confidence, and that would cascade to the rest of the Jamaican economy.

She danced around the economic jitters arising from Florida’s new remittance regulations blocking undocumented immigrants from sending money back to their home countries. Jamaica’s massive undocumented diaspora is now in despair, urgently trying to legalise status by whatever means necessary. Sending money home to mama and the children they left under her care is no longer their top priority.

With remittances contributing close to US$3 billion annually — 80% of which originates from the US — the Florida rule will impact businesses and households that rely on these funds.

Remittances, to a very large extent, drive the informal, underground economy. Neither Fayval, her government, nor the brightest researchers at the top universities seem to have a full grasp of the size or scope of the underground economy in which the majority of the population participates. This economy runs parallel to the formal economy and is essentially cash-dependent. The huge population of unbanked persons, manual workers, minimum wage earners, vendors, professionals in private practice, and a large section of the society that lives hand-to-mouth exist on the fringes of the formal economy, but are firmly rooted, along with a variety of illegal enterprises, in the underground economy.

Remittances pay ‘pardna hand,’ ‘pardna draw,’ build houses, pay school fees, and put food on thetable, among other things. Trusting goods at small shops with a promise to pay when money ‘come from foreign’ has been a way of life for many in deep rural parts.

Grant funding, especially from the USAID, which has provided crucial budgetary support, has been cut. Foreign aid was also the financial lifeline for the non-government bodies pushing the ungodly agenda for their elected partners. These agencies will be looking to the government for help.

It is a sad state of affairs. Jamaica is under divine judgement and in election mode. Some politicians will promise even eternal life they know they cannot deliver.

Promises of various sizes and scopes will roll off the tongues of those who are seeking power at any cost.

It is beyond sad that so many who do not deserve any serious consideration for leadership will con their way back into Gordon House to do exactly what they have done since they arrived on the political scene. Nothing!

Too many in the political class would prefer to lead a rundown, God-forsaken country to its ultimate state of reproach than to change course, repent, relent, and lead a righteous nation to exaltation.

We have been down this road many times before. It is paved with good intentions and mountains of undelivered and undeliverable political promises. 

In this season, Jamaicans are looking for a champion of their causes. Among those who are offering themselves for elected office, could there be a righteous man or woman who will look out for the best interests of this nation, and not for himself, herself, or their political friends? 

Could there be someone who will stand for the people against the bullies in business, government, and their communities?

By now, all and sundry should know that only the promises of God are sure. He will save Jamaica for the sake of the Remnant. He will cause a righteous leader to emerge to lead the nation into the Goshen that He has purposed it to be. The Lord has promised that this leader will come in His time. God’s promises are Yeah and Amen. The Remnants are praying.