JLP administration gets mixed reviews after one year in office

It has been a year since the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) won the country's 17th general election and the Andrew Holness administration is being assessed on its performance so far.
   
JLP General Secretary Dr. Horace Chang, believes that the Government has done well.
   
He says the administration can pat itself on the back especially for the management of the economy.

"It has been, without any debate, a good year from the broad perspective. We were able to conclude what was an inherited programme with the International Monetary Fund, and not only conclude what was there, but initiate a new four year programme," touted Dr. Chang.

The new Precautionary Standby Agreement he said, is important from a macro-economic standpoint in order to secure a stable economy. 

In addition, he highlighted that the JLP administration "maintained a level of engagement with the wider public that is critical."

But he admitted that some errors have been made and it will take a while to effectively tackle the country's biggest problem - crime.

"We inherited a security force that had no border security for four years. There was no partol base, no airplanes to patrol and those are being put in place and it will take time to show results, so you can evaluate that. We made it a priority to deal with it by dealing with the critical infrastructure issues and similarly in other areas," argued the JLP general secretary. 

Commentator give JLP C+

Meanwhile, political commentator Shalman Scott has given the Government a C+ for its performance so far. He has graded the Prime Minister with a B-.

Mr. Scott listed among the Government's positives, economic growth as well as improved business and consumer confidence.
  
On the other hand, he said crime and health are some of the areas where the Holness administration has failed.

"The $1.5 million income tax break which was promised to be done without tax increase has not been done. Instead new taxes have been announced which will further deprive education, security, health and physical infrastructural funding, and already the detioration of our roads, not a new problem, has caused that item to dominate the news cycle."

"Additionally," Mr. Scott argued, "the promise not to 'run with it' has not been kept and the $600 million bushing programme is fraught with many unanswered questions; leaving the fundamental question to be asked, is fiscal prudence is being faithfully followed?"
  
Opposition

In the meantime, the Parliamentary Opposition has said it is deeply disappointed but not surprised that the JLP has not delivered on most of its elections promises.
  
Like political commentator Shalman Scott Scott, PNP General Secretary Julian Robinson, said the government failed to honour certain promises surrounding the $1.5 million tax-free threshold, such as the vow not to implement new taxes. Mr. Robinson's assertion is that the new taxes will burden the poor and the most vulnerable in society. 

Additionally, the PNP highlighted issues it believes the government failed to properly manage, including the granting of the Caricel License, the de-bushing programme and the crime wave.

"We continue to be very concerned about the lack of a crime plan, given the spiralling murder rate and the fact that the government had committed unprecedented resources to fighting crime and we're yet to see the manifestation of that," declared Mr. Robinson.
  
The Opposition added that the government failed to raise the minimum wage and deliver on its promised legislative mandate.
                                                           
But with regards to Jamaica's economic stability and growth, the PNP general secretary said: "The JLP has continued most of the policies that started under the economic reform programme, which has led to some level of growth and very positive news around the economy."