Your Eyewitness is quite impressed with the number of initiatives that have been unfurled by Pressie with our CARICOM cohort Jamaica during the visit by their PM Holness. Maybe he might’ve missed the announcement, but this 2-day state visit by Holness on his way back from that O&G business gathering in Suriname – where the latter bunch of ingrates insulted us once again with their passive-aggressive flag gesture – has been a pleasant surprise!! Especially with the welter of MOUs signed in several areas to advance collaboration between our two countries – including but not limited to the areas of energy, tourism, finance, defence, agriculture, etc.
Holness summed up our relationship rather succinctly: “It is very much clear that Jamaica and Guyana are very much aligned, and we have a similar outlook on the world and a similar understanding of the changing dynamics and the new nature of global politics, but we also share a very positive outlook on our economic prospects.” For his part, Pressie emphasised, “We believe that we have found a common path in many areas and look forward to a stronger, relentless, resilient and sustainable partnership with the government and people of Jamaica.”
On the “global politics” front, this was exemplified last year after US Secty of State Rubio visited Jamaica over the issue of Cuban doctors. In a realpolitik manner, Holness didn’t try to score points like Barbados’ Mottley – who mounted her high horse – but pragmatically signalled the need for change in Cuba and explained – or our Pressie also did – that our arrangement didn’t involve direct payments to the Cuban government!! Jamaica is our largest CARICOM partner and, along with T&T, could help shape the ongoing realignment of hemispheric power relationships with the US as a key ally.
Let’s not make any bones about it – in the coming year with the ICJ scheduled to deliver our victory over the Venezuelans in the controversy they created over our Essequibo border – we’re going to need diplomatic support!! But not of the equivocating type of the likes of Mia Mottley!! And as far as our local politics are concerned, how can we forget the contribution to our discourse by former Jamaican PM Golding, who dubbed Granger a “Sanctimonious Gangster”!!
Rather concretely, there’s an agreement on where to build 300 houses in Jamaica – with our wood and expertise!! Our timber products were once a mainstay in our exports to the Caribbean – and maybe this will be its resuscitation – in value-added form!! Reciprocally, while we mightn’t have their surf and sand, their hotel services are second to none – and we can learn!
Now if they could offer some tips on how they’ve marketed their culture globally, where even in Japan reggae’s a rage – we’ll be set!!

…common cause back then
Now Jamaica and we share a lot!! Hadn’t Burnham and Manley struck their leftist pose and decided we were going to feed ourselves back in the day?? Were they talking about “food security” before there was “food insecurity”?? Naah…they were just reacting to their economies imploding and didn’t have the foreign exchange to import the foods we’d been weaned on. And craved. After all it wasn’t apocryphal that Burnham cried out for “condensed milk” on his death bed, was it??
Anyhow, while there’s nothing wrong about growing our own food and moving off “foreign foods”, what they attempted was an ancient economic notion called “autarky”! Your country has to be completely self-sufficient and become an island (no pun intended) unto itself!! This had been debunked by the “free trade” theory, where countries concentrate on things they have (or can acquire) a comparative advantage in – produce and export those things – then use the foreign exchange earned to buy WHATEVER else is desired!!
We should ask Jamaica about producing Irish potatoes right now – but at EIGHT TIMES the imported price!!

…sinecures
UG’s been around for 60+ years, yet many graduates can barely read and comprehend beyond primary school level?? Gotta end tenure where no one’s fired!!

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