Kingston, April 30, 2008 -- Like a careless person with legs spread apart, Jamaica is wide open for business. The resulting rape of the country's resources, culture and values in full view of an applauding audience of our citizens who are hungry for power, money and jobs is pathetic.
Foreign takeover of the economy under the guise of increasing foreign
direct investment is a sign of economic success in an age of
globalisation - so we have been brainwashed to believe. It is time to
remove the scales from our eyes in order to see what is really
happening.
Recent front-page stories in our local newspapers reported on a major
Spanish hotel development in Montego Bay, which has allegedly breached
the building code by going up four instead of three floors. If that was
all, it need not cause one to have sleepless nights. Word on the
streets in Montego Bay is that a full Spanish invasion is in progress.
Some have cited as evidence of this troubling situation the
Spanish-managed Sangster International Airport where advertisement
contracts, food concessionaires and a whole slew of tourism-related
businesses are allegedly going to Spanish interests apparently without
tender. At least one case of what appears to be unfair competition is
heading for the courts.
Any Jamaican who has even casually followed reports in the press would
suspect that there is more to the construction boom taking place along
the north coast of the island than meets the eye. There are constant
complaints about damage to the environment. But it's when one views the
so-called progress from the air that the extent of the damage can be
realistically assessed. Jamaica is fast losing its competitive
advantage as a country with great beaches. With hotels built almost on
the shoreline and the threat of rising tides from global warming, not
only are we losing our beaches, but a catastrophe is looming.
The Spanish are here, but the Chinese just keep coming. Has anyone
stopped to notice that immigrant Chinese have virtually taken over the
retail grocery and haberdashery trade? In downtown Kingston and
spreading to other urban centres across the island, the destruction of
small local retailers is at an advanced stage. The prevailing mantra
is, "If you can't beat them, join them" and so many Jamaican shop
keepers are managing to stay alive by forming alliances with the
"invading force". Not until one of the major local distributors
collapses will our policymakers, city managers and government revenue
collectors step in to tame and control this specious beast of
development.
From the Rollins land deal at Rose Hall to the sale of Air Jamaica
slots at Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom, there is a lingering
suspicion among Jamaicans that those who negotiate on behalf of the
rest of us, either out of desperation to see investments come to the
island or the low value they place on national assets, have sold us
out. That is one reason why I am not jumping up and down celebrating
the recent announcement of government's decision to introduce casino
gambling and reap the "rich" rewards of multi-billion US dollar
investments.
What are we giving up or putting at risk to get this golden egg laid by
a goose? Will it take us further down a road (gambling) which like
prostitution, pornography and human trafficking has an economic value
but is known to be detrimental on a larger scale and over the longer
term? Will it further erode pricing of rooms and attractions in the
segment of Jamaica's tourism where locals who kept the industry alive
when others turned their backs on it are heavily invested? Will it be a
further retreat down the path of enclave/garrison tourism (tourism
behind high walls with a sentinel posted at the gate), which benefits
only a few and delays government solving the problem of crime and
violence which affects every Jamaican? Will it be another case where we
sell off prime national assets (land) at a discounted rate to gain
low-paying jobs and the payroll taxes that these generate while the
fleshy part of the fruit is repatriated overseas? Will the minister of
tourism give to me, a citizen of this broke but still proud country, an
iron- clad guarantee that we will not be told later on that the deal
was a bad one entered into by the previous administration?
Our painful recent history has been one of government ignoring the
opinions, sentiments and warnings of significant segments of the
Jamaican populace, undermining local investors, creating an un-level
playing field, and discounting the value of our national assets to gain
foreign investment. Years later, there is nothing to show for it: no
significant increase in Gross Domestic Product, no improved education,
no better social services, no reduced crime and violence.
I, like every well-thinking Jamaican, welcome foreign investment and
the resulting development. But based on current trends in how we go
about attracting such investments, one must ask: development at what
cost?
|
