Latinnews Archive
Caribbean & Central America - 30 March 1989
Manley creates advisory group; MINISTERS MUST BE 'ACCESSIBLE' AND 'LISTEN WITH SENSITIVITY'
Maintaining that the island's finances are 'in a mess', Prime Minister Michael Manley has set about building up his economic team to tackle the uphill task of meeting his supporters' expectations without alienating the local business community, foreign investors, and international financial institutions and creditors, with whom Jamaica will be holding what could prove to be difficult negotiations.
In mid-March Manley named seven 'wise men' to act as his personal think-tank and help monitor the island's negotiations.
The council of economic advisers is headed by G Arthur Brown, former governor of the central bank and codirector of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). A graduate of the London School of Economics, Brown has also been appointed Manley's representative on a national advisory council, chaired by one-time foreign minister Percival Patterson, who heads the newly-created ministry of production, development and planning.
Economic analysts in Kingston have said that the choice of Brown as a special adviser suggests that Manley plans to adopt 'strong and pragmatic' economic policies while fulfilling his plans to tackle run-down social services and provide incentives for local production.
* The 'wise men'
The group of advisers includes PNP senator Barclay Ewart, chairman and managing director of the Alkali group of companies and former head of the Jamaica Industrial Development Corporation. In early March the government announced that Ewart would take over the chairmanship of Jampro, Jamaica's economic and development agency, on the 1 April retirement of Carlton Alexander, who has held the post for eight years.
Also members of the advisory group are Alister McIntyre, vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI); Don Banks, managing director of the National Commercial Bank (NCB); Omar Davies, the new head of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ); and Owen Jefferson, appointed acting governor of the central bank following the early-March dismissal of the bank's governor Headley Brown.
The seventh member of the group is Mayer Matalon, chairman of Telecommunications of Jamaica (TOJ) and the ICD group of companies. Manley has said that Matalon will not be an active member of the council until the courts rule on the legality of a transaction between ICD and TOJ, in which the government and Cable and Wireless are the major partners.
A group of six private TOJ share-holders have questioned the purchase by TOJ of two ICD properties, alleging fraud on the part of company directors. They claim that the directors failed to disclose the proposed land deals in the prospectus when the government decided to sell to the public 13% of its 60% stake in TOJ. Both the TOJ board and Matalon have denied any impropriety in the land deals.
* New central bank head
The removal of Headley Brown as governor of the central bank, a post which he had held since November 1985, was not unexpected.
While in opposition, the PNP accused Brown, who was the trade administrator during Manley's government in the 1970s, of taking on apolitical role in his 'partisan' defence of the policies of former Prime Minister Edward Seaga. Brown was a firm supporter of harsh austerity measures introduced by Seaga on the advice of the IMF.
As announced by finance minister Seymour Mullings in early March, Brown had been sent on leave 'with immediate effect' pending 'reassignment' to another civil service job. His deputy, Owen Jefferson, was taking over as acting governor.
A senior official of the central bank since 1978, Jefferson acted as governor between 1981 and 1982. He joined the bank from the ministry of finance, to which he had originally been seconded from his post as a senior lecturer at the UWI's department of economics. He recently spent a year as an adviser at the economic secretariat of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) in Antigua.
Manley's cabinet
Manley has dismissed opposition criticism of the size of his cabinet, which has six more members than that of his predecessor, noting that it is designed both for efficiency and to make government members more accessible to the public.
'We are trying to find a logical structure to rebuild the civil service to its former state of efficiency, ensure effective management and have the kind of distribution of ministers that will provide adequate accessibility to the public,' Manley has been quoted as saying. 'Ministers should be available to people, to talk to and to listen with sensitivity,' he has emphasised.
Manley, who has said that he will monitor all ministries and 'be available to listen to what people say, and try and explain the truth to the people,' has included several members of his previous administration (1972-80) in his 19-member cabinet.
The Manley cabinet:
* Deputy prime minister & production, development and planning: Percival Patterson.
* Foreign affairs: David Coore.
* Finance: Seymour Mullings.
* Justice & Attorney General: Carl Rattray.
* National Security: K D Knight.
* Defence & information: Michael Manley (PM).
* Labour, welfare and sports: Portia Simpson.
* Industry and commerce: Claude Clark.
* Mining and energy: Hugh Small.
* Agriculture: Horace Clark.
* Health: Easton Douglas.
* Education: Carlyle Dunkley.
* Tourism: Frank Pringle.
* Transport: Bobby Pickersgill.
* Construction: Orville Ramtallie.
* Local government: Ramph Brown.
* Youth and culture: Douglas Manley.
* Without portfolio (PM's office): Paul Robertson.
* Without portfolio (parliamentary affairs): Kenneth McNeil.
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