MY attention was drawn to a news item emanating from Washington, CMC, reported in the Guyana Chronicle dated May 7, 2011 under the caption “Report reveals Jamaica’s debt unsustainable.” Most notably, there is this remarkable statement, “Jamaica needs debt cancellation and economic stimulus to get out of its long slump, and it has not gotten either of these.” The Prime Minister of this country is Honourable Bruce Golding MP. The irony of this situation is that the superlative and visionary efforts of H E President Bharrat Jagdeo were made the focus of much derision by a local columnist of Kaieteur News whose only contribution to the national landscape may be of dubious import, given the bile and drivel contained in his columns. Even the proprietor of that tabloid was driven to expel him from his establishment, as did the Catholic Standard and Stabroek News, many years ago. This columnist gloatingly identified this Prime Minister as the CARICOM leader who had referred to our President as a mendicant travelling the world ‘cap in hand’! It is now no secret that Jamaica’s economy went into a tailspin as a result of the effects of the global economic meltdown. Paradoxically,the status of Guyana’s economy  may fairly be regarded as recession resistant, given its evident, continuing buoyancy and its annual growth. We should give credit to our President and Finance Minister for their astute management of the fiscal affairs of this country. While we are tripping over one another to develop our country through public investment in the physical, social and health infrastructures, Jamaica’s debt burden has curtailed most public investment, especially in education and infrastructure. Even a dunce must know that you cannot spend what you do not have.
It is only a matter of time when this journalist buffoon will be consigned to the permanent scrapheap of history.