Patterson	Seaga

THERE are a number of politicians who continue to make a mockery of democracy and most of us know whom they are. The security forces know who they are. The electoral officials know who they are. The people living in the communities know who they are. How do we know? A trail of violence, intimidation, murder and blood follows them wherever they go and is present in whatever constituency they represent. They are experts at manipulating the media and the media itself has been guilty of failing to expose them for what and who they really are.

It is sheer hypocrisy and a sort of collective delusion for the citizens of a country to sit back and allow these politicians to become participants in peace treaties and codes of conduct that they have no interest in nor intend to adhere to. It is ridiculous that in the Year 2002 supporters of one party or another are not allowed, in many areas, to put up flags or buntings in their party colours without serious risk to their lives, and that the average Jamaican is scared of wearing red or green or orange clothing due to fear of being attacked by some hooligan supporting one party or another. It is ridiculous and heart rending to know that people have already died because of another election in Jamaica. The talk on the street in Montego Bay today is that politicians are offering to pay people $1000 to vote twice, despite our very expensive electoral reforms, the cost of upgrading the system, and the strident and loud cries to have these reforms effected. No politician who attempts to dictate matters which are clearly the responsibility of our electoral officials, such as where polling stations should be located, should be allowed to represent anyone in this country.

Of greatest concern to me is the fact that the deep rooted issues that have crippled our economy and the changes in the international arena that will have far reaching effects on our ability to survive as an economy and a people are not being discussed. Bad enough that we will be having an election at a time when thousands of people have been forced out of their homes as a result of the flood rains and thousands of others are in deep distress from the effects of these floods and, already there are attempts to politicise their pain and deprivation. One such issue is the far-reaching changes in the international trading arrangements.

The results of the 2001 - 2002 Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean, published by ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean - a United Nations Commission), are not encouraging. The report states:

"Against the backdrop of a very sluggish international economic environment, the reactivation that began in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2000 was short lived. After having stalled in 2001, economic growth is expected to be negative (-0.8 per cent) for 2002, and unemployment is projected to reach a record of over 9 per cent"

The report points out that a number of countries - and our own available information indicates that Jamaica is one of these countries - have improved their macroeconomic policies since the mid-1990's by the use of more flexible exchange rate regimes and the adoption of macroeconomic policies based on inflation targets. It raises concerns, however about raising the quality of public expenditure and states that little headway has been made in implementing reforms to promote more dynamic changes in production patterns, whose materialisation depends on a number of other factors in addition to strong macroeconomic performance. It highlights the need for new patterns of development that will benefit the population as a whole and concludes:

"This situation underscores the importance of building a new consensus based on global initiatives to improve the developing countries' position within the world order and facilitate more active sorts of national and regional development policies than most of those implemented over the past decade".

This goes to the heart of globalisation and two critical international trade negotiations that are currently taking place. These are the WTO negotiations and the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) negotiations. The results of these negotiations will have far reaching implications for our country Jamaica, CARICOM countries in general and the region as a whole, hence I believe the Prime Minister's passionate defence of the right of the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines to go on to the PNP's platform and exhort the Jamaican people to re-elect him and his party.

CARICOM has quite wisely established Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery, headed by Ambassador Richard Bernal. Both parties, as indicated in their manifestos support this negotiating mechanism, as well as the establishment of a Caribbean Single Market and Economy. What is not being discussed publicly are the far reaching implications of these negotiations and the need for a new pattern of development that will benefit the population as a whole.

On a recent trip, sponsored by the US Embassy and the US State Department, to Washington D.C., a number of things became very clear to me. The first was the wisdom of CARICOM establishing this Regional Negotiating Machinery. and the fact that Ambassador Richard Bernal is highly respected as a negotiator. As a matter of fact, despite collusion and pressure from other countries, he successfully negotiated special and differential treatment for CARICOM countries with respect to the type of tariff regime that will be applied to a selected list of sensitive goods. The decision was that the base tariff to be applied to these goods would be no higher under the FTAA than those allowed under WTO obligations.

We cannot speak of people as a whole without speaking of rural development. We cannot speak of rural development without speaking of agricultural development. As Ambassador Bernal pointed out in the above negotiations:

"Agriculture is and continues to be the main source of export earnings in the OECS countries. Further rural development and food security depend on the continued survival of agriculture in all CARICOM countries."

He points out that despite agreement in principle to take into account the differences in the levels of development and size of economies in the development of proposals, offers and throughout the negotiation process (FTAA), there was a demonstrated reluctance on the part of the more developed FTAA countries to give expression to that principle in the form of concrete measures.

The reason for this became clear on my trip to South Carolina. Our economies are not only being forced to compete with other countries - large and small - but with individual states in the United States of America. The Executive Director of the South Carolina World Trade Centre, Mark Condon, was quick to point out that the same concerns that countries like Jamaica have about free trade are the same one, areas like the Carolinas in the USA have about the effects on the livelihood of their people. He puts it quite succinctly; "All of us need free trade until it touches our own community". More later.