Dear Editor,

As the political spin of the present Jamaica Labour Party Government rises to an incredible crescendo with the The National Housing Trust (Amendment) (Special Provisions) Act, 2020, the silence of the tiny beleaguered Opposition shrinks to an illegible whisper; “the gloomy whisper of the lambs”.

Apart from global warming, that has generated a record Atlantic hurricane season and the subsequent battering of Jamaica by incessant and devastating flood rains, the main crisis facing the nation is the continual sliding of the value of the Jamaican dollar on the foreign exchange market. The staggering and unbearable pressure created by this fiscal disaster should be clear to all the brilliant economic consultants clustering in the different agencies of the government.

Employment is low due to COVID-19. Prices are rising at a terrific rate. The masses, under the illusion of a helpful Government, have rolled over and succumbed while being pressed like a soft cassava bammy by horrendous economic and political coercion.

Our main dollar earner — tourism — is near collapse against COVID-19’s sickening deck of cards. To the powers that be, it should be undeniably obvious that urgent alternate protocols must be implemented to earn foreign exchange, to placate the insatiable obsession of traders and retailers to purchase their weekly container loads of imported goods that must — 80 per cent of the time — be paid for in US dollars. This is the core of our fiscal crisis.

If we, as a nation, can somehow subdue our lust for imported chemical-laced foods. See snack food labels, citric acid, ascorbic acid, turmeric acid. These are dangerous, well-researched chemicals that negatively impact the well-being of people, especially growing children.

Take this agenda out of the dollar, the Jamaican dollar would automatically stabilise, and the same US dollar amounts could be sensibly invested into the struggling agricultural sector that could then provide a vibrant agro-industrial machinery with constant materials that could then be exported and earn dollars.

So, as suggested, the economic platform would dramatically shift, instead of hungry buyers, we would be expedient sellers of our own wonderful products like, to name a few, Jamaican ginger, nutmeg, pimento, guava, and the excellent Gros Michel banana that are in tremendous demand in Germany, France and Belgium.

Our best minds should be positively used to drive our export sector. Not squeezing out the life of the nation to placate the watched and uncaring dollar traders and speculative sellers. For once, let us prove our independent mantra. Grow what we eat and eat what we grow. Jamaica nice, who can beat our gungo peas soup with pumpkin and yellow yam?

Winston Cohen

Keunchepeanuts@gmail.com