Lloyd B Smithonline
February 28, 2025
Waste, fraud and abuse: Should Jamaica have a DOGE?
United States President Donald J Trump, in a feisty, no-holes-barred approach, has taken the bull by the horns in his highly touted attempt to weed out waste, fraud, and abuse from the federal government. His weapon of choice, DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), said to be a temporary US federal department, led by Elon Musk, which was previously called the United States Digital Service (USDS).
In a no-nonsense, deliberate stance, Trump signed an executive order on the very day of his inauguration, January 20, 2025, bringing into being DOGE, which is tasked with “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and production”. It is to be noted that DOGE is not a Cabinet-level department, and it is scheduled to be dissolved on July 4, 2026.
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In our current structure of Government, no Jamaican prime minister or future executive president (if such a constitutional change should take place) is likely to have such sweeping powers without getting co-operation from his colleagues in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Political pundits in the US in the meantime have dubbed Trump’s wanton use of executive orders as setting the stage for a dictatorship, emboldened by an oligarchy comprising mainly billionaires and MAGA (Make America Great Again) aficionados.
Suffice it to say that this saga unfolding in Uncle Sam’s country has triggered the debate as to whether or not Jamaica should be exploring adopting such a game plan in any future Administration in whatever shape or form. It goes without saying that governments in Jamaica have been the hotbed of waste, fraud, and abuse from day one. And despite various checks and balances being instituted by Parliament, inclusive of the Integrity Commission, such egregious activities continue unabated.
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What is most worrying in all of this is that parliamentarians, who are also lawmakers and should be the main upholders of the law themselves, in many instances are lawbreakers. And what is even more worrisome is that, when it suits them, certain parliamentarians choose to attack and undermine the very institutions that they helped to create to be fearless, unbiased, and assertive watchdogs. In this vein, we have looked on in horror as elected representatives have seemingly set out to scuttle the Integrity Commission, aided and abetted by their partisan supporters who somehow seem to think that some of them should be above the law.
In the meantime, in our very polarised society, non-governmental bodies, inclusive of advocacy groups, civil society entities, special interests, and professional organizations, have had to suffer the ignominy of being tarred and feathered by the ruling party’s supporters while others continue to tiptoe through the tulips or genuflect to the powers that be, even in the face of the many glaring acts of waste, fraud, and abuse so inherent in our political system.
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Just recently, Opposition leader and People’s National Party President Mark Golding declared forcefully at a political rally that a future Administration under his leadership will be paying a great deal of attention to the pressing matter of integrity. No doubt, though well intentioned, this must have been said as a swipe at Prime Minister Andrew Holness and several of his colleagues who have had run-ins with the Integrity Commission.
As Jamaica stands on the threshold of becoming a republic and its citizens get ready to vote in what should be a pivotal and crucial general election, it behoves both gentlemen to arrive at a point of consensus when it comes to the sensitive matter of integrity in public office. They must, perforce, seek to lead by example and be willing to bell the cat no matter what the consequences once their decisions and actions are in the best interest of the nation and probity.
It is in this context that I dare to suggest that leaders should be including in their party’s respective manifestos a clear-cut approach towards the issue of ridding the public sector, as far as possible, of the unacceptably high level of waste, fraud, and abuse that continues to plague this nation.
Already, we know that those who are waiting in the wings for their party to regain State power are licking their chops, getting ready to position their snouts at the trough in a bid to ensure that they are in line to benefit from the highly anticipated scarce benefits and spoils. In the meantime, the party in power will be doing everything possible to ensure that the gravy train remains in its grasp. Yes, the fight for scarce benefits and spoils is still part and parcel of the political landscape, and Jamaica’s two warring tribes, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People’s National Party (PNP) will be at it between now and September of this year, because when the dust settles, “parson must christen him pickney first”.
The many revelations coming out of the auditor general’s reports which speak to wanton waste of public funds; the lack of transparency, inclusive of many instances of unaccounted for expenditure; perceived fraud; not to mention the many stories about cronyism, nepotism, and the filling of posts with incompetent, unqualified people getting paid without doing the work, and we could go on, clearly point to the need for Jamaica to have a body akin to Trump’s DOGE if true prosperity is to become a reality.
For starters, civil servants — doctors, teachers, nurses to name a few — would be better paid; road maintenance would be ongoing and not only during an election year; schools and hospitals would be better managed and maintained; and the vexing public transportation system, fraught with malfeasance and incompetence, would be no more.
But, for this to happen, both the JLP and the PNP would have to arrive at a common ground on which to build a national consensus on the way forward. However, it is clear that this is a pipe dream, a quixotic proposal that this writer has dared to put on the table for consideration as the nation once again prepares to go to the polls, even against the backdrop of most Jamaicans saying that the country is going in the wrong direction. At least there is some consensus on that, but what about consensus on the way forward? Who will bell the cat? Can there be change without chaos?
Lloyd B Smith has been involved full-time in Jamaican media for the past 49 years. He has also served as a Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. He hails from western Jamaica where he is popularly known as the Governor. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or lbsmith4@gmail.com.
