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JAMAICANS will soon begin to feel the real heat from the recrafted 2011-2012 Budget, the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) spokesman on finance and planning, Dr Peter Phillips has predicted.

Speaking at the PNP’s West Rural St Andrew constituency conference at the Oberlin High School in Lawrence Tavern on Sunday, Dr Phillips told party supporters that last week’s tabling of the Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure in Parliament was destined to have far-reaching consequences

“There has been a collapse of the social services in this country and in a few months, we are going to feel the effects of the budget that was passed four months ago in May and which has been changed again,” Dr Phillips told hundreds of mainly orange-clad supporters.

“They do this sort of thing because they have mismanaged the economic affairs of the country,” Dr Phillips said of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration.

“They have treated the workers of the country with disregard and disrespect. They sign an agreement with the workers, join with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which didn’t want to pay the workers; cut $800 million from the education budget, $100 million from youth programmes, $7 billion from the capital budget, which is what we need to expand and grow the economy; and millions from housing and programmes that can enhance the quality of life are cut out of the budget,” Dr Phillips said.

Turning to the Government’s road improvement project called the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme, Dr Phillips labelled it as a “pork barrel” initiative, which was designed to suit JLP-controlled constituencies.

“I am against political victimisation in road programmes. Over $18 billion is being spent, $14 (billion) of that in JLP constituencies and $4 in PNP-controlled constituencies, most of which include main roads which they can’t avoid fixing.

“We still don’t know what lies in the future for the people, we still don’t know what the IMF is expecting the Government to do and what are some of the cutbacks expected. They (Government) have still not shared the information with the people of the country.

“As you scratch, the JLP dem say we facing a global crisis. But the truth is that the JLP mismanaged the country’s affairs. All the other Caribbean countries came out of the crisis by 2009,” Dr Phillips said.

Constituency chairman and candidate Paul Buchanan labelled West Rural St Andrew as one of the worst constituencies in Jamaica.

“Coffee farmers are hurting, we have the worst roads in Jamaica. There is no water. Everywhere you go, you hear people crying for water. Thee are no jobs, no streetlights and the dreams of especially our youth have turned to despair,” Buchanan said.

Candidate for the newly created East Central St Catherine seat, attorney-at-law Ardando Brown, in his presentation, said that the JLP had blundered badly with the matter of the extradition of former fugitive Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

Brown said that his party did not take sides when it came to justice and was not a protector of so-called dons.

“When we were last in office, 60 people were extradited. We sent Donald ‘Zeeks’ Phipps to prison. He was prosecuted under the PNP and convicted. When I sat and watched the (Coke) drama unfold, I was ashamed of the JLP and (Prime Minister) Bruce Golding,” Brown said.

Phipps was a well-known area leader of the Matthews Lane community in West Kingston who has been imprisoned for murder.

Source: Jamaiaca Observer