The Government seems to be on an ongoing plan to implement revenue related strategies which they say have become necessary because of the depressing oil and gas situation, exacerbated in no small measure by the alleged irresponsible spending of the past administration, case in point being the huge sums being owed to Chinese contractors according to the latest from the Chinese embassy.
Austerity has never been appreciated by any populace, no matter how necessary and well–meaning they may appear to be, for when “bread and butter” issues are involved there can be no “understanding.”
Look to Spain, Portugal and Greece and see the mayhem which so called “austerity” has brought with it. Government must ensure that there is an acceptable balance between austerity measures and how much the population is willing or able to bear, difficult as that maybe.
For the moment they are in a fortunate position, for the country at present is aware of our economic circumstances and how they came about and is willing to give the government a chance to weather the storm.
But when deprivations accumulate the people’s patience can run thin and the long term effect will be, as it has happened elsewhere, of a government which has turned against them with the fatal consequences that usually follow. The NAR seemed to have been well-meaning in their austerity programme but look what it has brought them.
Now with the stalling of pay increases and back pay, with the prospect of retrenchment growing, the increases in VAT already being exploited by the unscrupulous and with the property tax looming, one does not have to guess where all this would lead.
Politics is perception and what other can there be but that of a government ever ready to be oppressive, which is why the Government must not bury its head in the sand and delude itself into thinking that the people will understand that what we are doing is good for them, if even it is.
It must woo the populace, allowing them enough time, as with a possible concession on basic food items inter alia, even as it must implement some revenue raising measures, and simply hope that the people will go along.
And the record of the previous administration is to the Government’s advantage, for no matter how tough it may appear to be, it will take nothing short of a miracle for them to be seen as an option considering the fact that their mismanagement in the eyes of the populace, ironically enshrined in their “freeness,” would have contributed significantly to the need for these austerity measures now.
So the government must work the politics of this necessary austerity and never ever believe that the people will understand if the situation becomes too difficult to bear.
Dr Errol Benjamin
