Why is the World Bank telling me things I already know?

This is what the Gleaner reported yesterday: "As the government moves to improve its fiscal management systems, a World Bank reports says Jamaican parliamentarians need to be trained in fiscal matters and oversight frameworks. The report says capacity building among legislators is critical as Jamaica continues to be hampered by its high level of debt.

The World Bank report reviewed the structure and capacity of Parliament to undertake its constitutional role as it regards oversight of the nation's public finances. The report says despite the general improvement in the operation of public finance oversight committees such as the Public Accounts and the Public Administration and Appropriations committees, significant challenges remain.

It has recommended that members of parliament and in particular members of PAC and PAAC should be exposed to a deeper understanding of macro-fiscal management and fiscal responsibility.

The report says this would place members in a better position to make decisions on public spending and effective management. It also called for ongoing training of MPs, especially first time parliamentarians, in parliamentary roles and responsibilities and oversight management."

Massive debt

D'uh! Did we really need the World Bank to tell us this? All you have to do is look around and you could draw the very same conclusion. Massive debt, unemployment, wasteful spending, and the constant delays when it comes to any and everything financial, speaks clearly to the fact that the majority of people who seek to lead us and profess to take us to prosperity are as clueless about finances as I am about what it takes to build a space probe.

The only thing our politicians understand is how to spend large sums of money that we don't have, drive around in SUVs and get fat off the public purse. Our prime minister goes to China to have important investment discussions and the best she can offer on her return is that our economy is in trouble. I can't laugh.

But here's the thing though. How many of our politicians have ever built a company from the ground up and expanded it so as to create more jobs and generate more revenue for himself and his partners? For all the arrogance of Omar Davies who behaves like he knows everything about finance, what has he ever done in terms of business that gives him credibility? He is more famous for his statement "Run Wid It" in reference to his part in government waste than he is for creating jobs or helping set the environment that generates job creation. And before people start saying I am taking shots at the current Government, Audley Shaw and his predecessors were not much better. I mean how many times can you run a gas station into the ground?

The bottom line is we are an ignorant people who keep voting in people who are not capable of doing the job they somehow convince us they can do. Why is this? Because we're stupid and those of who are not, are too indifferent to make any difference. Hence, it will take the World Bank to tell us something that we are too ignorant or too lazy to assess on our own.

The partisan politics too is to be blamed because that partisanship coupled with ignorance is as dangerous as a powder-keg of TNT. You know how many will view this report? They will say this is the white man's way of fighting against the politicians because 'dem badmind'.

They don't even realise what they're saying because I am sure the people who put together this report are enjoying a better standard of living than we are. They are also laughing at us all the way to the bank to count the interest we will be paying forever from money that we never stop borrowing from them.

Did we really need the World Bank to tell us this? Massive debt, unemployment, wasteful spending, and the constant delays when it comes to any and everything financial, speaks clearly to the fact that the majority of people who seek to lead us and profess to take us to prosperity are as clueless about finances.