The 1997-2002 Administration

• Author: Trevor Munroe/Arnold Bertram
• Profession: Rhodes Scholar and Fulbright Fellow, political scientist, labour activist and politician, is Professor of Government and Politics at the University of the West Indies, Mona/Distinguished commentator on Jamaican Social History and Political Development is a former Legislator in both houses of the Jamaican Parliament and a former Minister of ...
• Pages: 630-670

630 / Post-Independence Administrations

The 1997 Elections: Background and Results

Patterson’s overwhelming victory in 1993 made him the first African-

Jamaican to be elected to the office of Prime Minister. Shearer, a

black Jamaican, had been appointed to that position in 1967 when Prime

Minister Sangster died, but the fact that his party lost the election of

1972 deprived him of the opportunity of being elected to the office as

Patterson was. The sobering fact is that it had taken a predominantly

African-Jamaican electorate nearly five decades to elect one of their

own, in a country where they account for some 90 per cent of the

electorate. It must be of some interest for further analysis whether this

reflected a democratic, non-racial outlook, an underdeveloped sense of

self-worth, or some combination of the two on the part of the Jamaican

electorate. Patterson, conscious of his historic responsibilities, set out to

satisfy the extraordinarily high expectations of Jamaica and the diaspora.

Given Jamaica’s social history, the cultural implications of

globalization were of particular significance. Robotham, in a very

insightful study, reinforced the view that the new international economic

order also established a

global racial-cultural hierarchy [which] placed Anglo-American

culture at the apex and sub-Saharan culture at the base…; other

cultures jostle to occupy intermediate positions between these

two extremes. Thus, while all non-Anglo cultures and nation

The 1997–2002 Administration

Chapter 15

The 1997–2002 Administration / 631

states operate in a general context of globalized subordination,

the position of Black Nationalism in the global system is a very

special case.1

In this international environment, Patterson’s occupation of Jamaica

House was a landmark for Black Nationalism, for both Jamaica and the

Diaspora. It was as a direct consequence of this that a black elite

reinforced ascendancy in the State. The presence of blacks in key

positions of the administration encouraged another black group,

composed of professionals and businesspeople, to embark on a project

to transform themselves into a capitalist class. To the extent that the

group subscribed to the philosophy of Black Nationalism, it was certainly

not the old concept of separatism. Neither was this group homogeneous.

Some were more ‘radical, progressive and outward looking, seeking

alliances with other movements and social classes to realize broadly

universal ends’; 2 others were simply pursuing personal and selfish

agendas under the umbrella of Black Nationalism, without the slightest

intention of championing the cause of blacks in general.

The project to create a black bourgeoisie was perhaps only possible

in Jamaica, since elsewhere in the Caribbean, blacks had been

successfully restricted to political power. In Jamaica, they already owned

and controlled a significant part of the economy, and were ambitious

and confident enough to seize the time for further advances.

While pursuing their objectives, there seems to have been no

coordinated effort by the black group to limit the privileged access

exclusively enjoyed by racial minorities for centuries. In some cases,

black capital actually merged with that of ethnic minorities, as was the

case with tourism mogul, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, and banker, Delroy

Lindsay, in the Daily Observer; O.K. Melhado and Cliff Cameron in

Manufacturers Merchant Bank; and Dehring, Bunting and Golding in

the DB&G firm of investment bankers.

The effort to establish a black bourgeoisie was certainly not sponsored

by the State. However, it was as a result of the twin processes of

privatization and deregulation being implemented by the State that a

host of new economic opportunities were created, which aspiring blacks

632 / Post-Independence Administrations

with access to capital exploited enthusiastically. The most attractive of

these opportunities was in banking, hence the phenomenal growth of

financial institutions during the period.

The banking sector expanded against the background of a

government policy to reduce inflation by introducing

a regime of very high interest rates, with the aim of attracting

inflows of foreign exchange and preventing devaluation as well.

This high interest rate policy in turn … ended all prospects of

economic growth, of reducing unemployment and of generating

additional government revenues to finance social programmes.

It also signalled the beginning of severe austerity for the people.

Investors naturally chose to put their money in the guaranteed

high-interest-bearing government paper, rather than to overtake

the hazards of investing in the production of goods and services

in the real economy for an uncertain rate of return.3

The negative consequences of this high interest rate policy were not

immediately felt, as the Patterson administration moved to respond to

the demands of other social classes for a piece of the action.

The Patterson administration also had other economic and social

challenges requiring immediate attention. The renewal of the social

agenda was particularly urgent, given the extent to which social

programmes had been sacrificed in an effort to reduce the debt and the

fiscal deficit. The national campaign to inculcate positive values and

attitudes was launched but not sufficiently sustained in an attempt to

respond to the profound negative changes in values, norms and modes

of behaviour which had undermined the traditional authority systems

and brought the society to the verge of anarchy. The reorganization of

the Social Development Commission and the programme of Local

Government Reform set the stage for an integrated process of community

development based on an expansion of local services.

Operation Pride was launched in 1995 to accelerate the process of

land reform and to make land available on an unprecedented scale for

housing solutions, as well as for viable economic enterprises.