76 Business View Caribbean - Dec 2014
BV: This doesn't seem like just an easy job for a guy
who had retired, this seems like a full-time endeavor
all the time.
KENNEDY:
It’s a full-time job, yes.
BV: How easy is this going to be and how long is it
going to take?
KENNEDY:
It’s going to take anywhere from five to 10
years. The one thing that IMF also stated is that in the
past – I think this is the third IMF program that the
country of Jamaica has been in – with the other two or
three programs, everything was dominated by the gov-
ernment. The IMF, the World Bank and the IADB have
said no, you must have a full-fledged partner in the pri-
vate sector, so the private sector organizations are now
sitting on what we call oversight and execution commit-
tees – joint committees between the government and
the private sector, which is very unique and, by the way,
it’s working very well. On the committee, you have a
chair, a co-chair who comes from the private sector and
a co-chair that comes from the public sector and then
four to six additional members from each, so the maxi-
mum size of the board is about 12.
So you sit down and meet a minimum of once a month.
It seems to be working very, very well right now, because
what has happened is that private sector people are
bringing execution into the mix. The government and
civil servants usually are very good at writing papers
and project documents and how to apply for funds, but
they don’t know much about execution, so this is where
we’re at right now. It’s an experiment that we’re trying.
BV: This is something that kind of flies in the face
of the way things have been done and the scale that
you’re going to need to have it done on. Taking off
your Chamber of Commerce hat and just looking at it
as an observer – do you think this is all going to work
out to where it needs to be if we revisit this in five or
10 years?
KENNEDY:
In five years, I think it has to. I mean, this is
our last chance, we don’t have any more room to bor-
row. Our international financial credit rating as a coun-
try is in terrible shape and the only reason that we are
going to get FDIs, foreign direct investments, in Jamaica
is because you have the sanction of the multi-lateral
institutions – they approve the projects.
So it has to be done. We have to do it. The current gov-
ernment believes in it and we’re meeting. There are
about 18 people in the cabinet and we’re not going to
present to the entire cabinet, but what they’re doing is
taking two or three people out of the cabinet and saying
these are the respective ministers, bring your respec-
tive private sector people who know the business and
let’s get down and get the projects going.
BV: People outside of Jamaica probably have an im-
pression of what the island is and what it’s there for
and what it produces and things like that, but what
are some undiscovered gems in Jamaica that are
going to help fuel this reinvention or resurgence or
whatever word you want to attach to it? What needs
to happen that people don’t already know about?
KENNEDY:
As far as mining is concerned, I believe we
are the world’s second-largest producer of bauxite and
aluminum, but we have many, many other minerals. We
have some rare minerals. The Japanese have come in
here and set up an experimental plant and they’re go-
ing after the rare minerals and metals. Our limestone is
98 percent pure. The agriculture – we have a very infor-
mal system of agriculture, whereby the farmers now sell
their produce or production to vendors or to people who
come and buy and then sell to supermarkets and into
the market – but the vendors buy the whole crop. The
farmers love that because they get one lump sum fig-
