52 Business View Caribbean - Nov 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
government. The IMF, the World Bank and the IADB
have said no, you must have a full-fledged partner in
the private sector, so the private sector organizations
are now sitting on what we call oversight and execution
committees – joint committees between the govern-
ment 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 pri-
vate sector and a co-chair that comes from the public
sector and then four to six additional members from
each, so the maximum 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, be-
cause 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 Com-
merce 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
borrow. Our international financial credit rating as a
country 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 say-
ing these are the respective ministers, bring your re-
spective 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 impression
of what the island is and what it’s there for and what it pro-
duces 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 in-
formal 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
figure for whatever crop they’re growing. Now what we
are about to set up is packing and grading houses, and
JAMAICA
