“Many
ministers, on assumption of office in January, were not assigned official Vehicles
as many of them were sold to the outgoing ministers”
Minister of
Information, Sandrea Falconer at the Jamaica House Press Briefing on Wednesday November
21st 2012
The
GOJ (Government of Jamaica) has again stepped into a firestorm of controversy.
This time it’s the announcement its purchase of sixteen (16) brand name SUV’s
(Sports Utility Vehicles) from Toyota Jamaica for its Minister of Government as
stated in the article “Gov't
buys 16 new SUVs for ministers”, published Thursday, November 22, 2012, The Jamaica Observer .
The
announcement was made at a Press Briefing held by Minister of Information
Sandrea Falconer on Wednesday November 21st 2012. This was headline
news to shock those who watched the news on Television Jamaica and CVM TV and to be ruminated on later at their leisure in The Jamaica Observer and The Jamaica Gleaner the following
Thursday November 22nd 2012.
A
Sunday Editorial or letter of commentary’s bound to follow to put pressure on
the GOJ with regards to their faux paus
in Vehicle choices!
Nothing
unusual here though, if you go by The
Jamaica Observer’s rather scant treatment of the issue. But it’s the
Budgetary sticker shocker that has tongues in New Kingston wagging: approximately
US$694,000 or JA$ 63,068,552.18 million was spent on procuring what’s now being
reported as a total of twenty (20) SUV’s.
This
as reported in a more statistics laden manner in the article “Gov't shells
out $60m for Ministers' New Vehicles - Big bucks, big cars”, published
Thursday November 22, 2012, The Jamaica
Gleaner.
The Jamaica Observer’s article’s
scant treatment of the affair is similar to the article on the coming of budget
Vehicle retailer Metis Motors Jamaica Ltd to sell the Tata Nano 2nd
Generation Car as reported in my Geezam blog
article entitled “Metis
Motors intro’s 2nd Generation Tata Nano to Ja signaling Black and Yellow for
All-Electric Vehicles”.
The Jamaica Observer’s treatment of
the story may also possibly be due to the fact that Toyota Jamaica is a
competitor to Gordon “Butch” Stewart’s ATL (Automotive Trader Limited) Motors
and they’re not into giving the competition free advertising!
Disclaimer: Gordon Stewart, who owns The Jamaica Observer, is Chairman of Sandals Resorts International and Adam Stewart is CEO of ATL Automotive and Sandals
Resorts International as per their OWN newspaper’s article in an article
entitled “'Butch'
Stewart names 25 year-old son CEO of Sandals Resorts”, published Sunday,
November 12, 2006 by Desmond Allen, The
Jamaica Observer.
The
GOJ's Vehicle Allowance is US$35,000 per Vehicle. This represents an 18.6%
increase on the GOJ's Vehicle Allowance US$29,500 following a Cabinet decision
in August 2011 under the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party).
For
the record, Ministers driving their own Vehicles are not given a Fuel Allowance.
A rather cruel reality, as most Private Sector companies give Fuel and upkeep
allowance for workers in Senior and Middle Managerial positions that choose to
drive their own ride.
I
don’t….sorry! Not a big fan of SUV or even the Otto cycle Combustion Engine and
the inefficiency they represent!
Thus
the new Vehicles are justified as the Ministers were incurring Vehicle upkeep
and fuel expenses on their personal Vehicles, which new Vehicles to do their
jobs would alleviate. In that regard, I fail to see the reason for the Public furor
over the COST Vehicles, as this is the typical price for Vehicles for Senior
Managers and Corporates Executives in most Private Sector Companies.
To
wit, here are the stats gleaned from The
Jamaica Gleaner (no pun intended!) report
on Minister of Information, Sandrea Falconer Press Briefing on Wednesday
November 21st 2012 in point form:
1. 20
Vehicles in total were purchased costing US$694,000.
2. 30
SUVs valued at J$28.9 million were sold to JLP Ministers and Permanent
Secretaries.
3. Donovan
Stanberry, permanent secretary in the Agriculture Ministry purchased one of
these Vehicle being sold by the GOJ, 2006 Toyota Land Cruiser for J$499,700
4. US$32,327.96
is the cost of the 2012 Audi, lowest priced Vehicle purchased by Minister of
Finance Dr. Peter Phillips
This
strange journalistic foible aside, why does it catch the eye of my blog? Simply
because the GOJ dropped the ball here as it relates to setting an example in Vehicle
purchasing!
For
me the issue is not the COST of the Vehicles. It’s the fact they chose to
purchase SUV’s, which are typically fuel-inefficient gas-guzzling Vehicles in a
country where the price of Motor Vehicle fuel is going up every 2 weeks.
I’d
have had less complaint if the GOJ had been a little more progressive and spent
the money on All-Electric or Flex-Fuel Vehicles. The 2013 Nissan Leaf, now in its Second
Generation production coincidentally published on Wednesday November 21st
2012 as stated in the article “Nissan
lowers electric car price”, published Wednesday, November 21, 2012, The Jamaica Observer would be a good place to start.
The
follow-up article “Nissan
upgrades Leaf electric car, lowers price”, published Tuesday, November 20,
2012 6:41 PM, The Jamaica Observer
deserves more attention than it’s being given! I’ll be sure to do an article on
the 2013 Nissan Leaf soon…..
Or
even Vehicles that run on Auto LPG as stated in my Geezam blog article entitled “Auto LPG as a Motor
Vehicle Fuel” or Bio-Fuel in a bid to promote the fledgling Bio-fuel Industry,
which falls directly under Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining
Phillip Paulwell’s portfolio.
At
least with All-Electric Vehicles they'd set a trend for the rest of Jamaica’s
elite to follow. That'd result in the trend catching on with the “keeping up
with the Jonses” type folks in the middle Classes. The
DJ's and Entertainers would follow and before you know it Media Personalizes
and then ordinary Jamaicans would be toting All-Electric and Flex-Fuel Vehicles
as predicted in my blog article
entitled “ATL
Automotive to benefit from Low-Sulphur Diesel in 12 Months Time - Bio-Fuels
Resident Evil Apocalypse”.
This is how trends start; GOJ does
it and the populi follow en masse, as was the case in the 90's
with then Prime Minister PJ Patterson and his Mitsubishi Pajero.....and our
love for SUV's thereafter Avalanched…..this time pun VERY much intended!
If the GOJ sets an example for
responsible stewardship of the Environment by being environmentally conscious
in their choice of Vehicles, they'd help to reduce Jamaica's Oil Bill and still
be driving the latest most expensive Vehicles, Technology-wise. In the process,
they'd give a boost to the adoption of All-Electric Vehicles in Jamaica as
stated in the article “Is
Jamaica ready for Electric Vehicles ?”, published Friday, October 01, 2010,
The Jamaica Observer.
Much the same way Minister Phillip
Paulwell having Solar Panels at his house is being patterned by many as a means
of reducing their Electricity Bill as noted in my
blog article
entitled “Phillip Paulwell makes Net
Billing official with 11 licenses issued - JPS Co invited via Mavado's Come
Round a Mi Yard”.
Not grandiose musing about
All-Electric Vehicles in Jamaica! It's inevitable!
Jamaica’s Vehicles are Japanese
throwaways, plain and simple. Eventually in the next 5 years they’ll be
throwaways we'll have to adapt to, as Gas-powered Vehicles are going the way of
the Dodo by 2015 as predicted in my blog article
entitled “Alternative
Energy and Volvo - Tomorrow Never Dies for the Hydrogen-Electron Economy”.
The transition to All-Electric Vehicles
in Japan means that the spare parts shortage reported back in October 2010 in
the article “Spare
Parts shortage hits used-car Trade”, published Friday October 22 2010, The Jamaica Gleaner is set to become
more acute.
Thus,
despite the words of Kent LaCroix, President of the Automobile Dealers
Association (ADA) as stated in the article “Is
Jamaica ready for Electric Vehicles ?”, published Friday, October 01, 2010,
The Jamaica Observer, All-Electric
Vehicles are coming to Jamaica by 2015, whether we want them or not. Soon
they’ll be the only Vehicles left to
import as Japan’s going All-Electric by 2015 as explained in my blog article
entitled “All-Electric
Vehicles and Jamaica – Downfall”.
The
GOJ therefore needs to change its Vehicle Importation policy to give subsidies
or remove all Import Duties to new Vehicles that are either All-Electric or
Flex-Fuel as argued in my blog article
entitled “Alternative
Energy and Diesel Sulphur Content - Casino Royale” and “Alternative
Energy and Range Extender Technology - Jamaica to Rhaatid”. In much the same way PJ Paterson began the trend of SUV's
with his Pajero, the GOJ can begin the trend towards environmental
consciousness via driving All-Electric or Flex-Fuel Vehicles.
In committing to All-Electric Vehicles,
the GOJ would also renew it commitment to repair all of Jamaica’s Road and
Bridge Infrastructure. A move with a benefit to not only Jamaicans but
international Investors seeking to come to Jamaica but unable to find space to
set up shop due to our poor Road Infrastructure as stated in the article “1,000
jobs on the line”, published Wednesday, November
21, 2012 BY JULIAN
RICHARDSON Assistant business co-ordinator, The Jamaica Observer, which makes islandwide travel difficult.
After all, Minister Paulwell's
planning Tablets for Parliamentarians, GovNET, their closed Linux Server-based
WAN (Wide Area Network) and eventually
Supreme Court Judges Lawyers as opined in as noted in my blog article
entitled “GOJ
Parliamentarians upgraded to Microsoft Surface Tablets and GovNET Wide Area
Network - Minister Paulwell efforts to reduce paper may accelerate Jamaican
Tablet Adoption”.
A
move that Minister Paulwell plans to replicate in Primary to High Schools in a
partnership with the Minister of Education Ronald Thwaites to introduce Mobile Computing, which is already being
tested on UWI (University of the West Indies) Med Sci Students as Guinea Pigs
as stated in my blog article
entitled “UWI
Medical Sciences Students get deal on JL Mobile SmartTab Tablets and cheaper
ebook versions of Textbooks - From Gross Anatomy to Islandwide Push towards
Tablet Adoption”
After all aren't Tablets a First
world, yet paper-saving trend??? Why not the same GOJ-led trend with Vehicles???
All-Electric and Flex-Fuel Vehicle Support is needed from GOJ to be The Master (2012) of our Fuel Consumption.
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