A new era for US-Jamaica relations
HAVING SPENT March to August 2020 working for the Florida Democratic Party to prepare for the November presidential election, and then for the Biden-Harris campaign since August on voter protection in both Florida and Pennsylvania, I expect to have a future role, indirectly or directly, with US- Jamaica initiatives. While post-election expectations for a much better relationship between the US and Jamaica are running high, it is important to frame those expectations in what is realistically probable.
The current short-term economic outlook for Jamaica is not good. Tourism contribution to Jamaica’s GDP is not 30 per cent, it is likely well over 50 per cent. American tourism dollars contribute two-thirds of that, and we are at least 12 months away from seeing Americans return to Jamaica at even 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. Jamaica received a US$520-million loan, back in May, from the IMF’s emergency facilities, but now the IMF funds are depleted.
And despite recent comments from China’s distinguished envoy to Jamaica, Tian Qi, future investments by the Chinese government into the Belt & Road Initiative appear to be under review until China can ascertain their loan exposure in Africa. Is the news all bad? No. American private investment interests are sitting on tens of billions of dollars looking to be deployed. It is a matter of where and how to do it that will meet the proper risk-return parameters
Can the incoming Biden-Harris administration be helpful to Jamaica? Absolutely, but the opportunities have to be focused and specific. The easiest entity to currently tap into for financial backing is the USAID, but their financial resources are not great enough to meet the project needs specified below. US private i nvestment in Jamaica will require financial guarantees from the US government; to get those, the US government will require transparency and anti-corruption assurances from the Jamaican Government.
Here is a list of potential projects: At the top of my list is to build a stateof-the-art Tier 1 American-run university teaching hospital in the Montego Bay area. My working name for the project is the ‘Tony Hart Medical University’. The new hospital would effectively replace the antiquated and deficient Cornwall Regional. While the new hospital would be overseen and operated by a top-tier American university, much of the well-paid staff would be Jamaican. Americans would be able to come to Jamaica for medical procedures covered under Medicare or private insurance at a considerably lower cost than in the States. Discussions with Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton have already begun. Phase II with the teaching hospital is a nursing and elder-care school. Jamaicans are regarded worldwide as some of the finest healthcare professionals. Those graduates coming out of the school could either pursue their career in Jamaica or relocate overseas.
Phase III would be a development of moderately priced single-family retirement villas for purchase, and a rental apartment complex to handle 1,000 individuals total. The marketing proposition is not the housing units themselves; many similar types of housing options currently exist in the States. The major differential is that in-home elder care in the States can run US$30-US$50 per hour. In Jamaica, better trained healthcare workers would cost substantially less, and provide the workers an excellent annual income. If the BidenHarris administration pursues a public health option with its improvements of the Affordable Care Act, the lowercost elder care in Jamaica would be warmly received. I hope to have discussions with Housing Minister Pearnel Charles at the appropriate time.
US agricultural investment in Jamaica is also on the list. My friend, Nikki Fried, Florida commissioner of agriculture, would readily organise a group of farmers to visit Ja, and meet with Agriculture & Fisheries Minister Floyd Green. A brief comment on 5G.
The great US Secretary of State James Baker III, and master diplomat under President George H. W. Bush, once said, “I do not want to be a bull in a china shop; I want to make the china sing.”Jamaica dos not need to be threatened to not adopt Huawei’s hardware-based technology. The option the US and the Brits should put forth is the opportunity for Jamaica to move beyond the legacy-based telco model of Huawei, and adopt the newer software-based open-radio access networks, or O-RAN, being developed by the world’s leading technology companies and about to be tested in military facilities.
The opportunity for better US-JA relations is definitely in the cards under a Biden-Harris administration, but the projects and requests for support have to be specific. Many Jamaicans remember fondly the relationship President Obama had with Jamaica. But the gold standard will always be President Kennedy’s relationship with Jamaica and Jamaicans. Even before Jamaica gained its independence in August 1962, President Kennedy invited both Alexander Bustamante and Norman Manley to the White House Oval Office on separate occasions for private meetings, and neither was yet a head of state.
The US under a Biden-Harris administration wants to strengthen our relationship with Jamaica. After all, we are just 500 miles away. And unlike China -- which is 8,700 miles away, makes aggressive territorial claims in the South China Sea, has constant border fights with India, and expansionist plans in the CARICOM region ... the US wants to be a good and supportive neighbour. Better days are ahead.
Ned Brown is a Washington, DC political adviser and author based in Charleston, South Carolina. His forthcoming book, ‘The Caribbean Golden Era: Jamaica 1946-1962’, will be released in 2021.