IN JAMAICA: PALAS Board Member, Danny Roberts Named To The Oversight P-STOC by Prime Minister, Andrew Holness....Government says monitoring mechanism for IMF will be more balanced.... New team

BY BALFORD HENRY Senior staff reporter balfordh@jamaicaobserver.com  Tuesday, November 22, 2016     

THE Government yesterday announced an upgraded programme of oversight for the new Precautionary Stand-by Agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Prime Minister Andrew Holness (left) joins Minister of Finance and the
 Public Service Audley Shaw (right) in congratulating JMMB’s Group CEO
 Keith Duncan (second left), and head of the Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade
 Union Education Institute Danny Roberts, on their appointment to
co-chair the Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC) and the
 Public Sector Transformation Oversight Committee, respectively, at
Jamaica House, yesterday. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

Prime Minister Andrew Holness told a press briefing at Jamaica House that the new framework will be more balanced as it will assess not only the fiscal and monetary indicators, but also social and public sector issues and growth.

“We must achieve the fiscal, monetary and quantitative targets, but we must also achieve the growth, public sector transformation and social protection objectives as well,” he said.

“While keeping the principles of transparency, public accountability, and civic engagement, we wish to design the monitoring framework to address the challenges ahead. Not only must we maintain fiscal responsibility, we must transform the public sector, grow the economy, and protect the vulnerable. There is therefore a desire to deepen, broaden and diversify the monitoring framework,” the prime minister said.

He announced the appointment of head of the Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade Union Education Institute, trade unionist Danny Roberts, as co-chair the new Public Sector Transformation Oversight Committee (P-STOC), which will oversee the critical public sector transformation programme.

Roberts, who has spent more than 20 years in the trade union movement, has served as vice-president of the National Workers Union (NWU) and president of the Union of Clerical Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE), both of which are affiliated to the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP).

He currently serves also as vice-president of the umbrella trade union organisation, the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), which will soon become involved in a new round of wage negotiations with the Government for the 2017/2019 period.

Roberts’ co-chair will be the Cabinet secretary, Ambassador Douglas Saunders. P-STOC will also draw on representatives from the trade union movement, public sector, private sector, academia, and civil society, and will monitor implementation of the public sector transformation, public service reform and social protection targets.

Holness said that in addition to reporting on progress with the fiscal programme, the new monitoring mechanism will also report to the public on the progress in achieving the economic growth, public sector transformation and social protection objectives in the new agreement,. more