Joe Issa Supports Move To Press On With Public Sector Reform

Mere weeks after announcing that a new head office would be built to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) some 100 vacant posts at the executive agency are to be abolished.

The move, said to involve a total of 138 posts across ministries, agencies and departments is stipulated by the Civil Service Establishment (General) Order, 2016, which was approved recently by the House of Representatives to effect changes to the 2015 Order, including reclassification and new posts created, re-titling and upgrading of posts and the effective dates for these changes.

Stating in an interview, that the public sector reform programmed is the centre piece of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionality, chairman of PICA Joe Issa, said “it is important to streamline how we do business, in order to keep us relevant and make our public sector more efficient and effective.”

“The way we have been doing business in Jamaica, our processes, etc., has gone out of whack with the best practices in the international community, so we need to change or be left behind by foreign investors, as well as by our own business sector that is thwart by bureaucracy and other structural impediments,” Issa explains.

Among the major changes to be effected by the Order is the modernization of the Accountant General’s Department to strengthen public financial management, in keeping with the thrust to improve efficiency in the public sector and to meet IMF conditionality, Minister of Finance and the Public Service Auddley Shaw has said, according to the Jamaica Observer.

Other changes reported include Amendment to the Judicature Resident Magistrate’s Act, which enacts the renaming of the senior resident magistrate to senior judge of the parish court and renaming the resident magistrate to judge of the parish court.

The 2016 Order, which was presented in Parliament by Minister Shaw, also includes the revision of salaries for the 2015 to 2017 contract period, based on the Heads of Agreement which was signed between the Government and the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions. It also repeals the Office of the Trustee in Bankruptcy and establishes the Office of the Supervisor of Insolvency and Office of the Government Trustee, the newspaper reported.

PICA, which became an executive agency on June 1, 2007, conducts incoming and outgoing immigration examination of all persons entering or leaving Jamaica by air and sea; it administers visas, entry permits and other documents for non-Jamaican visitors and residents; handles requests for permanent residency status; manages the deportation and repatriation of those persons not qualified to remain in Jamaica; and handles matters relating to refugees to the island.

According to its website, the agency is governed by the Jamaican Constitution, The Immigration Restriction (Commonwealth Citizen) Act, The Jamaica Nationality Act, The Alien’s Act, The Passport Act and Regulations, The Foreign Nationals and Commonwealth Citizens (Employment) Act, The Caribbean Community (Free Movement) of Skilled Persons Act, The Executive Agencies Act 2002, and The Financial Administration and Audit Act.

New EGC Initiatives to Spur Economic Growth and Improved Security in Jamaica – Joe Issa

Businessman Joe Issa has said that the initiatives of the Economic Growth Council (EGC) led by banker Michael Lee-Chin could spur growth in the economy and improvements in national security.

Welcoming in Lee-Chin’s initiative, the inclusion of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), which partners with Issa’s PICA portfolio as chairman to secure Jamaica’s borders, he says the initiative could stimulate improvements in national security and the business environment.

A product of the EGC announced by chairman, Lee Chin, the multi-sector initiative aims to formulate a comprehensive and integrated approach to national security and the business environment.

In responding to questions about the initiative which, in addition of the JDF, includes the key Ministries of National Security, Justice, and Economic Growth and Job Creation, Issa says “we all have to be on board, on the same page on the important matter of protecting the island’s security and business landscape.” 

Issa adds, “There are lots of issues to be resolved in both security and business facilitation…you have issues in policing crime and investigating corruption, as well in the issue of various long-delayed licenses and permits for developments,” Issa informs.

The initiative broadly covers police reform, including a new Police Act; the establishment of the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) as a separate entity (from the JCF); further improvement of the justice sector; border security; effective use of technology; and (creating) safe communities, according to the Jamaica Observer.

The areas of focus for the business environment include improvement in the licensing and permitting regimes, reduction in the development approval timeline and the establishment of public procurement regulations. 

As EGC chairman, Lee-Chin disclosed the initiative while delivering the fourth quarter for 2016, at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston recently. He said preserving the nation’s security “has to be at the foundation of all other things that we do.” 

Noting that the Government has appointed a National Security Advisor in the former JDF Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Antony Anderson, Lee-Chin said the EGC had consultations with several stakeholder ministries and agencies to formulate the comprehensive and integrated approach.

He also announced that three targets under the EGC’s eight initiatives, focusing on generating five per cent growth over the next four years, had been met, according to the newspaper report.

He identified the targets met as, “the tabling of the Building Bill in Parliament, the Bank of Jamaica’s (BoJ) finalisation of the terms of reference for Banking Competition Review, and amendment of the BoJ regulations to enable capital relief for portions of small and medium enterprise (SME) loans that have Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ)-guarantee under the latter’s credit enhancement facility programme, where that provision is backed by segregated funds.”

Lee-Chin said all the targets, which had completion timelines of December 2016 and March 2017 as outlined in the EGC’s policy recommendations matrix, were met well ahead of time.

He said that the Government was ahead of schedule on work to review and reduce the Minimum Capital Test for insurance companies, while noting that the Financial Services Commission (FSC), which is undertaking the work, had a March 2017 deadline to review the capital requirements for property and casualty insurance companies, and that they had already reduced it from 250 to 150 per cent.

This, he said, has effectively “freed up $300 million...in available capital that can now flow into the productive sector,” assuring that the EGC will be working “tirelessly” with the Government to ensure the implementation of all their commitments in keeping with the new IMF agreement.

Joe Issa Urges Continued Good Governance for Corporate and National Growth

As 2017 emerges from the twilight of a year he characterized as a landmark in the recovery of the Jamaican economy, member of the St. Ann Chamber of Commerce Past President Advisory Committee Joe Issa is urging continued good governance, stating “it pays for your business as well as the country.”

“2016 was a very good year for the economy…all the indicators suggest that while we have much work left to be done, the economy has started to recover.

Chairman of Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency

“You can tell by the big increase in the money supply in December, that confidence had returned, so I am urging companies and institutions to continue exercising good governance in order to sustain the growth we have seen so far last year,” says Issa, executive chairman of Cool Corporation, one of the largest retail conglomerates in Jamaica.

Issa’s views are backed by the major business watchdogs. The Jamaica Manufacture Association has highlighted the downward trend in inflation and exchange rate movements, among others, while the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce acknowledged growth in tourism and Business Process Outsourcing, also among others. Noting that it is cautiously optimistic, the island’s chamber said “we are starting to see growth…increase in the money supply means more confidence in the economy.” 

Said to be no stranger to advocating accountability and integrity in governance Issa once suggested that politicians enter into a pack with the constituents whom they are asking to vote for them. The idea, which became known as ‘The Issa Initiative’ was famously supported by both political parties and the island’s Chambers of Commerce.

Despite not having been implemented Issa’s idea was highly praised by the country’s main newspapers for its landmark quality, with the Gleaner calling it “a watershed in Jamaica's political culture”.

Big on governance, he famously mediated a conflict which had the potential of unsettling the island and its governance structure. The country’s powerful 13 chambers of commerce had threatened to march to parliament if a tax on street lights, which the business community would have had to pay, is not rolled back. Having been chosen to represent the chambers in their dispute with the government, Issa successfully negotiated the rollback of the tax.

Stating that good governance is not only for governments, but importantly, for the business community whose performance is linked to its governance structure, Issa says, “When you exercise good governance, communicating frankly and widely, being accountable and exercising transparency, all else being equal you will succeed, as well as the economy.” And Issa is not alone.

General Manager of the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) Marlene Street-Forrest has also encouraged local companies to pursue best practices in governance as one means of achieving not only individual corporate growth but also to produce better economic conditions for Jamaica.

In urging firms to embrace the philosophy that good governance is the bedrock of sustainable development and longevity, she said, “Good governance and profitability are the cornerstones of every great company, and we believe that this drives profitability.”

Professor Neville Ying, chairman of the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) Best Practices Committee, also alluded to the connection between governance and success. In explaining the reasoning behind the renaming of the Governance award under the Chairman’s, he says, “The fundamental aim of this renaming was to lift the profile of this award to reflect the growing importance of corporate governance in the sustainable development and success of businesses.”