"I believe that there have been policy differences from time to time. The minister of finance was never convinced that the significant and sudden upward movement in interest rate was the only recourse that the bank had," Golding said. "He has discussed that with the governor and it has been discussed in meetings with me. There were problems."

He added: "Inevitably, there is always going to be friction between a central bank and a ministry of finance. Their mandate and their functions are completely different. What we have to do is to try and make sure that there is sufficient harmonisation in the critical areas where they need to be."

Questions:

I know Jamaica has the fastest man and bucketloads of brilliant minds. We are a talented people. So I have to ask: why do Mr Golding and Mr Shaw believe Jamaicans too slow and themselves to be smarter than the rest of the us?

Was there no more opportune time at which to recognise that you were paying the governor of your central bank too much money - even though it was less than the cost of renovating some "squalid residence"?

If the upward movement in the interest rate was the problem, why hasn't Golding commanded Shaw, since he knows better, to explain his understanding of what is necessary in terms of interest rate positioning?

Who would be accountable in a situation like that? Shaw? Golding? The Jamaican people? None of the above?

What does it mean when two very related offices have friction but have different functions? Shouldn't the separation of function reduce any type of friction possible?

How come one 'man' who has been in office for two years, exercise a power to relieve a man of 13 years, with the experience the country now needs to negotiate an important loan agreement? How come?

I think we need to get strong, get united, get going, and get out the things that are costing us too much time and expensive resources? Does it matter if the thing we need to discard is a useless administration?

I am, etc.,

ALEX THOMAS

lexteen@hotmail.com

Kingston 3