Is it the size or effectiveness of government?

THE EDITOR, Madam:

The recent swearing-in of 18 ministers, 13 state ministers, and one parliamentary secretary, bringing Jamaica’s executive ranks to 32, has sparked renewed debate about whether our government is too large or too small for a country of just under three million people.

A comparative look at other countries is instructive. Canada, with 39 million people and a GDP of over US$2 trillion, operates with around 38 ministerial posts. The United States, population 335 million and the world’s largest economy, has about 26 cabinet-level officials. France (65 million people) and the United Kingdom (67 million people) both run complex economies with similar or slightly larger numbers of ministers. Saudi Arabia, a petro-state of nearly 37 million people, also manages with around 30–40 ministers.

Closer to home, the picture is even more striking. Barbados, with fewer than 300,000 citizens, has roughly 30 ministers – an extraordinary ratio of more than 100 ministers per million people. Trinidad and Tobago, with 1.5 million people, operates with about 34 ministerial-type roles, giving it more than double Jamaica’s ratio of ministers to population.

Measured by GDP, Jamaica’s economy – around US$17 billion – is far smaller than Canada, the US, or the UK, yet our ministerial complement is not radically different in size. Indeed, when compared to our CARICOM neighbours, Jamaica’s ratio of ministers to population (roughly 11 per million) is lower than Trinidad and Tobago (22 per million) and far below Barbados (over 100 per million).

What emerges from this comparison is that the size of Jamaica’s government is not excessively large in regional or international terms. However, the real question is not numbers but effectiveness. Citizens must ask: are these 32 officials producing policies, oversight, and service delivery that justify the cost to taxpayers? A smaller cabinet may look leaner, but if ministries are overburdened or poorly managed, efficiency suffers. Conversely, a larger executive must prove its worth by measurable improvements in governance, growth, and accountability.

As Jamaica approaches critical milestones in economic reform and public sector modernisation, it is time not just to debate how many ministers we have, but whether each is delivering value proportionate to our population and GDP. That is the yardstick by which government size should be judged.

DUDLEY MCLEAN II