( L - R ) Shaw, Golding

Government says it is standing by Audley Shaw as the country's finance minister.

Information Minister Daryl Vaz told The Gleaner yesterday that the call for Shaw's head is unfortunate and that he enjoys the confidence of the Cabinet.

"Many other countries that are in a better position than Jamaica have done the same thing," Vaz said in defending Shaw for revising his Budget twice since he first tabled it in April.

"The fact of the matter is that in a recession like this, things change from minute to minute, not day to day and, therefore, whatever decision has been taken in terms of the tax package that was tabled, was taken as a collective decision by all of Cabinet, not one minister. He, therefore, has the full support of the Cabinet and the prime minister as we go forward in trying to solve the problems that we are facing," Vaz added.

Reviewing tax package

On Sunday, the officers of the People's National Party (PNP) called on Prime Minister Bruce Golding to sack Shaw as the minister of finance.

The call came just over an hour after Prime Minister Golding announced that he would be reviewing the $21.7-billion tax bundle that Shaw tabled in Parliament last Thursday.

According to the PNP, it was worrisome that the prime minister called for a review of the tax package in less than 72 hours.

It said that "this being the third review of a budget presented by Shaw within eight months, it is the third strike" against Shaw.

"The principle of three strikes and you are out applies," the PNP said, while noting that firing Shaw as finance minister was "the only way to salvage the waning credibility of this administration".

On Sunday, PNP heavyweights, led by Dr Omar Davies and Peter Bunting, pummelled Shaw for his handling of the economy.

Davies said Shaw's reign has been marred by "confusion" and "madness".

In pointing to the decision of the Government to request that the Bank of Jamaica print $3 billion for it to pay its creditors, Davies said runs counter to Shaw's mantra as a low interest-rate man.

But it was not just the mantra, but Shaw's knowledge and handling of the country's purse that have irked Davies.

Ignorant shaw

The opposition spokesman said Shaw was ignorant after he could not put a figure to any previous request from Government to print money.

Bunting had earlier said Shaw was hiding the figures.

"He does not know and Comrade Bunting refuses to believe that his minister of finance does not know," Davies said.

According to Davies, the party has moved past scoring political points and is concerned about the image of confusion that Shaw has created at the Ministry of Finance.

"They had Supplementary at the end of the financial year (2008-2009). Then they came this year and they had a budget that we rebuffed.

"It was an embarrassing budget ... . It don't look good for a government to be presenting a document and piece here and piece there and they don't know. It don't look good. It look chacka-chacka and we look Third World," Davies said.

The former finance minister said he had also warned Shaw about putting in place a credible framework before going to the International Monetary Fund for balance-of-trade support.

According to Davies, in the minister's response to questions in Parliament and a ministry paper tabled, there seemed to be no framework on which Shaw was pegging the country's direction.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com