By Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner WriterDANVILLE WALKER, chief executive officer of the newly-created Office of National Reconstruction (ONR), and The Gleaner's 'Man of the Year' for 2002, is putting prospective members of his team on alert: Prepare yourselves like soldiers going into Iraq for a six-month tour of duty.
That six-month reference is directly related to the time given by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson for the ONR to complete the job of restoring those sections of the country damaged by Hurricane Ivan.
SOLDIERS SHIPPED OFF TO IRAQ
"You almost have to consider it like soldiers being shipped off to Iraq; those six months of your life will belong to the ONR," Mr. Walker said of his potential team.
That team, he hopes, will consist, among others, of at least two engineers and persons skilled in fund-raising, a systems analyst, and a public relations officer. He also envisages having on that Executive body, four "field marshal types" who will be deployed out into the parishes to guarantee speedy implementation of decisions. The task, he said, was "to reconstruct Jamaica and put it back so that when you drive into a parish, you will not be able to believe that six months ago we had a hurricane."
The main criteria for selection to the ONR, he said, would be transparency, fairness, balance, political bi-partisanship and the requisite experience. Experience in fund-raising will be particularly important in the early life of
the organisation, as the CEO hopes to raise at least $4 billion, in the first instance, partly by sending officers on fund-raising ventures overseas. "When I hit the towns in the United States and around Jamaica I need people who have done this before and have international exposure; so it can't be lightweights," he bluntly asserted.
And in language typical of a military recruiter, the ex-army officer told The Sunday Gleaner that he would be going to the private sector (in search of fund-raisers) "To say come, I need you and I need you full-time for six months." Already, he said, he had received several offers from the private sector and potential recruits for the job.
Given his experience as Director of Elections, Mr. Walker is planning to set up a bi-partisan advisory committee that will provide guidance for his executives, just as is done by the Electoral Advisory Committee.
"Once we have persons on that committee who have sufficient weight in their agencies, such as ODPEM (Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Preparedness) I expect the heads of these agencies to be on the committee so that decisions can be made," he said.
Mr. Walker, whose appointment was announced by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson on Monday, September 13, has been charged with the responsibility of making the Office of National Reconstruction an effective instrument for the post-Hurricane Ivan recovery process.
According to the terms of reference, the ONR will "spearhead and anchor" the activities leading to full recovery from the hurricane, within the six-month time frame specified by the Prime Minister.
