By Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer
WALKER... I have found joy and satisfaction in my family, leisure pursuits and my jobs, particularly at the EOJ. - Rudolph Brown/ Chief Photographer
HE'S WIDELY known as the no-nonsense Director of Elections who has won the respect of all sides in this widely polarised society. Now all eyes are on him again as the man given the responsibility of leading the restoration of the country's infrastructure, post-Hurricane Ivan.
Born and raised in Kingston to parents, Carlton and Rhema Walker, Danville entered Exelsior High School in 1971 and on day one, he recalls, joined the cadets. This reflected a growing fascination, which would eventually lead to a stint, with the Jamaica Defence Force. Growing up with a stern but loving father also instilled in him the importance of discipline and commitment to whatever task one was engaged in.
A restless spirit in those days, he left Jamaica for New York for one year, returning to Jamaica for Lower Sixth Form, only to go back to New York the following year. Once again, however, he was drawn back to Jamaica after only one year in the Big Apple. "I just couldn't get the hang of that place; it was too much!" he quipped.
Upon returning home from that second stint in New York, he fulfilled his early ambition by joining the JDF reserves as a lieutenant. It was in that capacity that he had his first contact with the electoral system, guarding a polling station in Buff Bay, Portland, in 1980.
OFF TO NEW YORK
Four years later it was off to New York again, this time to pursue studies in accounting at City University of New York. This led to a job with Coopers and Lybrand; then it was on to Baruch College where he lectured in Accounting. "That (teaching) was very interesting; I did it for four years," he recalls.
While at Baruch he also started his own accounting practice which, by his account, grew to be a very lucrative and successful business. He even ran a film production company for one of his clients during this period. He remembers this time 1987-1994 as "very taxing and probably accounts for most of the grey hairs on my head!"
He managed somehow to find time during this period to marry Sharon, his Jamaican-American girlfriend (born in the United States to Jamaican parents). He made sure, however, to put her on notice before the wedding that he fully intended to return to Jamaica: "It's hard for me to ask you to leave your country because nobody could ask me to leave mine, but I'm going home!" he recalls telling her at the time.
Upon returning to Jamaica, along with his parents in 1994, Danville started a family-owned bakery, but this was not fated to last very long. "After one year I realised that my dad was the baker, not me!" he recounts.
He was in the process of winding down the bakery business in early 1997 when word came that the Electoral Office of Jamaica was seeking a new Director of Elections so, naturally, he applied.
"I remember getting dressed the day and saying 'what dem fraid of so? It can't be that hard! I'm going to apply for this job'."
So off he went with his résumé. Needless to say, he got the job, confirmed on May 26, 1997. That date remains significant for Danville Walker, because it was only two months before his father passed away in July. Time enough, however, for him to know that his dad was proud of his appointment. "I remember him saying, it would take me to do a job like that, and it made me feel good to know that he was proud of me."
MEMORY
Appointment as Director of Elections in May meant that he got only six months to prepare for that year's general election, held on December 18. Memory of this six-month test is not lost on him as he embarks on another six-month assignment, this time as chief executive officer of the Office of National Reconstruction. "People ask me now why I think I can accomplish this job (reconstruction) in six months; I just remind them of that experience," he says, with an air of confidence.
"It was almost like the perfect storm," he says of those first six months at the EOJ. "It was combative; you're dealing with the introduction of a major new technological innovation at the EOJ; at the same time doing a full house-to-house enumeration exercise with an election looming. There were these three forces coming together and the director was seen as the person who was supposed to get us through all of it!"
The 1997 election out of the way, the EOJ and the EAC then embarked on creating the infrastructure for the 2002 General Election. Along the way there was the 1998 Local Government polls, which according to Mr. Walker, was a significant improvement on the '97 event. To this day the director remains disappointed that, in his words, "nobody noticed the improvement". As for the 2002 election: "This was banging"; and the 2003 Local Government election one word: "Textbook!"
PROFESSIONAL STAFF
Today he speaks with pride of the EOJ, the infrastructure that has been put in place and, above all, the very professional staff now on the payroll. "I'm so confident about its ability to run an election and carry out its functions without me that sometimes I become worried that I may become redundant!" he quips.
Success with the Jamaican electoral system has enhanced Danville Walker's reputation and that of the Electoral Office of Jamaica, internationally, as well. So much so that the EOJ was called in earlier this year to assist in preparing Antigua-Barbuda for that country's most recent general election.
"The entire Electoral Registration System that the Antiguans have now was designed here at the EOJ. What Jamaica paid US$14 million for, we were able to develop for the Antiguans for under a million US dollars, and we did it all in-house!" he says, beaming with pride.
There was a 92 per cent turnout at the Antigua-Barbuda polls in which the administration of Lester Bird was swept out of office, bringing an end to the long reign of the Birds in that country. "That the Government was voted out was merely coincidental, and had nothing to do with us!" he says with a hearty laugh, pointing out that there was no complaint from anybody about the voters list that was used.
Having worked closely with politicians since becoming Director of Elections in 1997, Danville Walker is ideally placed to offer an opinion on them. And he is not shy about doing so. "I like politicians! I find them to be very colourful people who tend to be very interesting. Deep down I know that if I were a politician I would be among the tougher ones. So when they come to try and frighten the director many of them do not realise that they are actually talking to a kindred spirit.
RESPECT
We have come to respect each other. I am completely committed to the electoral system; you are committed to your political party. I respect you for that. You respect me for the job that I do and we will get along very well. The best way to get some accommodation is to toe the line and if we can accommodate you, we will. If what you want is outside of the rules, we won't accommodate you, and we won't beat around the bush; we'll tell you immediately!"
It is that philosophy that he is promising to take to his new job as CEO of the Office of National Reconstruction. "That has been tested and proven and what we want is to find effective ways now to get to what we all must be desiring fair and balanced systems that speak to the greater good and not just to your own narrow parochial interests."
For Danville Walker, life has been good. This father of three says he has found joy and satisfaction in his family, leisure pursuits and in his jobs, particularly at the EOJ.
