Heather Robinson, Contributor
MANY ARE the ways that individuals choose to define the qualities of a good leader. Some believe that it has a lot to do with how people see them, while others think that it is about their ability to get things done. One's ability to communicate well with the persons who are being lead is another attribute, while another group of persons believe that it has a lot to do with how the leader's instructions are implemented.
No leader can do or oversee everything that needs to be done, so part of the responsibility of good leadership has to do with the team of persons that are selected and appointed to implement the decisions made. Such persons have to enjoy the confidence, support and respect of the leader, be they members of the Cabinet or senior civil servants or public sector employees. The decisions that are made by this group of appointed persons are very rarely ever attributed to them, but rather to the leader who made the appointment.
FINAL YEAR STUDENT
In October of 1980 I was a final year student at the University of the West Indies, an appointed civil servant employed to the Agency of Public Information (now JIS) as a Radio Producer and was at that time on study leave receiving full pay. On October 30, the Jamaica Labour Party lead by Edward Seaga was elected to form a new government.
Sometime during the month of November I was informed that I was not to return to the offices of the API, and that this included the collection of my monthly salary. I was instructed to have someone collect my cheque for me. So during the next eight months from November of 1980 to June 1981 a colleague of mine who was also on study leave, would collect from me each month a note authorising her to collect my salary cheque. Remember I was an appointed civil servant.
In those days civil servants who were given study leave were automatically bonded, and would therefore be required to work with government for a specified period. So at the end of June when I had completed my final exams, I gingerly made my way to 58A Half Way Tree Road. There I was told by the personnel officer, that I should report to the Office of the Services Commission in New Kingston.
RECREATIONAL LEAVE
The Chief Personnel Officer informed me that I should proceed on my 'recreational leave' for which I would be paid. Where should I report to serve my bond, I asked. His response was simple. There was simply nowhere in the entire civil service for me to work. Eventually I managed to get a job as a management trainee with a government-owned institution as 'Carol Robinson', and was never appointed when it was discovered that I was in fact 'Carol Heather Robinson'. So I never served my two-year bond.
During my two years of being unemployed and unemployable during the 80s, I baked and sewed to survive and earned what I have chosen to call my 'Seaga scars'. These are the many oven burn marks on my right hand that have faded somewhat with the daily application of cocoa butter. But these scars have made me a stronger and more determined person, and are to some extent responsible for my believing that every Jamaican who wants to work should be able to work regardless of the political party that they supported and voted for.
There is, however, a more important lesson in all of this. Leaders should always be careful of those who profess to carry out their instructions. Now that Edward Seaga has retired from political life, I am forced to wonder how many other persons unknown to me in the 1980s earned their 'Seaga scars'.
MANY WERE FIRED
I remember some who were fired from the Ministry of Housing. It matters not who was the minister at that time. It is possible that Edward Seaga was never even aware of what some of his Ministers and civil servants did. But then no one will remember the name of a chief personnel officer, or indeed do they remember the name of a minister from 1980 because of who he is now, and better yet who he will become next month.
Leaders must know that when all is said and done they are indeed the biggest loser(s).
Heather Robinson is a life underwriter and former Member of Parliament.
