The Editor, Sir:

I have no desire to burst anyone's bubble, but realism demands that Jamaicans remove their heads from the sand and recognise what the selection of "100 most powerful women" is really all about.

Annually, Forbes magazine selects these 100 persons and the female heads of government of every country is just about automatically among those named. For instance, there are at present 12 such leaders and the Jamaican is rated Number 12.

Number one among the powerful 100 women is Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.

Number 11 among the 12 heads of government is 48-year-old Luisa Diogo, Prime Minister of Mozambique, a relatively poor African country.

She has been Prime Minister since February 2004, after being Minister of Planning and Finance, a portfolio she still holds in addition to leading the country.

Qualifications

According to Wikipedia encyclopedia, Diogo studied economics at Maputo's Eduardo Mondlane University. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1983. She went on to obtain a master's degree in financial economics at the University of London in 1992.

In 1980, she began working in Mozambique's Finance Ministry. She became a department's head in 1986 and in 1989 became national budget director. Then she worked for the World Bank as programme officer in Mozambique. In 1994 she joined the FRELIMO government as deputy finance minister.

I am, etc.,

KEN JONES

alllerdyce@hotmail.com