The Editor, Sir:

The concept of selfless service to one's country seems to be a completely foreign concept to the current batch of political leaders, and indeed, to most of the other leaders of this great nation since independence. Gone are the days when political, civil and community leaders adopted or pursuedwelfare, justice or social justice issues vigorously, selflessly, and without thought or concern for one's own enrichment.

The very definition of leadership suggests that a leader is one who takes the initiative in fulfilling a role, or provides solutions for problems that others have either abandoned or are otherwise incapable of providing. The fact that we have not had one such leader since independence to lead in a selfless and apolitical way speaks volumes of this current lot of leaders.

If we were all keen to listen to the rhetoric from our leaders over the past few years, we would have repeatedly heard comments made about which party is in power, which party wants to be in power, which party or person misused or abused their position of power, and many other references and rhetoric containing the word power. Seldom, if ever, have we heard any mention made of anyone being in service to this country.

The old saying that power corrupts is never as true as it is now in Jamaica, simply because all our leaders, it seems, think of themselves to rule this country rather than in service to it. This kind of thinking, in my opinion, is destructive and leads inevitably to disastrous consequences, as evidenced by the present state of the economy and politics in Jamaica.

Widespread disillusionment

The widespread disillusionment with our beloved nation's leaders, I believe, is rooted in this mindset of power. The Jamaican people have been ruled for far too long by self-serving people, both from without and within, bent on raping and robbing this nation of its resources to satisfy their insatiable desire for immense and ill-gained wealth.

For far too long we have yearned for leaders to serve and not rule. For far too long we have desired leaders who would inspire an entire generation and commence a movement that would change the face of Jamaica, that would bring us to a place of respect and admiration in the world. Yet, we have had to endure the disappointment of seeing those in positions of service, leadership, and indeed privilege, devolve into lesser offspring of greater sires.

I believe that the present brood of leaders is incapable of service to this nation, as evidenced by the continued inefficiencies in government services, unnecessary and oppressive bureaucratic government agencies, and a tendency to perpetuate archaic methods and preserve the status quo, simply because that is the way thing have always been done. We need instead innovative and service-minded leaders who will not accept the status quo, but who will evaluate systems on their merit and implement best practices in the discharge of their duties. Quite simply put, we need a change.

Complete change

We need a complete change in the mindset of our leadership, but more likely, we need a new batch of free-thinking leaders, who are not constrained to think in terms of party or power, but instead in terms of service to a cause higher than themselves. I do not believe that we are doomed to endure wave after wave of selfish, corrupt, and utterly inept leaders. I believe that the current group of scholars at our nation's universities and high schools, and university-educated Jamaicans in North America and Europe, are ready for change and are willing to accept the challenge of nation building. However, they need to accept and adopt from early on that service and not power is how we effect radical and lasting change for future generations. We need to bring back our heroes of old.

One of our problems is that we tend to equate leadership to political leadership. We omit or simply fail to acknowledge that political leaders are but a tiny portion of leaders in Jamaica. There are far greater leaders and people of immense popularity and influence that hail and move among us daily. These are our pastors, teachers, doctors, club presidents and managers, business people, to name a few. They wield far more influence and command more respect than our political leader could ever dream. It is these people who could inspire the grass-roots effort that will inevitably change the face of leadership, and hence, the political landscape in Jamaica, through service to us, not power over us.

I am, etc.,

STOKELY S. SADDLER

saddler767@yahoo.com

P.O. Box 1650

Kingston 8

Via Go-Jamaica