EDITORIAL - A call to bold leadership
Published: Thursday | January 1, 2009
Usually, nothing fundamental is changed from the 24 hours preceding the start of one day, the past week, the past fortnight or the past month. But no matter how bad things were, the start of a new year tends to bring with it a sense of optimism that somehow things will be different and better.
Whether last year or this one, such change doesn't just happen. It has to be worked at. And given the circumstance of Jamaica, the effort has to be hard and sustained, demanding of a strong and moral leadership, capable of forging consensus, yet willing to take risks in doing what is right for the country.
It is for such leadership to which we look to Prime Minister Bruce Golding as the country faces its many problems, not least of which is the potentially grave economic crisis, a consequence of the global credit crunch and accompanying recession. Jamaica's stratospheric level of criminal violence and poor outcomes in education are among the perennial problems requiring, as they have always done, urgent attention.
Unfortunately, in the 15 months he has been in office, Prime Minister Golding has not displayed the transformational leadership which he promised and of which, while in opposition, he had led many Jamaicans to believe he was capable.
Constraints
The PM's apologists, with politically conventional reasoning, will argue that Mr Golding faces constraints given his party's narrow electoral victory in 2007 and his uncertainty about the loyalties of some on whose support he depends in the legislature.
The bigger issue, we feel, is whether Mr Golding believes that Jamaica is in need of radical transformation and if he is willing to throw the significant power and prestige of his office to effect such a fundamental change. If he does, Mr Golding has to look beyond the next election cycle and settle in his mind that his might be a single term as prime minister and, thereafter, go for broke.
If Mr Golding has arrived at this place, he must begin to talk sincerely and frankly to the Jamaican people, outlining a clear vision for the future and his path for getting there, including the difficulties they will have to endure. He should tell people, too, that in the current economic circumstance, some of his party's electoral promises will have to be reversed.
BACKBENCH underperformers
Mr Golding should not be afraid to send some of the underperformers in his bloated administration to the parliamentary backbenches and constitute a tight, action-oriented 'war Cabinet' to confront the economic crisis.
He will find that there is strong political support in the society if he communicates effectively and makes the case that his actions are in the people's interest.
While, as prime minister, he has the major responsibility, the challenge of mobilising the Jamaican people to action and behaviour beyond individual interests is not solely Mr Golding's. It is a job for all of us, including the Opposition, which must see its mandate as being beyond mere carping criticism.
Perhaps not unlike Mr Golding, the People's National Party, despite the settling of its leadership question, is yet to find itself and head on a clear visionary path. It has failed to articulate any clear or alternative policy positions and its so-called Progressive Agenda remains a notional construct, built, so far, on ephemera.
Hopefully for Jamaica, we have entered on a year of transformation.
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