The Angus Commission unearths ministerial meddling, mismanagement and downright skulduggery in the operations of the National Housing Development Corporation and in Operation PRIDE, but nobody will accept any responsibility for his actions.
Dr. Karl Blythe resigns as Minister of Water and Housing, having had portfolio responsibility for the two agencies, but he continues to blame everybody else for his downfall.
Which raises the question: why did he feel compelled to resign if, as he continues to profess, he is totally blameless? Did he breach Cabinet and ministerial guidelines? Was he forced to resign? If so, on what ground?
The Prime Minister, in accepting Dr. Blythe's resignation, says there is nothing in the Angus Report that suggests that the former Minister abused his public office for private gain or personal benefit. But what of the question of political advantage for himself and for his party? Is this any more acceptable?
Dr. Blythe's protestations have been typical of Jamaican politicians who, over the years, have displayed the tendency to accept credit when things go right but assign blame to everybody else when things go wrong, conveniently abdicating the responsibility of their high offices. It is either that, or an argument along the line that the well-intentioned end justifies the not-quite-acceptable means.
On July 11, 1995 the Bosnia-Serb army seized the so-called "safe area" of Srebrenica. In the days that followed, several thousand Muslims were massacred in the vicinity of the enclave. These events occurred near to where Dutch troops were stationed as part of the United Nations Protection Force operating under the auspices of the UN peace mission in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Although the Dutch Government had made its troops available out of humanitarian concerns and its actions had wide political and media support, it resigned on Tuesday almost seven years after the event, in response to a damning report on the slaying of the more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslims who were taken from the UN-designated "safe area" of Srebrenica and shot by Bosnian Serbs while ostensibly under the protection of the Dutch troops.
The mass murder haunted the conscience of the Dutch for seven years and the Government resigned as a belated acknowledgment of its responsibility for what had happened.
Do Jamaican politicians ever pay penance for their misguided actions and leadership? Does any action regardless of how well-intentioned, but harmful in effect, ever weigh on the conscience of any Jamaican politician?
Until politicians in Jamaica develop a culture of accepting responsibility for their actions, the nation will continue to fall short of its quest for political maturity, despite the so frequent self-righteous political preachments.
