Heather Robinson
AT THE BEGINNING of each new term of office, government ministers nominate persons to sit on government boards. These nominations are presented to the Cabinet for approval or rejection.
Those nominated are persons who have a proven track record of work in a particular area, or who have basic management and leadership skills that can be of benefit to the particular board.
Some of those nominated are persons who have done political work and are party supporters or members who have contributed to the victory of the party.
PUBLIC SCRUTINY
Board members are required to spend many hours of their personal time preparing for the meetings, and even more time attending these meetings. In most cases, board members are given an honorarium for their services.
The individuals who are appointed as board chairmen are not persons for the most part who have offered themselves as candidates in the general elections. So they were never asked to put themselves up for public scrutiny by the Jamaican electorate.
There are some instances, however, where some of these board chairmen and members can be classified as 'former parliamentarians', and, therefore, would understand what it means to be called upon to serve the people.
But then there is another set of chairpersons whose arrogance and obnoxious behaviour can only serve as a public embarrassment for the minister and cabinet who appointed them.
To some men, power is the ultimate weapon of absolute authority. It does not matter to them how they came by it, or who placed them in the position from which they now derive power.
It is not about how I can make my minister, prime minister, cabinet and political party look good. No. It is about me and my integrity that must be put first, regardless of how crude I sound while speaking to the entire country, inclusive of young children.
It does not matter that were it not for this chairmanship Jamaica as a country would never know of my existence, and what I did to earn a living before and since being a board chairman.
There are many different ways that one can express care and concern about a job that one has been appointed to do.
There are many different ways in which one can demonstrate a passion for that job. There are many different ways in which one can do that job so well that even the greenest 'Labourite' will be forced to offer commendations.
And, alas, there are so few ways in which one can behave and believe that one is a god, and in one or two cases, God. It appears that there are among us some who have extended the appointment by the Cabinet, to that of being a god.
TEAM PLAYERS
Men who are board chairmen need to be able to be players on a team, and that team must be the biggest team.
The biggest team in this situation is the Jamaican team, and the second biggest team is the party team. Presidential teams do not play in this game, and are, therefore, ineligible for this round.
Those who cannot subject themselves to these rules would do well to ponder their continuation as board chairmen. Because in the end, if there are no ministers appointed by a prime minister who has received the majority support from the parliamentary group, then you will be forced to return to that job that you had before and since being board chairman.
And then guess what? We would no longer be subjected to your many indiscretions, and we might even forget that you ever existed.
PUT ASIDE EGOSm
Men who believe that they are gods need to do so in their private capacities. Jamaica has enough crass and crude behaviour from our entertainers and criminals.
Those who have been chosen to represent ministers of government and, ultimately, the people of Jamaica on these boards need to put aside their egos for the period of their service, while beginning to acknowledge that there is only one God.
And if the ego is bigger than your physical size then you need to return from whence you came. Perhaps in that private place you are a god. But here in Jamaica the majority of us believe in one God.
Heather Robinson is a life underwriter and former Member of Parliament.
