Delroy Chuck
THE CURRENT RACE for the leadership of the PNP reflects significantly what is wrong with Jamaica. Things fall apart but no one takes responsibility. Jamaica is on its knees and in a deplorable mess, caused primarily by hands-off leadership, as the buck stops nowhere. Jamaica needs hands-on leadership. It needs proactive leadership to lift and inspire the people to solve the problems, meet the challenges, and take it onto a new and brighter path.
Taking responsibility is the essence of good and strong leadership. Which of the aspiring leader is willing to detail why Jamaica has failed, been burdened and challenged on every front, and how his or her leadership can make a difference. Everyone is busily charting a vision of Jamaica, saying what will be done without saying what he or she has done to account for Jamaica's present predicament. Fortunately, the aspirants have ministerial records on which they can be judged and by their performance and results we can know them.
UNWORTHY ATTEMPTS
Perhaps, the least blameworthy is Dr. Karl Blythe, who was a performer but spent too short a time as minister for his full worth to be assessed. Still, his failed attempts to exonerate himself from all blame are quite unworthy in our system of government. To the best of my knowledge, no one argued that Dr. Blythe was directly responsible for the corruption and scandal in the National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC) debacle. Yet, as Minister, the buck stops with him and if he had accepted responsibility for allowing matters within his ministry to happen unnoticed, he would have demonstrated true leadership qualities; instead, he sought and fought to emerge as squeaky clean.
No one is more responsible for Jamaica's present mess than Dr. Omar Davies. His campaign for prosperity is a parody and a mockery on the Jamaican people. His tenure is easily summed up, per Deacon Ronnie Thwaites, as the greatest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich since the days of slavery. How can a minister who has plunged Jamaica into so much debt, caused the collapse of the financial sector, forced hundreds of factories to downsize and capsize, and failed to achieve every fiscal and budgetary target that he, himself, outlined and forecasted, hope to do any better as Prime Minister?
CHARISMATIC LEADER
Portia Simpson represents much of what is wrong with Jamaica and Jamaicans. Far too many Jamaicans are looking for a charismatic leader who, like Michael Manley, promises to take the people to the promised land or, more appropriately, the land of promises. If we want to see the results of Portia's leadership, just go to her constituency where there is nothing but decay and disintegration even though she is loved and admired by the people, as she gives the people what they want - charity and handouts. She is undoubtedly a likeable and a genuinely humane person but where in her 17 years of ministerial responsibility has she demonstrated performance and achievements. In fact, the reverse is true - just note the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) scandal and collapse of the fire service.
Peter Phillips is more hype and mere puff than action and results. He is seen as a Minister that has performed, but is that really true? On at least three occasions in his annual budget presentations as Minister of Transport, he looked at me in Parliament and promised the widening and completion of the intersection of Barbican Road and the bottom of Russell Heights before the end of that year - seven years later it is still unfinished. His tenure in the Ministry of National Security was his greatest challenge but has he succeeded or failed?
Strong, courageous and visionary leadership is the backbone on which every successful organisation, institution or country is built. When things go wrong, leaders who fail to accept responsibility are weak, feckless and unsuitable for national leadership. More than ever, Jamaica needs forthright, tough and responsible leaders.
Delroy Chuck is an attorney-at-law and Member of Parliament. He can be contacted by email at Delchuck@hotmail.com.
