Martin Henry
TODAY IS the big day! Jamaica gets her first female Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller and P.J. Patterson rides off into the political sunset.
Everyone will have his/her own memories of P.J. Patterson, whether they met or worked with the man in person or not. The hard analysis of the Patterson legacy is for later. But the man himself has admitted on radio, in that characteristically slow, careful diction [eyes perhaps averted if he could be seen], that crime has been his greatest challenge. In general, Prime Minister Patterson, I think, has been much better with his hard concrete projects like Highway 2000, housing and school buildings than he has been with his soft projects like attitudes and values and education performance. But, in the long run, these soft projects matter more for national transformation.
GROWING DISENCHANTMENT
I remember my own suppressed euphoria when Patterson became Prime Minister in March of '92. Having been a political observer since early teens with growing disenchantment, I wanted to be careful not to be too optimistic. But P.J., I hoped, would be a fresh wind to blow away some of the worst excesses of the Manley/Seaga era of conflict which had so stymied Jamaica.
Mr. Patterson's de-escalation of political tensions, as much by his own quiet, non-confrontational demeanour as by any strategic political manoeuvre, is surely part of the positive legacy. But he has left intact every single garrison as he found them, on the policy of see no evil, hear no evil - it wasn't me. Half-measures have been typical of Patterson's politics.
Within hours of his swearing-in and brilliant first inaugural address, I sent Prime Minister Patterson a congratulations and hope note [March 31]. I was then working as the national coordinator for a UNDP project on strengthening local capacity in science and technology. There was a prompt and personal response [April 2]. That has been the Patterson way.
The science project began at the Ministry of Development Planning and Production with Patterson as Minister. That's when I got to know him a bit other than from being a media presence. Patterson was deliberate, careful and attentive but not giving much committal. The offices of the MDPP were emptied to form a welcoming line on Mr. Patterson's celebrated return to ministerial duty after his forced resignation.
As Prime Minister, he established the National Commission on Science and Technology to pick up where the UNDP project left off. In true Pattersonian style it was a large Commission with everybody on board but with no teeth, no money, and no standing in the public service. We parted company on that one.
But Patterson the lawyer, overall, has done more for science and technology than any other national political leader at any level since independence despite those annoying loose ends. A P.J. Patterson Centre for Science and Technology Innovation to serve the developing world out of Jamaica has been mooted by Harvard professor Calestous Juma. I want to see that fly and recommend that the Centre be located on the campus of the national University of Technology.
CITIZEN'S CHARTER
When my work for this column brought me in contact with the Citizen's Charter programme in the United Kingdom, I dashed off a note to the Prime Minister. "Why don't we try this in Jamaica?" I saw Citizen's Charter as a means of not only improving the delivery of service from Government agencies to the public suffering from poor service but as a tool for transforming the public service itself in fundamental ways.
Back came the quick response: "How would you like to try your hand at drafting a relevant equivalent for Jamaica?" I heard Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davies making the same point about Mr. Patterson at last Friday's meeting with public sector unions: If you mention it, the task is yours!
I poured a lot of volunteer time and energy into helping to get the Citizen's Charter project up and running. The Prime Minister chose the 50th anniversary of Universal Adult Sufffrage in December 1994 to launch the Citizen's Charter with fanfare in Parliament.
A dozen years on the project still runs and dozens of agencies now have charters, some have been made executive agencies; but the radical transformation of the public service hasn't happened. Too many half measures.
I vigorously engaged Patter-son's Attitudes and Values campaign and disappointingly watched it fizzle, even as elaborate structures were created and the slide in attitudes and values continued unabated.
As we welcome our new Prime Minister, what will I, a citizen, engage her on?
Martin Henry is a communication specialist.
