Forty-two to twenty-one is a mandate for change and prosperity. If politics is the art of winning power, then governance is the science of using that power to build prosperity. When we study economics we imagine that a government spending billions each year must result in growth. We now know different. No one envisaged that a state with all the trappings of modernity - central bank, senior and junior exchange, Hummers, finance whiz kids could spend billions to help people, only to make them poorer. Crazynomics! But how? Our first 50 years began with a JLP-led government and the second begins with the PNP. We begin both with a PM of mass appeal but, Portia begins with an advantage. The notion that Independence was all we needed to prosper is dead, so she must heed the lessons of 50 years. We spend $1.5b of taxes, loans, etc and it is like a dose of salts - we are dehydrated and weaker. We had big money, ventures; minerals, assets and cachet, yet we are poorer. What a paradox! A riddle? Less endowed Barbados has been well-off for all the decades we were tightening belts. Strange how we study and emulate America or the UK, but never a near state. We never file suit against the US for all their defiling border control. Why? We have strength only for the little man! Miss P now knows any wanker can spend taxes, but only managers can use them to build prosperity, yet even in the private sector with excellent pay these people are few. She needs some good managers in each ministry.

For the first 50 years we had the primacy of politics over governance. An administration begins with hope and ends fudging figures. Diehards speak of "near miss", "almost" and "if only", but it's really just who did less - worse not one decade of prosperity. Change is here!

Forty-two seats to 21 victory is a fearsome thing for a leader. There is no excuse for failure. But opposition does not prevent us from prospering and lack of opposition does not make us prosper. By budget time Portia must make the transition to the "Prosperity Agenda". Talk of "world-class" is vacuous. Let's deal with what we see and know. Why not catch up with Barbados first? They had no PM as world-beating as ours and some key leaders were trained here, yet they whip us! Number of seats is irrelevant without a prosperity agenda. Mr Seaga had 60 at one time, Mr Manley had every one eating out of his hand, yet we never saw a fraction of Barbados' prosperity; why copy Singapore when Barbados is here? Miss P, I must tell you, they did not play fair, they had a secret weapon. For 50 years they have free primary and secondary schooling and no student pays university fees. What? No oil? No bauxite? No big exports? No, siree, just education! When Michael hyped free education PM Barrow wondered what the fuss was all about. The best Bajan high schools are government ones. What? They get all the awards. Miss P, we false-start once - last chance!

To build prosperity, you must know where you are going, envision outcomes, state the targets, empower managers to do the job and tell people what is happening - build trust at every step or error, don't hide mistakes! This happens routinely in all big firms where each department and employee knows what is to be done to get to the goal. Miss P, set strategy, motivate us and crack the whip; ministers, their teams of crack managers must do the rest.

What should we be doing? Portia has a mandate for breathtaking innovation. The puny voter said, "Do different things and do them spectacularly!" When the skill of top organisers yields 26 per cent of voters, things are bad. The massive has an agenda and spoke, "We take a risk on you, now you take some risks for prosperity!" Miss P, show me your motion! As CEO, she must ensure that some things are embedded quickly:

*First, a shared vision attacked with verve and enthusiasm. Do not turn off young PNP or JLP MPs, show them how a leader leads. Miss P, what do ministers believe? The state exists for all citizens, mainly the needs of the poor. The mother of all priorities is education. All ministers must subscribe to this, even to the detriment of their own portfolios, and the Opposition must support it and shame the rogues. Last chance! To treat education as just another portfolio is selfish, against the poor and our national interest. Have a conscience vote! Parliament as one must create a goodly legacy - last chance for the heirs of Norman and Busta! Education must be quality, full, free and compulsory from the second trimester, early childhood to the end of primary. All our ills can be traced to this habilitation. We can import any skill or degree we wish, but our massive is always with us, our constant - an asset or a millstone! Let's create assets!

*Second, export - food, manufactures and tourism. JAMPRO must publish what are the 10 foods and 10 manufacturers we can sell into which big markets as no firm can fund this research or sign treaties, and the money must go there. Let's be bold, ambitious and create the strategy to triple exports and attract 10 million tourists by 2022. It can be done if we dream a little and work a lot. More anon. Education is the underpinning.

*Third, targets for the five years post-jubilee are crucial.  The last lot compared year compared year on year, never in relation to national need or say a 2017 goal.  Is the target for food, houses, tourism or anything by 2030 published? Where should we be in 2014? How will you measure progress each year? What’s the basis for saying a minister has done badly? Miss P, how will you fire or reward them? Think?

*Fourth is human rights. Prosperity is not just money in pocket; it is well-being and rights. I want a small flat, looking out on a clean Kingston harbour, cycle well-paved roads in the morning before the city awakes and chat with passers-by on my front step beside clean drains in the evening while watching the sun set - the good life! Barbados built prosperity with rights. The poor Bajan can be on the beach with Tony Blair and Paris Hilton, but education means Bajans give them the privacy they wish; no hustling, and they may even use other beaches. You want to build a posh hotel? Slave days chattel houses are beside you; the law is, small people have a right to enjoy the best beach too. Want a UK visa? You have to go to Jamaica; why have a visa section if Bajans don't need visas to go to the UK? What? International drivers' permit? Why? Bajan licence is legal in the UK! Investors want a private beach? "Sorry, we don't do private beaches, take your flippin' cash to Jamaica where everything is for sale!" A rights-based nation works only with an educated people. Stay conscious, my friend

Dr Franklin Johnston is a strategy adviser and project manager.

franklinjohnstontoo@gmail.com

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