Even without the use of hindsight, it is plain that the prime minister made the right decision to reposition him to the waving gallery.

The minister was a part of that batch of archaic grabbers of power who revelled in it for the sheer glory it afforded them. A security detail chasing after him, some willing to sweeten his coffee, others just afraid that the wrath of his brimming-over ego pot would earn them a “killer” stare over his perennially perched, low-hanging spectacles.

That he was tired, had opted for being purely a political animal, was too long revelling in the trenches where garrison politics, goons and pained lives and existence were the norm for those who supported the “other side”, was patently of little importance to him. Talking, ah, he did that well, but in his ministry he produced little more than sporadic puffs of hot air.

That rational men still live on faith was vividly driven home to me when someone whom I had known through a grand development idea he had, decided to call the minister and arrange to seek his assistance where necessary.

As if a pair of cosmic hands had conspired to bring pain to reality, the minister agreed to meet with the man, whom I will call Mr Richards. The plan that Richards had included a Chinese consortium agreeing to embark on an exploratory mission in Jamaica and other geographical areas which would form international linkage, and a determination of the viability of the synergies expected.

At the ministry’s office Richards wanted to pitch the plan to the minister, show him the ease with which it would involve not one red cent of Jamaican Government outlay and also the likely benefits to the country, should the investors begin to move. As a start, Richards was planning on pointing out to the minister that the Chinese, being highly centralised in their governmental structure, would not move unless they had some form of direct Jamaican government stamp of approval.

The minister walks in haughtily and sits down. “What is this thing about, Mr Richards?” he asks. His unfamiliarity with it is feigned.

Richards reaches down to his attaché case to withdraw his main document when the minister stops just short of barking out, “Do you have numbers, Mr Richards?”

Richards freezes for a while, looks up at the minister and says, “No, we haven’t reached there yet, but many are on board and we need…”

The minister interrupts him. “…I am interested only in numbers. I learned years ago not to waste my time with proposals and pitches that have no numbers attached to them…”

“But…,” Richards says immediately, and as he begins to explain the minister comes back more forcefully.

“Mr Richards, I don’t care how many are on board, if you have no numbers, you are wasting my time.”

“The numbers can only come after the exploratory tests, but we have a fair idea what they will be saying based on our knowledge of the market,” says Richards, still hoping to show him important documentation.

“So, you have no numbers. I have no time to waste. This meeting is finished!” The minister gets up and leaves even as Richards is left clutching his master document that the minister did not even glance at.

A few weeks later there is a new minister, a younger man, more physically energetic and more mentally attuned to the dictates of a fast-changing world where Jamaica can easily get left behind if the tribal and parochial approaches of the old politics is allowed to derail development proposals and projects. A specialist in the ministry is assigned to Richards for well over an hour. Plans are made to jump-start the proceedings.

It will not necessarily be smooth sailing because there are systemic bugbears that refuse to budge, and remain locked in like ugly chips on a white enamel goblet, but there is an ear and interest. The archaic suit which previously occupied the post is a lead to an understanding of why this country has been marching too long in one place.

Old men with ideas as decrepit as their politics. Tired men with stale and destructively predictable approaches to taking this country forward. Stalled engines in human heads, capable of only stirring up the political base once every five years and forgetting that in their chase for fame and glory and a false page in our history books, they have abdicated their responsibilities to the nation and have become instead huge stumbling blocks in our way.

Both the JLP and the PNP need to remove these types.

These individuals easily become drunk with power, but for now our main concern is with the JLP because it has awesome power. Either the power to prop up ministers whose regimes are, in essence, at war with this country’s need for progress or, as it signalled, the slow weeding out of the puny-minded and the weak-limbed.

A glimmer of hope for this country

Recently I was invited to be part of a scholarship selection committee in relation to three county scholarships to be awarded to Cornwall, Middlesex and Surrey. The name of the corporate entity sponsoring the scholarships was Carreras Jamaica Limited.

The selection committee drew on personnel from the PSOJ, UTech, UWI (Mona), Ministry of Education, members of corporate Carreras and me from the media.

Fifteen individuals who were shortlisted (five from each county) were interviewed. As expected, most were young women. One common theme which ran throughout our asking them difficult, demanding and even embarrassing questions was, in a disturbing majority, the absence of father figures in their formative years.

In one breath it is sadly indicative of our failed male culture where too many Jamaican men refuse to live up to their sexual and parental responsibility. On the other hand, the students who impressed the most were the young men, two in the main.

Anything for a glimpse of that silver lining.

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