A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. — Edward R Murrow

THE recent dastardly “flexi-rape” remark, sotto voce [since it revealed his mind] or not, by majority leader in the Senate, minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, former resident magistrate and member of the House of Representatives, senior Cabinet member, and septuagenarian A J Nicholson, alongside other recent happenings of sour vintage, reinforce how this Administration has been stripped of the threads of political, economic and social sensitivities which make up the nucleus that connects a government with its people.

Nicholson should have been put out to political pasture a long time ago. But alas, we have a political culture in Jamaica, and more so in the PNP, which seems founded upon a Methuselah principle, that if you bide your time, pay your dues in terms of years of service — notwithstanding useful achievements — your reward shall be great. If this is not abandoned soon it will hasten the process of fossilisation that, like a stillbirth, is stifling the development of what, up to now, we might still legitimately call a liberal democracy.

Indeed, it is not to the benefit of us ordinary Jamaicans to have political dinosaurs, intellectual lightweights and ‘hangers-on’ who continue to masquerade as our representatives since their preoccupation is singular: representation of their party; spoils politics carried on by hostile tribes that seem to be perpetually at war, so described by P J Patterson, Jamaica’s longest-serving prime minister.

Gladly, most crises come with some opportunity. The PM could well use this occasion of obvious crisis to show some transformative leadership, which has evaded her up to now. At present, the ship of Jamaica is drifting aimlessly. The skipper has let go of the wheel and this has led to too many with vaulting ambitions commandeering control of the vessel. This state of affairs is dangerous since we are in deep economic waters, being bashed by gigantic waves of hurricane intensity. All this is happening while some sailors have been preoccupied with who should be greatest in the kingdom. Even the least of the political apostles seem to fancy their chances to replace Portia. And, why not? Mediocrity is a premium in Jamaican politics.

We urgently need to change this miserable reality. In that vein, I humbly suggest to the PM, for the second time in recent months, that she consider reshuffling her Cabinet. I believe this is a matter of great urgency. There are too many non-performers in the Government.

I do not for one second gloat when — as country people would put it — we can count on one hand the number of ministers who have achieved noticeable results; ie measurable benefits to the majority of ordinary Jamaicans. Nearly three years into the job, there are only four ministers who are earning their keep.

Minister of Finance and Planning Dr Peter Phillips has managed to keep the fiscal side of the economy in check and must be given credit for so doing. His singular focus on macroeconomics, however, has seen the shedding of the key services which are basic to the functioning of any government worth its salt. When, as is now happening, garbage cannot be collected on a timely basis, fire and police services limp along to the extent that there are some towns without a single fire engine, and police vehicles have tyres which are smooth like a baby’s “hand middle”, hospitals lack basic supplies, and rural roads, especially, are falling apart, then Phillips’ fiscal triumphs are as President Barrack Obama described the improvements to the American economy: If people’s lives are not impacted vis-à-vis their pockets and dinner plates, it’s just “stats on a page” and nothing more.

‘Stats on a page’ economics will have one sure result, as President Obama found out last week when the Democrats were trounced by the Republicans in the midterm elections. Ultimately, people will not sacrifice their primary physiological needs on the altar of political ideology, loyalty and symbolism. But, then again, I may be very wrong in my conclusion here, since we have demonstrated a tendency in this country to choose the worst of options. Maybe too many of us are sadistic. Too many allow party politics, be it for the PNP or JLP, to win at the expense of Jamaica — a tragedy if there ever was one.

Education Minister Ronald Thwaites has demonstrated that he is genuinely interested in raising our educational standards and achievements. For too long, traditional pockets of excellence have been used to cover up large-scale failure of our primary and secondary school systems. The seemingly improved spirit of cooperation between the ministry and the Jamaica Teachers’ Association is also good — although the JTA’s political antecedents are more closely interwoven within the fabric of the PNP than the JLP. The improved results in mathematics and the very good showing by Jamaican students placing first in 16 of the 35 subjects offered in the regional Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams support reasons for growing confidence. Of course, we must be careful not to kill the fatted calf too early, since a few instances of improvement do not constitute evidence that we have turned the corner.

Tourism, a strong point of the Jamaican economy for “donkey’s years”, continues to register gains under the guidance of Dr Wykeham McNeill. We are told that cruise arrivals and stopovers are up, and we see the addition of hotel rooms which translate into crucially needed jobs for some of the thousands of unemployed who are “sucking salt through wooden spoon”. Unfortunately, McNeill has not sufficiently tamed the tiger of tourist harassment and we see instances where the small tourist entrepreneurs, craft traders in particular, are being separated from the benefits of the industry.

Minister of Transport and Works Dr Omar Davies continues to make some impact. Through the National Works Agency some rural bridges and roads have been repaired. Sadly, the JUTC continues to leak like a thatched basket. The measures that have been put in place by the new management have not stopped the rot. The company needs individuals who have specific cutting-edge training and experience in transport and logistics. A pastor and public relations practitioner at the helm of a multibillion-dollar transport operation is tantamount to our habit of giving tailors the contract to design and build culverts, bridges and schools. Still, some credit must be given to Davies for making some inroads at a ministry that has seen many ministers come and go without much positive change.

Except for those ministers, what we have is a Cabinet of individuals who have done little that is noticeable. Bobby Pickersgill has only succeeded at yap, yap; Lisa Hanna at pretending to work; Noel Arscott at mashing up crucial social services such as garbage collection, fire services and local government in general; Dr Fenton Ferguson, who has played lotto with his performance marbles, has cost our economy some $7b and nearly 13 billion lost production hours because of his bungling of preparations for CHIKV. Paulwell and Hylton must have the record for being two of the worst ministers of government on the face of the planet, and Natalie Neita-Headley is neither saying seven nor 11 as sports minister.

If this prime minister wants to resurrect her former popularity in time for the local government election — which sources tell me will not take place in 2015 — then she needs to give Jamaica a Christmas present. She needs to employ the political scalpel to the ‘tic tac toe’ players in her Cabinet. Luckily for this Administration they have a deep back bench with some bright sparks who can replace the ageing and toothless lions who continue to occupy valuable space and suck up the little creative oxygen left in our politics.

If Dr Dayton Campbell were to take a break from his legal studies he would make a good minister of health. Fitz Jackson, a very agile thinker, could bring newness to local government. Julian Robinson, the de facto technology minister, needs some more space to shine and could do a far better job than the political Manx cat Paulwell. Mikael Phillips and Dr Linval Bloomfield have much more to contribute and are not being allowed. If we do not see a refreshing of the Cabinet at the start of the new year then we must conclude that the PM is quite satisfied with the catastrophic failures which are the hallmarks of her own leadership.

One thing is sure, the rot cannot continue unabated. We don’t need 22 ministers of government for a population of fewer than three million. At best, we don’t need more than nine ministers, and at a maximum no more than 11. Country people have a saying, “hard ears bud nyam stone”. Portia Simpson Miller may well discover the reality of that gem at the next polls if she persists to “hug up” failures and pretend to be dumb, deaf and blind to the squandering of our resources, mistreatment of ordinary Jamaicans, and the disrespect being shown by many of her senior ministers who need to be politically separated in the interest of the overburdened taxpayers. But maybe I am expecting too much of the PM. Will she surprise us?

To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men. — Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Garfield Higgins in an educator and journalist. Comments to higgins160@yahoo.com