A key challenge for leaders who want to inspire behaviour change in others is ensuring that there is congruence or alignment between their own words and actions relevant to the transformation they want. I believe this is especially important in the Jamaican context in which so many of the traditional agents of socialisation are failing, and there is a dearth of positive relatable exemplars for young people.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton provided a great example of this concept when he became a visible and active participant in his “Let’s Move” campaign — an initiative just prior to the novel coronavirus pandemic that was designed to show the positive effect of physical exercise in delaying, preventing, or managing chronic disease like diabetes, hypertension and obesity. It was clearly important to the health minister that he was not seen to lack the discipline and self-control he was asking others to exercise. He chose to lead by example and became his own poster child for great positive outcomes. If Tufton applied this principle across all areas of his leadership he could make some impressive changes in the country.

It is unfortunate that, alongside some good efforts, he is also racking up a list of foul-ups that might ultimately translate into him being already too tainted, even if he manages to escape consequences for actions that demand serious accountability, such as his handling of the bacterial outbreak at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital which resulted in more than a dozen neo-natal deaths.

There is no rationalising that by withholding the information from the public. He denied some people the opportunity to make informed choices about where to deliver their babies.

Congruence in leadership is important, but it needs to go beyond a calculated mechanical marketing exercise to a deep commitment to integrity and authenticity rooted in a genuine concern for a better way. It is not enough to play politics or manipulate people. Our infinite numbers of vulnerabilities should make us want to do better for current and future generations.

This is why National Security Minister Horace Chang was roundly condemned early in September for espousing his belief that police officers in confrontation with criminals should shoot to kill, and that life-saving and emergency care should be withheld rather than borne by the State.

No one expects Chang to “hug up” marauding criminals, or for the police to mollycoddle them, but there is an expectation that they should demonstrate an unwavering respect for all human life, both because it is the right thing to do and that it is in keeping with their roles and responsibilities — and, in the case of the minister, his profession as a medical doctor.

There is head-spinning incongruence in Chang’s articulation of a belief that runs counter to what he is supposed to be and one that furthers the lack of regard for life — our cultures most serious problem and the hardest to overcome.

It is also why Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett was roundly criticised for spending $12 million to erect signage consisting of five letters — N-E-G-R-I-L. The sign is cute, but not far away from it people live in shanty towns, in which trash goes uncollected for weeks and medical facilities are subpar. So, what comes first? Pretty, expensive signs for tourists or the really basic amenities that Jamaican citizens need to manage their lives?

A most remarkable demonstration of incongruence was Prime Minister Andrew Holness green-lighting the demolition of people’s homes in St Catherine recently, just before he arrived to comfort the victims dressed in a blue polo shirt emblazoned with the word “HOPE!” It turns out that they were not all squatters or gang members, but victims of fraudulent land sales.

Less than a month prior, Holness delivered an elegant speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) calling for moral accountability in multilateral relationships and for reparatory justice for people of African descent for centuries of forced and unpaid labour. It was an on-trend performance as more people salivate about the prospect of a big cheque from Great Britain.

Among those same advocates, though, there is no acknowledgement that the Jamaican State also owes reparation to its people too; that it is actually within our power; and that among the most logical and deserving currency for the descendants of formerly enslaved Africans is L-A-N-D!

A rationalised land policy which demolishes both the construct of “Crown land” and “squatters” and compensates people for their ancestors’ suffering and labour then ought to be a key step in the decolonisation process. This would give meaning to Holness’s pretty but seemingly hollow speech at the UNGA, and it would be in congruence with a society in pursuit of justice and needing to correct the historic damage done by plantation slavery.

Grace Virtue, PhD, is a US-based public affairs practitioner, educator and social scientist.