“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world; the blood-dimmed tide is loosed and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is lost. The best lack all conviction while the worst are filled with passionate intensity.” — W B Yeats

Late radio personality Wilmot “Motty” Perkins repeated the quote with nauseating regularity on his daily call-in programme Perkins on Line. In an address on Tuesday, November 15, 2022 Prime Minister Andrew Holness adopted tones reminiscent of Perkins. As a backdrop to announcing the Government’s decision to extend the life of states of public emergency (SOEs) in seven parishes, the obviously angry and frustrated prime minister, in a televised press conference, spoke of the rising tide of criminality, which in the absence of strong action could lead to anarchy.

To find the best examples of governments and political leaders willing to take tough decisions and pursue strong actions in the face of an oncoming tsunami of decadence and indiscipline, one must look outside of Jamaica. United States President Ronald Reagan, in a display of governmental rectitude, fired over 11,000 air traffic controllers who defied his executive order to end their “illegal” strike within 48 hours or face termination of their services. The action by Reagan, regarded at the time by many as extreme, crippled air travel. The cost to America economically was in the instance great. The benefit is that there has not been another similar strike by air traffic controllers in the over 40 years since.

By comparison, Holness, in his November 15 address, made nary a mention of the anarchistic behaviour by the Egerton Newman-led Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODSS), which had taken strike action. For three days they held the Government and the travelling public hostage. It was Ezroy Millwood and the decrepit National Transport Cooperative Society (NTCS) déjà vu all over again. It’s as if Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

In Jamaica successive governments and politicians have failed to consistently demonstrate strong leadership. They seemed to be more interested in popularism than in principled action that carry some amount of electoral risk. Rampaging criminals and striking transportation operators have the upper hand. Instead of resolutely confronting and subduing the forces bent on destroying the nation, what we have instead is palliative treatment; a little fix here and there, which eases the pain but fails to dissuade perpetrators of wanton acts against the State and citizens or solve underlying problems.

At the handover ceremony of units in the Rosneath Park Housing Development in St Catherine, it appeared, from his remarks, that Prime Minister Andrew Holness had come to the realisation of the maleffects of Government’s intransigence and the need for personal accountability at the top. In a front-page story of the Thursday, October 13, 2022 edition of The Gleaner he is reported as saying, “It does not matter to me anymore. I have to start to think about legacy. What will Jamaica be? Will it be the same as I came and saw it?”

Shortly after what could be described as a watershed moment in Holness’s leadership of the Government and country, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) chairman and St Mary Western Member of Parliament Robert Montague, addressing delegates at an Area One Council meeting, used rhetoric that riled up the partisan audience, but on close examination is the very antithesis to Holness’s aspirations to be a transformational leader. The November 7, 2022 edition of The Gleaner carried the statement. “Many times, dem rise up on Andrew and criticise him, and we as Labourites always say, ‘Cho, Andrew can deal with it.’ We must not allow that to happen. Andrew is doing an excellent job. We must protect him when that happen.”

With that being the prevailing culture within our political parties, one should not be surprised that a prominent member of the ruling party could make an overtly racist comment about the leader of the Opposition and his long-deceased father without public retribution and punitive measures from the leadership. It was left to the Political Ombudsman Donna Parchemnt Brown to issue a statement condemning the utterance. Like day follows night, the political ombudsman and her office have become history. It’s hard not to connect the two things.

On Wednesday, November 30, 2022 chief executive officer of Grace Kennedy (GK) Senator Don Wehby delivered the James Moss-Solomon Memorial Lecture at The University of the West Indies campus. He recounted the climb of GK from a modest mercantile and commercial business in downtown Kingston to a Jamaican brand with a global footprint. Rather than bask in past successes, he set new and more demanding targets for future expansion and growth. One could not help but draw a parallel between the progress of the company and the country and wonder what Jamaica would have been today had it benefited from the same level of leadership.

Ultimately, whether Prime Minister Holness leaves the kind of legacy as a leader that he desires will come down to his own rhetoric and actions. He continues to miss opportunities to demonstrate he is the master in his own political house and of his destiny. He possesses the intellectual capacity, work ethic, good intentions, love of country, and goodwill among many Jamaicans to be an impactful and a memorable prime minister.

As another year of unrealised potential draws to a close and a new year of great expectations dawn, well-thinking Jamaicans are impatient for change in the quality of national leadership “so that Jamaica may, under God, increase in beauty, fellowship, and prosperity and play her part in advancing the welfare of the whole human race”.

Dr Henley Morgan is founder and executive chairman of the Trench Town-based social enterprise Agency for Inner-city Renewal and author of My Trench Town Journey — Lessons in Social Entrepreneurship and Community Transformation for Policy Makers, Development Leaders, and Practitioners. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or hmorgan@cwjamaica.com