Any individual who keeps the frenetic pace of a hard-working prime minister and still manages to earn himself a doctoral degree must at least be assumed to possess intellectual rigour and a determination of steel.

Jamaica has such an individual in the person of Dr Andrew Holness, the country’s ninth prime minister and the youngest to serve in this position. His early leadership ability showed at St Catherine High School at which he was head boy, president of the Chess Club, and valedictorian.

The prime minister, now serving a third term after a truncated period in the job in 2011, holds the Doctor of Law and Policy degree from Northeastern University, a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Studies, and a Master of Science degree in Development Studies from The University of the West Indies.

What is the relevance of all this in the hallowed, fiercely independent editorial columns of the Jamaica Observer?

Never before has Jamaica been this battered, bruised, and in such danger of descending into chaos, threatened by widespread homelessness and national despair, courtesy of the mightiest storm — Category 5 Melissa — that Nature could throw at a tiny, economically challenged island.

The scenes of utter devastation, catastrophic damage, and the bleeding of our country playing out before our eyes in St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover, St James, Manchester, and, to a lesser extent, St Ann, constitute the stuff of which apocalyptic movies are scripted.

The task of mending this broken land has never been more urgent and demanding of the effort of all Jamaicans, working as one, forgetting the things that divide us and embracing the things that unite us. And, never before has Jamaica needed its leadership to show up and show out as now.

By an accident of timing, certainly if not destiny, Dr Holness is the man to whom Jamaica and the world are looking to manage the recovery and rebuilding of a country that has given the human family some of its best athletes, musicians, artistes, academics, brilliant individuals across many spheres, and most glorious moments.

How well we know that there are always people who are willing to exploit the suffering of others to feather their nests; people who believe in the adage that “parson christen him pickney fuss” and that the spoils must go to political party supporters.

This is the hour when the prime minister and Opposition Leader Mr Mark Golding must forget political colours and see every Jamaican as citizens of the country they lead. The reconstruction of our island must be an all-of-Jamaica effort.

Achieving this is never going to be easy. Moreover, the country has just emerged from an acrimonious general election in which our people were divided into two political tribes fighting for power. And yet we have to come together again, with no time to lose. The alternative is too dreadful to contemplate.

If all Jamaica is not moving in the same direction and the international community, which has rallied to our cause, sees a bunch of people scrambling like crabs in a barrel, then all may be lost.

With the power of prime minister in his hands, Dr Holness has the burden of leading the rebuilding process, making it abundantly clear that priority goes to the hardest hit Jamaicans and not to the undeserving diehard party supporter. Jamaica needs his talent now more than ever.

He cannot, he must not fail!