Lascelve Graham | Prime Minister Andrew Holness, a potential great leader?

NELSON MANDELA, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Lee Kuan Yew, all great leaders who acted in the best interest of their people and countries. They were at the forefront, the vanguard of significant positive changes in their countries. They showed the intellect, the revolutionary mindset necessary to change the status quo, the vision, the strategic sense, the courage, the forward planning and the ability to get their ideas implemented, concretised. They also took responsibility for their actions, thought big, and made tremendous personal sacrifice in the best interest of their people, their countries. They leave large shoes to fit indeed!

Jamaica has the potential to be an example of a successful country with an overwhelming majority of dark skinned (black) peoples. However, given our history, our antecedents, leadership will be of critical, vital importance if we are to achieve that goal.

My prime minister, my hero, Andrew Holness is the person in Jamaica who stands in the position of great leaders, with his hands on the levers of power, and the authority to drive the radical, fundamental changes needed to disrupt the social status quo which has existed intact since slavery. Does he have the temperament, the mettle, the qualities of the above-mentioned great leaders? For the good of the masses of the people of Jamaica, I sincerely hope so.

However, two recent events have given me cause to pause and consider whether my faith in my leader is misplaced. First, listening to TVJ news on April 20, I heard the prime minister stating that he may have to allow imported labour into Jamaica for the construction of hotels. My heart sank! I felt like throwing up! It was as if somebody had stabbed me in the back. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! On top of that, Mr Holness was acting as if one who had just turned a corner and been suddenly confronted by a car which was coming at him at 250 miles an hour. There was nothing he could do. His hands were tied. He was helpless! Poor thing!

I reflected that Mr Holness is a former minister of education and that this is his second term as prime minister of Jamaica. He is no newcomer to the scene, no innocent bystander! He has contributed to the lack of skilled labour at which he expresses surprise by not having shown the foresight, the vision necessary to have prepared for this opportunity. Our educational, training institutions, which are also key agents of socialisation of our youth, are heavily focused on producing top-class athletes, acting as if sports academies, while our leaders are threatening to import tradesmen! Crime is suffocating our society, yet we are using our resources which should be fully geared towards producing prosocial (vs antisocial) citizens, as if professional clubs, sports academies, to churn out winning sports individuals and teams! We need to get our priorities straightened out, right. I had written in my previous article, “We were always encouraged by the racists, to produce the sports and entertainment performers, the minstrels, the court jesters. This will not rock the white-is-right boat, and will ensure that when the circumstances change, we will not be prepared with the expertise and/or the numbers necessary to fully grasp the opportunity.” This is a perfect example of what I was referring to.

HIGHLY SKILLED WORKERS

Understand that we are not here talking about rocket scientists, nuclear physicists or brain surgeons. These are carpenters, masons, plumbers, etc., of which we have a large number, many of whom are highly skilled and wouldn’t require much for certification. We already have the infrastructure in HEART/NSTA to teach these skills. My investigations also reveal that government policy, which allows some companies to pay workers less than the established industry rates agreed between trade unions and the Master Builders, has caused a number of highly skilled tradesmen to leave the business, since the lower rates are so distant from a living wage. Hence, Mr Holness and the Government are not innocent bystanders in this saga, who have suddenly found themselves confronted with a situation. They have actively contributed to its development!

Checks with construction companies, which have had decades of experience in the business, disclose that they have a method of on-the-job training and certification worked out with HEART/NSTA, which they have used to good effect even while building a number of hotels, other commercial and residential developments across the island simultaneously. All the experts in construction with whom I have made contact assert strongly that there is no need for the Government to go ahead and exercise its penchant for foreign labour by importing tradesmen to build hotels. They contend that with the full backing of the Government, Jamaica does not have to look outside to solve this problem and to do so would be a grievous betrayal of Jamaica and its workers.

Mr Holness, my hero, has to understand and accept that if fundamental changes to the status quo are going to be made, which will reflect positively on the lives of the masses of Jamaican citizens, then he has to be the mover and shaker, the driving force, as other great leaders were. Otherwise, he will continue to preside over a government which just maintains the status quo, while making incremental changes which have little or no effect on the miserable, unhappy lives of the masses.

RADICAL CHANGE FOR SQUATTERS

The second situation which has severely shaken my faith in my hero has to do with how he has dealt with squatters, called settlers when white people were taking over other people’s lands. Of course, squatting is a condition which resulted directly out of the slavery situation. The freed slaves had nowhere to go, were given no assistance, and owned no lands. Hence people were forced to squat on gully banks and anywhere else they could find. There have been piecemeal, limited, inconsistent attempts by governments over the years to address this problem. They have all failed, yet Mr Holness continues to allow the clearing of squatter communities, without any provision being made to house the squatters elsewhere. They have been removed even from government land. Where are they to go? What are they to do? A study done some years ago found that most squatters were single women who were unable to survive any other way. As recently as the end of March homeless people were evicted from government lands in Montego Bay. There is a current squatter situation in Little Bay in Westmoreland, involving private land. The prime minister has essentially just said that the squatters must leave. There needs to be a radical change in how we deal with squatters, Mr Prime Minister. You must find ways to assist them. That is what a great leader would do. Remember the saying, “There but for the grace of God (luck of the draw) go I”.

I have not lost hope, faith, confidence, completely, since I realise that Mr Holness may very well be a transformational, great leader, with just a little longer maturation period, yet to undergo the necessary metamorphosis, a late bloomer.

Dr Lascelve ‘Muggy’ Graham is a former captain of Jamaica senior football team. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.