Ronald Thwaites | Standards for national leadership

While we do not share party political persuasions, I respect Andrew Holness, the gentleman personally, and moreso the office he holds in trust for all of us. Both of us are Jamaican nationalists and public servants who have “chosen Jamaica” before all other ascriptions.

UNRESOLVED QUESTIONS

It is seriously embarrassing that, at any time, and particularly on the lip of a general election, that the leader of a political party has a Supreme Court judgment concerning his finances and ethical conformity decided against him in important, if preliminary, respects.

Then, on the heels of such a judgment last week, social media exploded with hitherto undisclosed details of the allegations levelled against him by the Integrity Commission which, on the face of them and the frantic effort to suppress them, aggravates the worry we have as to why his statutory obligations remain questioned and outstanding.

BEYOND PARTISANSHIP

Whatever your political preferences, we must all be able to trust our leaders to live and act for the common good. So, until these matters are cleared up, the profession of politics, bearers of the moral compass of the nation, win lose or draw on election night, will be further demeaned.

That damages the Most Honourable – and all of us. It telegraphs to everyone that politics is full of sleaze. This loss of trust is not easily repairable. Other will take a cue in their own dealings, whatever the final outcome of the particular case.

‘REJECTED’

The Gleaner headline last Thursday: ‘Rejected’, in relation to the Holness suits, causes suspicion and distrust about the governance of the nation which no Emancipendence festivities will sanitise.

It does not help that it will take months and years for the courts to finally resolve the claims and counter-claims affecting the prime minister. It is not fair to the electorate for such a cloud to blur our judgement. Why couldn’t the cases have been accelerated so as to settle things before the general election?

Left to the present schedule, doubt will fester and cynicism grow. The pace of legal process can’t solve this problem in time. What is the use of making the huge sacrifices of contesting an election if large numbers of people do not ‘confident’ you?

AN APPEAL

This writing, then, is a respectful appeal to the prime minister to clear up the matter right now by a complete and public disclosure of his financial affairs. He alone can solve his own problem and our concerns. Conscience and a sense of obligation to those he governs, higher values than legal outcomes, require this.

Whether you support a party leader or not, regard must be had for the health of the political culture over which he presides with such largely unfettered power. In Jamaica’s history, which we celebrate this week, there have never been unresolved allegations of this severity attached to a prime minister while gossip abounds and there begins another round of undermining the reconstituted Integrity Commission who, in their statement last Friday, fully support the pursuit of this case.

Remember 2011 when a party leader, who realised the blunder he had made, had the principle and grace to stand down for the good of the country?

SOCIAL ORDER KEY TO WELL-BEING

David Brooks, writing in the New York Times recently, quoted the French mystic Simone Weil who wrote that “order is the first need of all”. Social order is built on our obligations to one another, the texture of our trustworthy relationships. This is what is being compromised by the dribbling out of the Holness integrity cases. In short, the prime minister is not someone the nation is supposed to have any doubts about. Disagreements, of course – but not questions about his integrity nor to see him fighting for his personal interests, the very content of laws which he enacted.

BROKEN

Too many of us have become numbed as to how fragile our social order is. Most of us feel that “ things not running right”. To thrive, people need a stable family, a reasonably safe neighbourhood, schools and health facilities that work; some worthwhile task to do so as to earn a modest living; institutions of church, community and law, which all add up to a set of shared values and a conviction that there exists moral truth.

Russell Kirk convincingly argues that, if the members of a society are disordered in spirit, “the outward order of the commonwealth cannot endure”. When family life is brittle, community organisations are weakened and the highest goal seems to be personal titivation and advancement at any cost, liveable and productive social order becomes shredded.

STANDARDS

A leader’s personal affairs are extremely influential in setting a tone for the nation. Which is why many heads of state and government are obliged (or oblige themselves) to fully disclose their assets and income and recuse themselves from personal enrichment activities while in office. Having one’s statutory declarations approved and published means much more than sterile legal compliance. It sets the standards, high or low, for the whole society.

SCHOOL MONEY

Recently, I have been looking over the transoms of some schools preparing their budgets for September morning. They simply cannot manage on the money which the government sends them. The grants for schools have not kept up with the rising costs of goods and services, and the quality of education will continue to suffer. A national dialogue on how to fund transformed teaching and learning is urgent. In most cases, the rigid and expensive staff establishments are skewed and unrelated to student needs. So big money is being inappropriately spent. This is largely responsible for the under-performance of the primary school system.

Clean, trusted leadership, not the type which has to hawk and peddle party propaganda at stop signs or promote themselves on media at public expense, would help. We really don’t rate powerful people who feel the need to ‘push up’ themselves.

Give thanks for the copious good things about Jamaica and the blessings God has bestowed on us thus far along our pilgrimage to a “promised land” - despite our failings. These foundations encourage us to correct our glaring personal and social shortcomings.

Rev Ronald G. Thwaites is an attorney-at-law. He is former member of parliament for Kingston Central and was the minister of education. He is the principal of St Michael’s College at The UWI. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com