Letter to the prime minister (or president)

Din Duggan, Columnist

Delano Seiveright, president of Generation 2000 (G2K), the Jamaica Labour Party's young-professional affiliate, recently created a dust-up when he submitted an open memo to Prime Minister Bruce Golding suggesting a major change to our bureaucracy. According to Seiveright, key civil servants, including permanent secretaries - the non-political supervisors of government ministries - should be appointed anew by each incoming government for the duration of that administration (rather than the non-partisan manner in which they are currently appointed). Seiveright contends that many of these civil servants, installed throughout the 18-year term of the previous government, are deliberately undermining the agenda of the current administration. He wants them gone.

Should Mr Seiveright get his way on this issue, he might soon take aim at the disruptive nature of the nation's judiciary. With their unfavourable rulings and judicial independence, judges pose an immediate threat to the administration's agenda. Mr Seiveright might proceed to demand the resignation of newspaper editors whose editorials run afoul of his enlightened sensibilities. Soon, even lowly Wednesday columnists could fall victim to his wrath. Before long, we might all be made to bow in Delano's divine presence and declare him lord and master over all he surveys.

I don't think so. If civil servants are failing to carry out their constitutionally mandated duties, they should be dismissed. But let's keep politics out of the equation.

I mention Mr Seiveright mainly because of his success rate in delivering memos to the 'big man'. I would greatly appreciate if he would be so kind to utilise his access to deliver the following on my behalf.

Mr President?

Dear Mr Prime Minister: Best wishes for the (not so) New Year. The previous year could not have been your best; not with so many people demanding your resignation. What do these people expect a man of your stature to do with his time? Play golf? Watch soap operas? Co-host tea parties? Doubtful. I have a much better suggestion. Perhaps you should indeed consider retiring as prime minister of Jamaica but immediately seek a new and more suitable position - president of Jamaica.

Mr Prime Minister, Russia has given the world many things - former tennis star and model Anna Kournikova, Arsenal footballer Andrei Arshavin, vodka, and an imitable system of democracy. "An imitable system of [what]"? Before you accuse me of consuming one too many glasses of Stolichnaya, let me explain.

How russia works

Russia is a semi-presidential republic. The Russian government consists of Parliament, a president who serves as head of state, and a prime minister who acts as head of government. The president is elected by popular vote and limited to two six-year terms. The president, with the approval and consent of Parliament, is responsible for selecting the prime minister. The prime minister then serves as the head of government, appointing all Cabinet members and overseeing the daily administration of the government.

A variation of the Russian system (with the president instead serving in Parliament) would work well for Jamaica. This system would allow a self-described student of law like yourself to dutifully serve the country - debating and creating legislation in Parliament - without the need to engage in the daily drudgery of administering and executing laws; meaning no more Monday morning Cabinet meetings seated uncomfortably between Audley Shaw and 'Babsy' Grange. If your party controls the majority of seats in Parliament, you, as its leader, would become the president of Jamaica. As president, you would retain significant responsibilities - leading Parliament, representing your constituents, choosing a prime minister, maintaining parliamentary oversight of the prime minister and his Government, approving budgets, and, of course, crafting the laws of the land.

The prime minister, on the other hand, would be responsible for appointing and leading a government of Cabinet ministers. This Cabinet, consisting of bright, driven, patriotic Jamaicans energetically and efficiently leading their ministries in the long-term interests of the Jamaican people, would be free to operate outside of the often incompatible and distracting demands of representative politics.

Given Jamaica's divisive and corrupt politics, a purely Westminster parliamentary system of government is no longer suitable. Instead, the system that helped spawn and sustain a post-communist Russian democracy might prove useful in freeing us from the death grip of political tribalism.

Din Duggan is an attorney and entrepreneur. Feedback: columns@gleanerjm.com, facebook.com/dinduggan, dinduggan@gmail.com.