Principle, not personalities

By Gordon Robinson

Since the general election, we've experienced the usual post-electoral political firings and hirings accompanied by public hand-wringing, weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

The Jamaica Labour Party, whose first act after the 2007 election was to fire an entire Public Service Commission (PSC) because it wouldn't revoke its solicitor general (SG) appointment, is leading the crusade. Apparently, Driva insisted he wouldn't work with the appointee (who'd called Driva a 'name' which proved prophetic). When the PSC members stood on principle, they were fired amid an unworthy 'suss' campaign and Douglas Leys hired as SG.

How'd that work out?

You'd think, post-election, with the wonderful-sounding inaugural addresses, we'd be celebrating unity?

"De people dem young and brush up dem boot.

Everyone going to look so cute.

A time fe step outta misery;

To step it inna love and harmony."

Instead, we are force-fed this 'last lick' philosophy. You appointed your party activists. I'm appointing mine.

"A so me kotch i' yu fe kotch i' back.

Everyone a kotch i' inna Jamrock;

A so me shub i', you fe shub i' back.

But dis ya time we really got to move."

Apologies to Sam Carty for butchering his Festival Jamrock lyrics to make my point. We keep focusing on symptoms rather than diseases. It's not the changing of activists after every election that needs addressing.

The disease is the ease with which activists are appointed in the first place. Because Michael Manley (my hero) went mad in the 1970s and announced free education (calling an 'audible' at the line of scrimmage), I'm a lawyer today. Had he not behaved so 'irresponsibly', I'd be somebody's paid hack instead.

Accordingly, when asked to give public service in the 1990s, I immediately agreed. What astonished me was how quickly and easily (by a stroke of the minister's pen) I was appointed chairman of a crucial regulatory agency. I warned the minister I was neither a party member nor sympathiser before he signed, but he signed anyway. And to be fair to the PNP of the 1990s/2000s, three separate ministers did the same thing at different times despite receiving similar warnings from me.

But, suppose I'd been an activist? This madness must stop. We must attack the hiring and firing of political activists at the appointment stage. No significant public post should be filled unless the nominee survives vigorous, transparent due diligence by our parliamentary representatives.

"Time fe draw one side from pain and shame.

No one mus cuss fe we country name ..."

That's how we'll disable post-electoral

revolving public-sector doors.

"A so me rub i', yu fe rub i' back.

Everyone a love up in a Jamrock.

So me rock i', you fe rock i' back.

Dis ya time we really got to move"

Seminal work on Motty

Until Sunday, February 19, my intention was to write nothing about Wilmot Perkins, the man I called 'Smutty'. I wasn't and am not a fan. My mother taught me not to speak ill of the dead. So, in her memory, I decided to leave alone to rest in as much peace as he could arrange the man who, while he was alive, entertained no similar restraint.

What changed my mind? On February 19, Ian Boyne contributed a seminal piece on Wilmot Perkins to the In Focus section. Unlike the long line of sycophants or diplomats rushing to sing his praises post-mortem, Ian wrote a column filled with balance, objectivity, fairness and unvarnished truth - concepts with which the living Smutty was frequently unfamiliar. Smutty got it wrong on many, many occasions. So do we all. The difference was he'd never admit it.

Perkins was intelligent. But he was no intellectual, and I can hear his booming laugh now as some of the persons he publicly denigrated, now speaking with hot coals in their mouths, are trying to turn him into one. Perkins despised intellectuals. Ian got it 100 per cent correct. Perkins' strengths included fearlessness, courage, and independence. Some idiot asked why the Government didn't honour him if it thought he was so great. The truth is that several governments offered him national honours, which he steadfastly declined. That's how one spells 'I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-C-E'.

Excellent work, Ian. And only one book quoted. Now that I know that you know you can be good without having to prove you're well read, I'm expecting more of the same. My reaction to your column is best summarised by a judgment of a past Court of Appeal judge: "I concur, and have nothing to add."

Peace and love.

Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Email feedback to columns@gleaerjm.com.