Anne Shirley back-stabbing Jamaica

Orville Taylor

'Cock mouth kill cock.' I am not sure if Anne Shirley is familiar with the words of the Jamaican adage, but now some feel this woman was the wrong man for the job.

At a time when Rastafarian artiste Queen Ifrica is being maligned for exercising freedom of speech in showing her disapproval for same-sex relationships, Shirley has done more harm to the Jamaican name than one could imagine.

Indeed, it was just a few months ago that her bosom buddy, Prime Minister (PM) Portia Simpson Miller, displayed her ire when Opposition Leader Andrew Holness stuck his nose out too far and criticised her Government. So enraged was Simpson Miller, that she made one of the few comments she ever did without thinking, and virtually labelled him, 'an enemy of the State'. Shirley might be friends with the People's National Party (PNP), but she is definitely now not a friend of the Jamaican people.

A month after five elite Jamaican athletes tested positive for banned substances, and days after Jamaican athletes sprinted into legend, she dropped a bombshell on the nation far worse than that which Minister of National Security Peter Bunting did in a documentary featuring the notorious convicted drug 'kingpin' Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

One will recall that Bunting stopped short of calling the previous Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government a criminal one because of its support for Coke. Many persons, including those unsympathetic to the JLP, thought that it was an unpatriotic and bad idea because it washed our dirty underwear in public, skid marks and all.

Nonetheless, Bunting was an opposition parliamentarian when the JLP was sacrificing the nation's image on the altar of Coke addiction. Therefore, he was not responsible for the debacle, which led ultimately to the political demise of the JLP and the renaissance of the PNP. However, Shirley was head cook and bottle washer at the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO), chaired by one of the biggest names in sports, veteran doctor Herb Elliott.

Shirley did the exact opposite of her brighter, younger sibling who was ambassador to the United States; she made scathing criticisms of the operations of the very institution she ran for under a year, bringing her country into disrepute. So embarrassing were her 'revelations' that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) immediately threatened to ban the next Jamaican contingent, led by Usain Bolt, the living personification of track and field, second only to Bob Marley as the most famous Jamaicans in the modern era.

Shirley "spearheaded the process by which Jamaica became one of the first 30 countries to ratify the International Convention Against Doping in Sport." Thus, for want of a better expression, JADCO is her baby.

Experience

Internationally, she was one of four vice-chairpersons for the First Session of the 2007 Conference of Parties to the International Convention on Doping in Sport. Locally, she was CEO of one of the roughest big-ball sports organisations, the Jamaica Rugby Union, and had a stellar career in finance, including a defunct FINSAC-era institution. Her experience in public service and academia comprises a six-month stint as senior adviser to another local government minister, Noel 'Butch' Arscott.

Appointed to head JADCO in mid-2012, Shirley won no awards for Miss Congeniality, and within a few months stories leaked about poor people skills and interpersonal relations. But sociopathy and incompetence are not the same. Furthermore, Government often ignores experts, to the detriment of the interests of the Jamaican people, despite warnings of the dire consequences of its inaction.

Nevertheless, she wrote that she baulked over the inadequate administrative and other resources which prevented JADCO being compliant with WADA. However, "The more frustrated I became about the lack of staff and attention to issues ... , the worse the working environment became."

Of course, the media reports were that Shirley was actually the monkey in the works. The question is, did Anne Shirley do, or attempt to do, what was required of her as executive director (ED)? Or did the ED fail to stand up for the nation's interest?

Note, however, that around the time of her appointment, WADA gave the thumbs up to Jamaica, stating, "In order to achieve compliance, an anti-doping organisation needs to satisfy a number of criteria with regard to its anti-doping programme ... ." This was in the wake of allegations by WADA's former head that Jamaican athletes were difficult to test and JADCO was not doing enough. Shirley has now shown a different pair of fingers to JADCO, bad-mouthing us like Dick Pound, the WADA official in question.

Reprising Pontius Pilate's role, Shirley takes no blame and paints herself as the hapless victim, facing a recalcitrant Government and prime minister, whose ascendancy she has helped to fashion. She complained, "... Despite my efforts, I could not get any member of the JADCO board or member of Jamaica's Cabinet to take it seriously. They believe that Jamaica does not have a problem."

Furthermore, "I urged the authorities in Jamaica to get more serious about anti-doping before a scandal hit ... ." But, how can someone who has been so important to the prime minister's rise be so ignored and marginalised for doing what is right for the country?

Whichever way we spin it, the PM was either wrong in appointing her or derelict in not addressing the concerns. Nonetheless, Shirley elected to go on the largest stage of sports journalism in the world and tore down her country, complaining that "the current programme - while improved - makes a mockery of Jamaica's posturing and flames suspicion more than it douses it."

Does she have a point? Despite having a budget of J$600,000, JADCO, by Shirley's revelation, conducted 108 in-competition, and 71 out-of-competition, tests for a total of 179 in 2012. Now, apparently the prime minister read from a different script, reporting that since 2009, 860 tests were administered by JADCO, including 504 during competition. However, Elliott suggested that a minimum of 400 extra-competition tests were done. According to Shirley, the numbers don't match, and "... Elliott may have provided ... misleading information".

doping comparisons

Nonetheless, the 179 contrasts with the USA's 2012 total of 2,279, according to convicted drug cheat American Victor Conte. Of course, the comparison is dumb, because Jamaica has a population of less than one per cent of America's. So the numbers are proportionate.

While it is true that the number of tests is low, we must not forget that most of our world-class athletes are tested by WADA more often than a talk-show host dealing with spin doctors and tribalists each week. Thus, JADCO could end up overtesting its own. Also, of the 18 Jamaicans who have tested positive for banned substances, 14 were caught by JADCO.

So, despite the sour grapes which led to bad 'whines', we are somehow getting it done. After all, if we caught and delivered two of the most popular and loved athletes in this country, is Shirley unnecessarily making rubbish heaps into Kilimanjaros?

Whatever might be her motive in jumping on the international stage, her timing was perfect if she wanted to embarrass her country and mates in the PNP. There are many methods to skin a cat, but this was the worst way to back-stab the puss.

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in sociology at the UWI and a radio talk-show host. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.