Transformational change needed

THE EDITOR: The Prime Minister is quoted in an April 4 article as saying: "In order to get our independence, we agreed to some arrangements which are inimical to good order and brought obsolescence to management arrangements.”

In other words, some of the policies we agreed to 61 years ago are the root cause of many of our current-day problems. Is the blame for the current inefficiency and ineffectiveness of our institutions being placed on our colonial masters?

Where has our current Prime Minister been living over the past 61 years of independence? He first served in Parliament in 1987 as an opposition senator and subsequently as a Member of Parliament in the capacities of Minister of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources, Minister of Planning and Development, Minister of Housing and Minister of Trade and Industry, and Leader of the Opposition.

Is this a new revelation? Or is it an inconvenient truth which he is using to walk away from the fact that as someone who has held office for more than 30 years, he has little to show for the action he has taken to improve our systems, processes and procedures?

Our Prime Minister has held office for 50 per cent of our time as an independent nation and he has the audacity, according to the article, to admit that “our system has not discouraged...on the contrary, I regret to say, it has encouraged white-collar criminal conduct…”

Although it is true that in his 30 plus years in government he was not the ultimate power holder, he has, since 2015, been the power holder and has been in the best position to begin the process of changing the culture.

If he were truly committed to transformational change, he would have facilitated the work of the Economic Development Advisory Board and removed the bottlenecks which stifled them and caused Dr Terrence Farrell to resign after submitting seven key suggestions to the Government. They included a draft diversification strategy and roadmap, a proposal on a steelpan manufacturing industry for export, and a redraft of the National Innovation Policy.

If he was really interested, he could have been hyper-focused on reimagining the public service and how to improve the delivery of services to citizens.

If his primary goal was for the betterment of all citizens, he would have found a way to collaborate with the Opposition to come up with a strategy to handle both the illegal immigrants from Venezuela as well as genuine refugees, reduce the importation of guns and drugs and lessen the incidence of crime.

History is important and, yes, our road to independence was marked by several unfair intersections, but isn’t it time for us to look to the future and stop making excuses for the continued deterioration of our country?

With the right leadership philosophy, our country will thrive. We have talented people and abundant non-oil resources to transform our country. Every day we spend lamenting the past and pointing the finger at either the PNM or the UNC is a day of lost opportunities. I am just asking for a slight indication that transformational change is on the agenda.

DENNISE DEMMING

Diego Martin