Leadership

by CI Martin

Brennan outlined the factors that helped to make the USA great. It has a very large landmass with a lot of arable land, as well as great mineral wealth. There is also an extensive coastline and many navigable rivers. Finally, for over two centuries millions of immigrants have poured into it, bringing a diversity of cultures and great entrepreneurial spirit. Now that the USA is so mighty, he believed it had a duty to help make the world secure and aid in its development. Given SVG’s very tiny size and extreme vulnerability, we have to hope he is right.

Brennan stressed the importance of leadership if countries are to progress. He drew an analogy with medical doctors, noting that they had to be trained and pass examinations before they were allowed to practise. He wished the same were true of political leaders. ThIs is interesting. Doctors undergo two types of training, formally in an academic institution and also on the job.

As far as academic training is concerned, our own leader, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, would score highly. He is a lawyer and holds a PhD in political science. One can hardly do better than that. As regards training on the job, it is the Chinese who have made a fine art of this. With them, one usually has to have held leadership roles at the city and provincial level before emerging on the national stage. In SVG, this would not be feasible. We are too small to need or afford so many levels of government. At the same time, if we say our leaders should be in office long enough to gain experience, then we may well be courting authorianism. No doubt that is why both the Americans and the Chinese have limited their leaders to two terms. So far, we have had at least two leaders who have had more than two terms and the worst has not happened. We may not be so lucky the next time. We should introduce a two-term limit for our prime ministers in the Constitution. While we are at it, we should make at least one other change. Election cases should be handled by the Caribbean Court of Appeal, by one judge from that court in the first instance and by three different judges in the same Court of Appeal. In our tiny country, election cases put too much pressure on the resident judges.

To return to Brennan, he ended his lecture on an optimistic note. He contended that despite the downside of globalization, cybercrime and how easy it now is to perpetrate horrible acts of terrorism, there is reason for hope. This is because the world is still full of people who live not only for themselves, but to make the world a better place for everybody.

So let it be!