SENATOR Dr Nigel Clarke of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is a brilliant man in his prime. He holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University of the West Indies, an MSc and a Doctorate from Oxford University. He has been a Jamaica Independence Scholar, a Commonwealth Scholar and a Rhodes Scholar.
Dr Clarke is the chief operating officer of the Musson Group and the CEO of one of its principal Jamaican subsidiaries, Facey Commodity Company Ltd. With this type of scholastic pedigree and private sector experience he is just the type of person that Jamaica needs in political leadership. For this reason, this newspaper welcomed his appointment.
Recently, Senator Clarke supported the passage of the new Banking Services Act but expressed concern about the liquidity of the financial system and made a number of interesting proposals. The Bank of Jamaica appears to disagree about the state of liquidity. But our concern is not with the merits of Senator Clarke’s comments.
There is, however, a very real and troubling dilemma. He wears several hats: his personal hat, his JLP hat, and his corporate hat. When he speaks, which hat is he wearing? How can the listening public determine when his comments are personal, professional, political or corporate?
This is a dilemma faced by professionals who are in active politics. Are their views tempered or in any way biased by their political involvement, and if so, to what extent? The confusion is less so for professionals in scientific subjects such as medicine, dentistry and engineering.
In professions where the facts are subject to interpretation, such as political science, economics and law, there is considerable room for subjective or deliberate misinterpretation. Once it involves politics, the bias may be unconscious and the advocacy based on genuine conviction in the veracity of pronouncements.
Even if the politically involved professional is being objective in their public statements, he or she will not get the benefit of the doubt by half of the adult population. The statements will be dismissed as purely political by people who support the other party.
So the statements made by JLP Senator Clarke will be dismissed by People’s National Party (PNP) supporters as politically motivated and even deliberately misleading. Senator Clarke must adhere to the JLP positions because he is not independent. There is no political neutrality in partisan party politics.
The dilemma for professionals is that once involved in party politics they sacrifice their reputations as professionals and their views are no longer regarded as unbiased and objective. Brave are those who sacrifice their professional reputation to bear the much-despised label of politician.
For those who value their professional reputation but want to be involved in the politics of Jamaica there are many ways other than involvement in a political party.
Senator Clarke is an honourable man by all reports, and hence we cast no aspersions on his character, nor do we ascribe motives for his actions and pronouncements. Like every human being, he cannot be totally objective and hence his statements are reflective of a mixture of his professional, corporate and political views.
Dr Clarke is the chief operating officer of the Musson Group and the CEO of one of its principal Jamaican subsidiaries, Facey Commodity Company Ltd. With this type of scholastic pedigree and private sector experience he is just the type of person that Jamaica needs in political leadership. For this reason, this newspaper welcomed his appointment.
Recently, Senator Clarke supported the passage of the new Banking Services Act but expressed concern about the liquidity of the financial system and made a number of interesting proposals. The Bank of Jamaica appears to disagree about the state of liquidity. But our concern is not with the merits of Senator Clarke’s comments.
There is, however, a very real and troubling dilemma. He wears several hats: his personal hat, his JLP hat, and his corporate hat. When he speaks, which hat is he wearing? How can the listening public determine when his comments are personal, professional, political or corporate?
This is a dilemma faced by professionals who are in active politics. Are their views tempered or in any way biased by their political involvement, and if so, to what extent? The confusion is less so for professionals in scientific subjects such as medicine, dentistry and engineering.
In professions where the facts are subject to interpretation, such as political science, economics and law, there is considerable room for subjective or deliberate misinterpretation. Once it involves politics, the bias may be unconscious and the advocacy based on genuine conviction in the veracity of pronouncements.
Even if the politically involved professional is being objective in their public statements, he or she will not get the benefit of the doubt by half of the adult population. The statements will be dismissed as purely political by people who support the other party.
So the statements made by JLP Senator Clarke will be dismissed by People’s National Party (PNP) supporters as politically motivated and even deliberately misleading. Senator Clarke must adhere to the JLP positions because he is not independent. There is no political neutrality in partisan party politics.
The dilemma for professionals is that once involved in party politics they sacrifice their reputations as professionals and their views are no longer regarded as unbiased and objective. Brave are those who sacrifice their professional reputation to bear the much-despised label of politician.
For those who value their professional reputation but want to be involved in the politics of Jamaica there are many ways other than involvement in a political party.
Senator Clarke is an honourable man by all reports, and hence we cast no aspersions on his character, nor do we ascribe motives for his actions and pronouncements. Like every human being, he cannot be totally objective and hence his statements are reflective of a mixture of his professional, corporate and political views.