Dear Editor,
As a military officer cadet, I was taught that the respective units under my command during my military career would only be as good as their leader — me. In other words, a unit would serve as a mirror for its leader’s attributes; by evaluating the unit, you would be able to identify the qualities of its leader.
This knowledge also convinced me that there is no such thing as a failed or inefficient unit led by an honest, hard-working, and good man. Good, honest, hard-working men do not exist in a failed, dishonest outfit. I am discussing this subject here because the same military teaching pertains to our beloved, present-day Jamaica insofar as it relates to leadership and where we are.
It is disturbing that we belong to a Jamaica in which leadership and the responsibilities associated with it are apparently no longer the concern of those who lead. We have a leader who was found by a court to have acted unconstitutionally. Another, who signed indemnity certificates to shield the wrongdoings of State agents, and others who are allegedly involved in kickbacks from foreign companies. And then there are those who are ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ leaders.
What threats do these leadership failures pose for our future? What confidence or lack of it inspires hope in our future? I will never support a leader found by a court to have acted unconstitutionally, for instance. The fact that such a leader has hung on and gone on to be victorious at the polls in no way qualifies him to lead. His unconstitutional conduct has done great harm to the fabric of leadership.
What lessons have been taught? Isn’t it little wonder that we have a police force, for instance, in which 41 members were arrested and charged with various crimes in 2014, while 27 were arrested in 2015, and seven up to April this year? The commissioner of police tells us also that 88 of 191 potential recruits to the Jamaica Constabulary Force recently failed the polygraph screening, and that this failure was associated with criminal links. In fact, some of those who failed their polygraphs have been actively involved in lottery scams, others are affiliated to gangs, handling illegal guns, and yet others were “habitual thieves”. I contend that, as a people, we are the product of our leaders. We have sunk to an all-time low, with the leaders of a once-proud political party now more concerned about who leaked information regarding the alleged corrupt or dishonest actions of its members and labelling those who provided this information as public enemies, instead of expressing outrage at the alleged acts.
That’s where we are at present. Young Jamaicans must surely be equally perplexed at the way in which their leaders are representing them.
So, if Jamaica can be likened to a military unit, and if we observe the principle that we are only as good as our leaders, then I’m afraid we have failed as a unit, as a people, and as a State. Is that really what our leaders have brought us to, and possibly how we are seen by the world?
Colonel Allan Douglas
Kingston 10
alldouglas@aol.com
As a military officer cadet, I was taught that the respective units under my command during my military career would only be as good as their leader — me. In other words, a unit would serve as a mirror for its leader’s attributes; by evaluating the unit, you would be able to identify the qualities of its leader.
This knowledge also convinced me that there is no such thing as a failed or inefficient unit led by an honest, hard-working, and good man. Good, honest, hard-working men do not exist in a failed, dishonest outfit. I am discussing this subject here because the same military teaching pertains to our beloved, present-day Jamaica insofar as it relates to leadership and where we are.
It is disturbing that we belong to a Jamaica in which leadership and the responsibilities associated with it are apparently no longer the concern of those who lead. We have a leader who was found by a court to have acted unconstitutionally. Another, who signed indemnity certificates to shield the wrongdoings of State agents, and others who are allegedly involved in kickbacks from foreign companies. And then there are those who are ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ leaders.
What threats do these leadership failures pose for our future? What confidence or lack of it inspires hope in our future? I will never support a leader found by a court to have acted unconstitutionally, for instance. The fact that such a leader has hung on and gone on to be victorious at the polls in no way qualifies him to lead. His unconstitutional conduct has done great harm to the fabric of leadership.
What lessons have been taught? Isn’t it little wonder that we have a police force, for instance, in which 41 members were arrested and charged with various crimes in 2014, while 27 were arrested in 2015, and seven up to April this year? The commissioner of police tells us also that 88 of 191 potential recruits to the Jamaica Constabulary Force recently failed the polygraph screening, and that this failure was associated with criminal links. In fact, some of those who failed their polygraphs have been actively involved in lottery scams, others are affiliated to gangs, handling illegal guns, and yet others were “habitual thieves”. I contend that, as a people, we are the product of our leaders. We have sunk to an all-time low, with the leaders of a once-proud political party now more concerned about who leaked information regarding the alleged corrupt or dishonest actions of its members and labelling those who provided this information as public enemies, instead of expressing outrage at the alleged acts.
That’s where we are at present. Young Jamaicans must surely be equally perplexed at the way in which their leaders are representing them.
So, if Jamaica can be likened to a military unit, and if we observe the principle that we are only as good as our leaders, then I’m afraid we have failed as a unit, as a people, and as a State. Is that really what our leaders have brought us to, and possibly how we are seen by the world?
Colonel Allan Douglas
Kingston 10
alldouglas@aol.com