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EDITORIAL - Williams A Good Catch For JADCO
Published: Sunday | January 12, 2014 0 Comments
After their incompetence, hubris and foul-ups, there are signs that we may begin to get things right at the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO).
Mrs Natalie Neita-Headley, the Cabinet minister with day-to-day responsibility for sports, has disclosed that R 'Danny' Williams, the businessman, has been appointed executive chairman of the commission, and that the other commissioners will soon be named.
While this newspaper does not, in the normal course of things, like the idea of executive chairmanships for state/official agencies and appreciates that much will depend on who else joins JADCO, there is no gainsaying that Mr Williams is an excellent catch.
Mr Williams brings to the job a reputation not only for unimpeachable integrity, but of creativity and a capacity to get things done.
Younger Jamaicans might not know, many others might not recall, but he was the major force behind the creation and growth of the insurance company that was Life of Jamaica, or what is now Sagicor Holding. More recently, as chairman of the board of Jamaica College, he is the visionary behind the rebuilding of that historic high school.
And at the age of 79, he apparently still has the energy and unquestionably the intellect to confront new challenges. He will require these abilities in the JADCO assignment.
NO SMALL MEASURE
He comes to the job with Jamaica's reputation for fairness in global athletics competition under assault and more than a bit frayed. The current state of affairs is in no small measure the result of the arrogant incompetence with which the previous JADCO commissioners responded to the challenges, and the permissiveness of Mrs Neita-Headley in facilitating their lethargy.
For instance, when the likes of Dick Pound, the former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), sniped at Jamaica's dominance of sprints in world athletics, JADCO failed to respond with hard analysis and data.
Last year, when a series of positive drug tests against Jamaican athletes removed constraints from the baying pack, and Ann Shirley's article about the inadequacy of out-of-competition drug testing in the island allowed Sports Illustrated to do a hatchet job on Jamaican athletics, JADCO mostly frothed. The appropriate response was to bring context and a wider perspective to the discourse. But worse was how the commissioners, under former chairman, Herbert Elliot, hemmed and hawed over hosting a WADA review mission to Jamaica, giving the impression that we had something to hide.
The real issue is not the personal integrity or intellect of the members of the former board. Rather, in our view, those who wielded greatest influence were of an old, civil service, Official Secrets Act order. To people so minded, transparency and open accountability are neither the norm nor are the concepts easily embraced.
Mr Williams' history in the private sector, and particularly with public companies, and his personal inclination, would have socialised him differently. Nonetheless, as he is aware, there is still an inherent danger in executive chairmanships in limiting accountability.
In that regard, we hope that the 'executive' part of Mr Williams' appointment is short term, and that Mr Cory Brown, the recently appointed executive director, will be allowed to run the day-to-day operations in accordance with declared policy, and held to account by the commissioners.
Published: Sunday | January 12, 2014 0 Comments
After their incompetence, hubris and foul-ups, there are signs that we may begin to get things right at the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO).
Mrs Natalie Neita-Headley, the Cabinet minister with day-to-day responsibility for sports, has disclosed that R 'Danny' Williams, the businessman, has been appointed executive chairman of the commission, and that the other commissioners will soon be named.
While this newspaper does not, in the normal course of things, like the idea of executive chairmanships for state/official agencies and appreciates that much will depend on who else joins JADCO, there is no gainsaying that Mr Williams is an excellent catch.
Mr Williams brings to the job a reputation not only for unimpeachable integrity, but of creativity and a capacity to get things done.
Younger Jamaicans might not know, many others might not recall, but he was the major force behind the creation and growth of the insurance company that was Life of Jamaica, or what is now Sagicor Holding. More recently, as chairman of the board of Jamaica College, he is the visionary behind the rebuilding of that historic high school.
And at the age of 79, he apparently still has the energy and unquestionably the intellect to confront new challenges. He will require these abilities in the JADCO assignment.
NO SMALL MEASURE
He comes to the job with Jamaica's reputation for fairness in global athletics competition under assault and more than a bit frayed. The current state of affairs is in no small measure the result of the arrogant incompetence with which the previous JADCO commissioners responded to the challenges, and the permissiveness of Mrs Neita-Headley in facilitating their lethargy.
For instance, when the likes of Dick Pound, the former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), sniped at Jamaica's dominance of sprints in world athletics, JADCO failed to respond with hard analysis and data.
Last year, when a series of positive drug tests against Jamaican athletes removed constraints from the baying pack, and Ann Shirley's article about the inadequacy of out-of-competition drug testing in the island allowed Sports Illustrated to do a hatchet job on Jamaican athletics, JADCO mostly frothed. The appropriate response was to bring context and a wider perspective to the discourse. But worse was how the commissioners, under former chairman, Herbert Elliot, hemmed and hawed over hosting a WADA review mission to Jamaica, giving the impression that we had something to hide.
The real issue is not the personal integrity or intellect of the members of the former board. Rather, in our view, those who wielded greatest influence were of an old, civil service, Official Secrets Act order. To people so minded, transparency and open accountability are neither the norm nor are the concepts easily embraced.
Mr Williams' history in the private sector, and particularly with public companies, and his personal inclination, would have socialised him differently. Nonetheless, as he is aware, there is still an inherent danger in executive chairmanships in limiting accountability.
In that regard, we hope that the 'executive' part of Mr Williams' appointment is short term, and that Mr Cory Brown, the recently appointed executive director, will be allowed to run the day-to-day operations in accordance with declared policy, and held to account by the commissioners.