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John Lynch in the bigger picture
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The recent discussion of the conflict of interest issue, which reached a crescendo with Don Wehby and now extends to John Lynch, is very necessary and one from which no one should flinch.
We, of course, approach the subject with much trepidation because, in John Lynch, it touches close to home, since Mr Lynch works as an executive vice-president of Miami-based Unique Vacations Inc, an agency which is the worldwide representative of Sandals Resorts, one of our sister companies.
In a sense, the very thought of our commenting on this issue, itself impinges on the notion of conflict of interest. Mr Lynch, the anointed chairman of the state-run Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), is, after all, one of us. And our chairman, the Hon Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, has had to put the former junior minister for tourism, Dr Wykeham McNeill, squarely in his place for attacking Mr Lynch.
But we would like to invite the thinkers (not the drinkers) among us to get beyond the narrow confines of a Don Wehby or a John Lynch, or partisan political point-scoring and to see the issue in the broad picture of what is happening to us as a country.
'Butch' Stewart makes a telling point when he talks about making the high achievers among the professionals he hires available to serve the nation. We don't, as a country, have a large enough pool of these high achievers from whom to draw, despite the great need for them. Indeed, the pool is about to get smaller.
The next wave of the brain drain is already threatening. Just this week, we carried the story that Canada is looking 4,000 skilled Jamaicans over the next three years. Europe has also made it known that by 2050, it expects its working age population to be short 50 million. That means the worldwide recruitment will reach fever pitch.
We in Jamaica are already feeling the pinch from better-off countries hiring away our best doctors, nurses, teachers, hotel and construction workers. Our Information Technology (IT) professionals are increasingly being recruited away. Add to that, the large number of our university students who are taking or seeking available jobs overseas.
In other words, the prospect of building up our intellectual resources any time soon is dim at best. The question is, where are we going to find the qualified, experienced people to run all our private and public entities in the required numbers?
Furthermore, how much longer are we going to disqualify the few Jamaicans who are willing and able to serve, from doing so, on the basis of a narrow definition of conflict of interest?
In the case of Mr Lynch, sheer logic would suggest that the chairman of the JTB should be someone who is well versed in the business of tourism, as he is after serving up to the level of deputy director of tourism and moving onto the international market.
To avoid a 'conflict of interest' entirely, one would have to search outside the field of tourism. That makes little sense.
What we should be more concerned with is having mechanisms and procedures in place to ensure that individuals charged with running state agencies do not feather their own nests, or that of special interests, and that they are caught if they do.
More importantly, we have to begin the difficult process of learning to trust each other. Otherwise, it's a long dark night ahead for this nation.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The recent discussion of the conflict of interest issue, which reached a crescendo with Don Wehby and now extends to John Lynch, is very necessary and one from which no one should flinch.
We, of course, approach the subject with much trepidation because, in John Lynch, it touches close to home, since Mr Lynch works as an executive vice-president of Miami-based Unique Vacations Inc, an agency which is the worldwide representative of Sandals Resorts, one of our sister companies.
In a sense, the very thought of our commenting on this issue, itself impinges on the notion of conflict of interest. Mr Lynch, the anointed chairman of the state-run Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), is, after all, one of us. And our chairman, the Hon Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, has had to put the former junior minister for tourism, Dr Wykeham McNeill, squarely in his place for attacking Mr Lynch.
But we would like to invite the thinkers (not the drinkers) among us to get beyond the narrow confines of a Don Wehby or a John Lynch, or partisan political point-scoring and to see the issue in the broad picture of what is happening to us as a country.
'Butch' Stewart makes a telling point when he talks about making the high achievers among the professionals he hires available to serve the nation. We don't, as a country, have a large enough pool of these high achievers from whom to draw, despite the great need for them. Indeed, the pool is about to get smaller.
The next wave of the brain drain is already threatening. Just this week, we carried the story that Canada is looking 4,000 skilled Jamaicans over the next three years. Europe has also made it known that by 2050, it expects its working age population to be short 50 million. That means the worldwide recruitment will reach fever pitch.
We in Jamaica are already feeling the pinch from better-off countries hiring away our best doctors, nurses, teachers, hotel and construction workers. Our Information Technology (IT) professionals are increasingly being recruited away. Add to that, the large number of our university students who are taking or seeking available jobs overseas.
In other words, the prospect of building up our intellectual resources any time soon is dim at best. The question is, where are we going to find the qualified, experienced people to run all our private and public entities in the required numbers?
Furthermore, how much longer are we going to disqualify the few Jamaicans who are willing and able to serve, from doing so, on the basis of a narrow definition of conflict of interest?
In the case of Mr Lynch, sheer logic would suggest that the chairman of the JTB should be someone who is well versed in the business of tourism, as he is after serving up to the level of deputy director of tourism and moving onto the international market.
To avoid a 'conflict of interest' entirely, one would have to search outside the field of tourism. That makes little sense.
What we should be more concerned with is having mechanisms and procedures in place to ensure that individuals charged with running state agencies do not feather their own nests, or that of special interests, and that they are caught if they do.
More importantly, we have to begin the difficult process of learning to trust each other. Otherwise, it's a long dark night ahead for this nation.
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