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More power for the people - MoBay's heads of industry and civil society call for better governance
Published: Friday | December 18, 2009
Nagra Plunkett, Assignment Coordinator
WESTERN BUREAU:
A shift in the power structure from politicians to the general citizenry is being advanced as a possible remedy for lack of accountability and inadequate governance in Jamaica.
"The state has too much power. When my community, for example, supported the University of Technology (to establish a campus at the multi-purpose stadium) for Trelawny, I had the support of every chamber. Yet, one (political) person was not going with it so the Government says if that person is not going, they don't have to listen," charged Dennis Seivwright, president of the Trelawny Chamber of Commerce, during an Editors' Forum at The Gleaner offices in Montego Bay, St James on Wednesday.
"We might need to restructure our state apparatus in order to guarantee good leadership. When you elect a member of parliament, he's done with you. There's no constitutional power or obligation for him to be out before the next election or to be reprimanded."
He added: "It should be, I believe, that whatever the member of parliament does in his constituency should be by consensus and consultation with the people."
Seivwright was among a panel of business and civic leaders discussing the state of leadership in Jamaica.
Deputy Superintendent Paul Stanton, officer with responsibility for community safety and security in Trelawny, St James, Hanover and Westmoreland, maintained that the country's history of bad governance is an impediment to sustainable growth.
Going forward
"This has really crippled Jamaica in many, many ways, and it doesn't go to the political sector alone. It goes to people in business, trade union leaders, even in the church," said DSP Stanton.
"They make decisions, not in the interest of the organisation, or for that matter a country going forward, they just make the decision based on their own personal agenda and this has more or less brought us to where we are today."
For businessman Dr Lee Bailey, the country lacks collective leadership.
"With that I want to say the type of leadership that we have today, cannot manage a macro economy when 90 per cent of the people in the country are among the less fortunate or just on the border of the poverty level," explained the chief executive officer of CCS Tours Limited. "Because somebody is involved in politics doesn't mean they're a leader. Leadership is distorted in Jamaica simply because we are not addressing the majority."
More power for the people - MoBay's heads of industry and civil society call for better governance
Published: Friday | December 18, 2009
Nagra Plunkett, Assignment Coordinator
WESTERN BUREAU:
A shift in the power structure from politicians to the general citizenry is being advanced as a possible remedy for lack of accountability and inadequate governance in Jamaica.
"The state has too much power. When my community, for example, supported the University of Technology (to establish a campus at the multi-purpose stadium) for Trelawny, I had the support of every chamber. Yet, one (political) person was not going with it so the Government says if that person is not going, they don't have to listen," charged Dennis Seivwright, president of the Trelawny Chamber of Commerce, during an Editors' Forum at The Gleaner offices in Montego Bay, St James on Wednesday.
"We might need to restructure our state apparatus in order to guarantee good leadership. When you elect a member of parliament, he's done with you. There's no constitutional power or obligation for him to be out before the next election or to be reprimanded."
He added: "It should be, I believe, that whatever the member of parliament does in his constituency should be by consensus and consultation with the people."
Seivwright was among a panel of business and civic leaders discussing the state of leadership in Jamaica.
Deputy Superintendent Paul Stanton, officer with responsibility for community safety and security in Trelawny, St James, Hanover and Westmoreland, maintained that the country's history of bad governance is an impediment to sustainable growth.
Going forward
"This has really crippled Jamaica in many, many ways, and it doesn't go to the political sector alone. It goes to people in business, trade union leaders, even in the church," said DSP Stanton.
"They make decisions, not in the interest of the organisation, or for that matter a country going forward, they just make the decision based on their own personal agenda and this has more or less brought us to where we are today."
For businessman Dr Lee Bailey, the country lacks collective leadership.
"With that I want to say the type of leadership that we have today, cannot manage a macro economy when 90 per cent of the people in the country are among the less fortunate or just on the border of the poverty level," explained the chief executive officer of CCS Tours Limited. "Because somebody is involved in politics doesn't mean they're a leader. Leadership is distorted in Jamaica simply because we are not addressing the majority."
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