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THE Portia Simpson Miller administration has received the backing of an important voice on her appointment of a 20-member Cabinet to run Jamaica.
Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, Jamaica and the Caribbean's leading hotelier, said yesterday that the range and complexity of the country's problems "cannot be managed by a small Cabinet".
STEWART... We run the risk of overwhelming them if they are too few.
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"Having a small Cabinet for the sake of numbers makes very little sense when the enormity of our problems demand the fullest application of the limited leadership talent pool that we have as a country," said Stewart in an interview with the Observer three days after Simpson Miller announced her Cabinet.
Stewart, the chairman of the ATL/Sandals Group which includes the Jamaica Observer, likened the Cabinet to a board of directors in which the members are usually selected for the skill they bring to the needs of the company.
"In Jamaica's case, we must run our country as we would a business, with the Cabinet acting as the board of directors under the chairmanship of Mrs Simpson Miller," he suggested.
Stewart is on record for taking the same stance when Bruce Golding named what was then heavily criticised as a too-large, 18-member Cabinet after the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) victory in September 2007.
"Too few hands or minds cannot cut it. We don't have the structures and systems in place to manage Jamaica with a few Cabinet ministers. There is a high level of indiscipline and circumventing of the system here. The country is still in many ways underdeveloped. Our bureaucracy is overarching and overreaching, to the extent that it is difficult getting things done. It needs a great deal of attention," Stewart said.
"A small Cabinet cannot adequately handle all the needs. We run the risk of overwhelming them if they are too few. In a first world country, the discipline, organisation and systems in place promote accountability and the ability to supervise more efficiently. In that case it is easier to run with a smaller Cabinet.
"What is eminently more sensible in determining the size of a Cabinet is looking at the workload the members have to carry and the skill sets necessary, against the background of how well organised our governance structure is.
This is even more critical at this time when the world economy is in recession and when the going is really tough," Stewart argued.
"I am not convinced that a 20-member Cabinet is too large. And I like the idea of succession planning because this is something we don't do enough of as a country, whether in the public or private sector," he said.
"The emphasis on achieving a proper mix of youth and experience is a great thing. It augurs well for the future of our country," Stewart added.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1ixRg0hri
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