Letters & Opinion

We cannot use old ways to make new times better!

Carlton Ishmael
By Carlton Ishmael

Recently, I witnessed via the media the re-election of the former prime minister as head of the UWP and with all the former ministers also seated at the table.

Now, as Rick Wayne used to say, ‘Don’t understand me too quickly…’ I am not saying that former ministers cannot deliver, but based on their recent defeat at the polls, and their track record in governing, where are the new emerging thinkers or more trustworthy or dependable, fresh candidates that may make a difference?

When one fails at a task or loses their credibility or is deemed incompetent, what reason do we, the public, have to go by the next time to be sure that, if elected, they would govern differently.

The troubles of yesterday have intensified and the needs of tomorrow are more urgent; the changes needed for total reformation can only be achieved by prudent management of our resources, as well as creating creative ways to enhance our economic needs and ensure new models of Governance, where more people profit from their existence.

Both political parties here, in my mind, should look towards changing the guards. Granted, we cannot ignore some past efforts, but the task of implementing a new frontier or a new model for development, as well as the protection of our citizens, is not for the usual crop of political persons who are limited in ideas and in some cases have also failed us before.

The guts or commitment needed to effect change has to be entrusted into the hands of progressive thinkers, who I see little of these days.

You cannot teach an old dog new tricks and some are caught up in a web of deceit, seeking first their benefits, before country. The stories, or allegations of preference contracting, as well as mis-management or wasteful behavior, cannot surface in the profile of the needed leaders or representatives of the Government of tomorrow.

Regardless of who wins the next election, they all have to come clean after that and we the public should not have doubts about their credibility.

Nothing remains the same and changes are inevitable, so we ought not be afraid of transferring the responsibility of governance to a new crop of political managers.

I have my personal opinion of former leaders and ministers, as it relates to their political past, especially when it comes to their motive or purpose for seeking political office. But new policies and forward thinking, strategic planning and new modules of Governance can only emerge from forward-thinking persons, not those locked in the past. The management of this new age must be resolute in their approach. They have to see things as they are and deal with the emerging conditions and insecurities and uncertainties of life on island.

Old styles will not cut it, the building and breaking-down will not cut it, and even though the two parties rival each other, the discontinuation of pertinent projects should not continue because of who conceptualized them, communities should not be neglected based on what party they supported in the last elections, and wastage should not continue like it’s going out of style.

And finally, tomorrow’s leaders and appointed officials must seek to unite rather than divide, be just to all citizens and abandon preferential practices and nepotism. There are still too many square pegs in round holes, too many directors who don’t deliver, too many party hacks on the payroll. And too often, nobody seems accountable, or made to pay for their misdeeds.

So, where are we heading in these new times with these old ways when the rest of the world is going forward and we seem to like thinking and looking and going backward?

Wake-up, Saint Lucia because tomorrow is not ours and our leaders for tomorrow are taking too long to get what they need to help put them on the right track, before we get left back like back tires.

 

1 Comment

  1. What you must understand, Mr. Ishmael is that, the annals of human evolution is like a wave that rises thousands of miles from shore.

    In the curl of its nascent rise is found the clean sentiments of righteousness -Justice, judgement, truth and equity become covenants taken in blood oaths by generations who understand and maintain the peace of all.(in your peace shall we have peace is the prevailing tenet of security of this community ).

    In it, too, the steady pillars of knowledge, wisdom and understanding dispels every vestige of ignorance and all men stand on level; each equally aware of the vicissitudes of the earth he occupies (the symbiosis of man and nature is well married).

    As the wave continues its roll towards shore, compassion and kindness in the hearts of men make it dance. There, humanity exercises it’s penultimate joy in art, music and revelry until, at some point; in the midnight of its journey, that spasmodic discombobulation begins

    By the time this wave of human evolution reaches shore, mankind has been seized by a peculiar kind of drunkenness that causes him to wallow in the viscous vomit of depravity, wickedness violence, evil and.crime;

    and man and earth become locked in lethal combat as they hurtle towards imminent destruction.

    What then, arrives on the shore is another rendition of Pharaoh, his horsemen, his chariots and his host defeated and dead while a remnant escapes to another promised land of evolution.

    Note well, Mr. Ishmael that the whole world is stricken by this contagion of violence, fear, confusion and distress;

    spiritual wickedness in high places pushing genocide to the edge so hell can swallow multitudes.

    Demoo l’argay ah gwa cord too-par-too.

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