It has been 16 gruelling months of holding down a very difficult prime ministerial portfolio for Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. This latest health challenge, one obviously contributed to by the full schedule of work, inclusive of overseas travel, should be the signal for the PM to ease back on her schedule and indeed take the rest that is being widely recommended to her. She and those around her must not see this easing-back period as being indicative of being any less tough, resilient and less able to cope with the exigencies and heavy demands of office. The reality is that any conscientious chief executive officer of a country has to carry the burden of office around with her during a full day of work and undoubtedly must get flashes of what is required and how much more has to be done and the imperatives of doing it deep into the night and even during her hours of sleep and relaxation. British Prime Ministers are noteworthy for flying off to Europe and to their favourite spots in the Caribbean for time out. American Presidents have built into their agendas long weekends of rest at the official Camp David retreat where they keep in touch with what's happening at the office but spend the time with their families and friends relaxing and recharging their batteries.
It should be no different for the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago to require the revitalising wonders of "R and R" and therefore no one should or is likely to begrudge Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar the first full period of time away from the office. And as we have demonstrated, there should be no question of her feeling that such a break would be a sign of incapacity to do the job. A sign of quality leadership is ensuring that others have the capacity and are given the opportunity to exercise their capabilities during the absence from office of the one who has the ultimate responsibility for guiding the ship. Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar has demonstrated her trust in no fewer than three of her senior ministers, usually during her absence from the country on government business, to do the job. It has been seen therefore that the Prime Minister and the country are well served by a second rung of leadership in the People's Partnership Government who can temporarily take hold of responsibility for running the day-to-day affairs of the country. It would be far better in the circumstances to have the Prime Minister take a proactive break from the rigours of office, rather than have her fall seriously ill on the job from some stress-related complaint which could mean an extended period from office.
To head-off any prolonged and mandatory absence from the job, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar must give herself the opportunity for a rest before having final briefings and meetings with her Finance Minister leading to the presentation of the budget. Undoubtedly, there would be those, perhaps including her doctors, who would advise the Prime Minister to even leave the country during a break from work to get her mind temporarily away from shouldering the burdens of state office as a means of revitalising her energies. All indications are that Finance Minister Winston Dookeran is set to have the national budget presented to the Parliament in time to be passed before the end of October. There could therefore be no better time for Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar to take the time away from office.