After one year in office, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bis-sessar has decided to make some changes to her starting line-up. The sudden change in strategy speaks volumes of the PM's missteps and perhaps perceived incompetence in running a gov- ernment rather than the lack of performance of the replaced ministers. The PM is buckling under the pressure of perceived public opinion. She is allowing a few to dictate the composition of her Gov- ernment. How can one explain the replacement of the Minister of Health, Therese Baptiste-Cornelis? The former Health Minister, Jerry Narace, did one good thing: smiled for the media? He never brought any new policy to the table. Baptiste-Cornelis, on the other hand, had a whole developmental plan to revolutionalise the Health Ministry.
In any organisation you would encounter resistance to change. The doctors appear to be the ones who are providing the greatest resistance to change. Now that the PM has fallen for the oldest trick in the book by putting a doctor in charge of Health, one who is not a good friend of TV host Inshan Ishmael, we can now expect improvements in the following: the waiting time in the Casualty Department, management procedures in the maternity wards of hospitals with no botched C-sections, presence of doctors on the wards and not at their private practice, beds for all patients, CDAP drugs and general healthcare delivery. Perhaps now "Kamlacare" would become a reality. Give me a break.
What guarantee do we have that our beloved PM would not make another Cabinet reshuffle in December 2012? If we judge her penchant for removing ministers after there is a little disagreement with employees, heaven help us all. If we believe the media, how can our PM put URP in the Ministry of the People? Isn't the Unemployment Relief Programme directly related to labour? Then why burden Glen with a labour issue? Leave it with the Minister of Labour. I sincerely hope that the inner circle that is advising the PM is looking at the big picture. When we remove two lecturers from the Arthur Look Jack School of Business from your Government, what message are you sending to aspiring students and future employers about the quality of graduates coming out of that school?
The PM ought to have given the replaced ministers at least two and half years before making any changes. Doesn't this Government have five years? What is the rush? What can you do in one year?
It is common knowledge to people who know about management that it takes about five years to implement any serious policy. The replaced ministers were not given adequate time to blossom.
PM Persad-Bissessar, only time would tell the folly of your decisions.
John Jessamy
Fyzabad