An intriguing thought occurred to me after reading the issue involving the present Government's recognition of the northwestern peninsula as a viable economic resource that might be developed with tourism in mind.On the one hand, the CDA insists that it held public consultations in order to get a feel of what public opinion was concerning its development.
On the other, there have been incessant demands by NGOs and other interested and divisive parties that not enough has been said to the public concerning plans for its development.In the middle of all of this there is the ever-present demand for accountability and transparency along with an increasing demand for the cultivation of an innovative breed of local entrepreneur.
I am wondering whether these demands might not be conflicting if not altogether self-defeating and have the effect of hindering progress.
An enduring hallmark of the entrepreneur is "passion"–complete immersion in an idea that is unique. A man thinks of some service he can offer or something he can make that will offer to the consumer a unique opportunity for something novel. To the entrepreneur, his idea is precious. The question therefore must arise: why should a man–for the sake of transparency and accountability–publicise an idea to all and sundry when in so doing he loses what he and one or two others thought was exceptional?
If truth be told, an open invitation to interested parties to a public forum that is government-sponsored, where the intended objective is to foster meaningful and exciting contributions from would-be entrepreneurs, is guaranteed to be a dismal failure. Those with the best ideas never go.
And anyone who thinks anything of their own idea would never attend because to divulge it is to hand it to someone else. Since all that an entrepreneur has are an idea and the passion for it, others need to provide the start-up capital, the marketing skills and the organisational infrastructure. Perhaps there is a place for recognising and accepting irrationality. After all, rational thinkers do what everyone else is doing and in some ways are disadvantaged by their rationality and conformity, neither of which inspires creativity.
The world is in the sad state that it is in today because we have lost sight of the only criteria by which someone's work should be judged, which is by "the fruit of a person's labour."Jack Warner, for all his foibles, has produced valuable fruit through his labour; Suruj Rambachan, notwithstanding the negative comments made against him, has shown the greatest creativity and ability to get things done by state agencies that have never produced in the past.
Dr Rowley and the PNM by contrast, disadvantage themselves by looking for and accepting fruit that grow only on their side of a shrinking garden, and by confining their efforts to the rigid conformity of the conventional. Even Emailgate is the product of conventional political deviance.
Steve Smith
Via email