In the United States, candidates vyingfor public office are investigated and scrutinizedto the finest detail. This is done in order to geta sense of the person’s character. No stoneis left unturned in this effort. Everything aboutyour past and present is exposed.
Can you imagine that being done in Barbados?I shudder at the thought.
There are no specific qualifications for becominga politician. No academic qualification is required,not even a high school education. No prerequisitesare stipulated. So basically anyone can become a politician. All you need is guts, willingness to give handouts, the gift of the gab and access to a coupleof thousand dollars that you can afford to lose.
In the past, shopkeepers would run for elections. They were in a position to give voters some itemsof worth from their shops – mostly food items.I guess that buying votes is not new, even ifdone indirectly.
In more recent times, other prospective politicians would give cold, juicy-looking English apples to hungry children who would tell their parents of the experience of this rare delicacy. The parents, seeing their children happy and excited, would show their appreciation at the voting booth.
This approach to gaining a seat in Parliamentwould graduate to panties, pizzas and other giftswhich reflected their times. Today it is hams, laptops, iPods, cellphones and, yes, cash! Of course there were also hundreds of promises which would hardly everbe kept.
So now you have a politician. A politician whois supposed to be your servant but is given absolute power over you. A servant who is master. Whata paradox! Is this not a recipe for disaster?
How can you empower untrained and unqualified people with such great responsibility as runninga country? How can you put your well-being, your future, your lives in their hands? You trust them– but on what grounds?
Was it simply because they gave you gifts andmade you promises? Did you ever consider if theywere capable of running the country, makinghigh-level decisions, communicating at theworld level?Can they handle any specific ministry? Whatqualifies them to be Minister of Health or Ministerof Agriculture or Minister of Education, Economicsor Sports?
When they, in their unqualified state, are placedas ministers of the Government, they are positioned over employees who are far more qualified thanthey are.
Now what does it do to the psyche of someonewho is highly qualified? Someone who would have burned the midnight oil for four years to get a degree, maybe even six years for a Master’s, to then be governed by someone who didn’t make that sacrifice, who didn’t walk that winding path?
This politician just went on a platform, shouted loudly, made promises, gave out panties, apples, computers and money and now has the power to hire or fire someone who made such a great sacrifice. Someone who has sacrificed now becomes sacrificial.
Not only is the servant now empowered, butthose with the real power are now subjected topossible embarrassment and frustration becausthey might have to teach the servant who isin authority.
We in Barbados have been extremely fortunate,for most of the folks who vie for a seat in Parliament are either lawyers, doctors, economists or accountants and any other would be reasonably qualified.
However, the available ministries do not always match the qualifications of the elected politicians. There is usually an influx of lawyers and to a lesser extent, doctors. Therefore, people are thrown intoareas where they would have had no prior trainingor experience. They are asked to oversee the runningof a ministry of which they know nothing.
The question then is, should an elected candidatebe put in a ministry which he knows nothing about,or should someone who might not have competed fora seat but is qualified be put in that ministry?
This decision depends on what you want to achieve.
Do you want the best for the country or do youwant to make everyone in your party happy?
I remember when Prime Minister Errol Barrow spoke at a major conference in Israel. It was carried live on the radio. I was a little boy in the rum shop waiting to buy some flour. Mr Barrow used a fewbig words.
I heard an old man say to a co-drinker: “Yuh hearde Skipper?” And they poured from the nitbottle and knocked glasses and drank one to celebrate. They were proud and boasted of “proper representation” and I was even more proudbecause not only did I hear the Skipper, but I hearda qualified man making his countrymen the proudestof them all.
• Mac Fingall is an entertainer and retired secondary school teacher. Email scouds@yahoo.com.