I AM TOLD that in the 1980s when Tom Adams was Prime Minister, several political pundits apparently held the view that his vision to upgrade and modernise our road infrastructure was more like a science fiction fantasy and was neither realistic nor achievable.
Today, as we commute on what may have been viewed as pure madness at the time of its conception, it is evident that the advent of the industrial estate access road (ABC Highway) has substantiated Thomas Sankara’s assertion that you cannot carry out fundamental change in a country without a certain amount of madness.
And while the great philosopher Aristotle and a seasoned aristocrat like Chelston R. Hinds seem to share the view that there was never a genius without a hint of madness, perhaps the challenges we now face as a nation will require bold leaders and visionaries alike to help us change our public service mechanisms, social systems, governance practices and business econometrics, if we are going to prosper in the ever-changing global consortium.
To this end, I think it prudent, given the established yardstick, that the time has come for us to systematically assess our leaders (current and upcoming) to see who possesses this proverbial madness gene. There can be little doubt that Barbados needs out-of-the-box thinkers and out-of-the-box ideas, given the dynamics of the environment that we find ourselves.
I am absolutely confident there is a healthy pool of geniuses that we can choose from to take Barbados to the next level.
– SEAN ST CLAIR FIELDS
