We have long been fooled by the idea that public servants who often appear in public and in some instances seem knowledgeable are also competent and even likeable. Many have been called “good performers” not because of results, but the regularity of media appearances and use of much jumbled jargon works on the psyche of the average man. However, there is an arrogance which tends to creep within if left unchecked. This ravaging personality weed will run through the cracks and reveal exactly what truly exists. So for this moment of reading let’s dismiss the bullshit usually afforded certain persons we rate, regard or respect for being likeable…as a matter of fact, let’s throw their competencies through the window…and look at their integrity.
Public Health’s Biggest Problem
The sector has been far below par for the quality and skills of many in the profession with many playing the part of magician with decades of inadequate provisions for the public and said practitioners…so let’s stop the bullshit about ” JLP no user fees brought the sector to where it’s at”…rubbish. The public health sector has lacked integrity from those in charge for far too long, money has not been managed and spent right, politics has been chained to the ultimate goals, and like so many other things, it has been worse with a paint job. Those who wish to be in denial about how much politics has trumped proper public health are simply just dishonest. Those who have been appointed merely because of politics and have failed consistently to place health care performance over partisan politics are the main players in the problems.
A mechanic who spends his money buying drinks and not tools will soon find his garage filled with cars that he can’t repair. It doesn’t matter at that stage if he is a good mechanic or not, what is sure is that he can’t manage a garage and it will fall into disrepair and disrepute sooner than later. It will make sense to him to find every excuse and blame every man possible but himself, but the truth will show eventually. His personal competence is not the problem…he lacks integrity to either get it done right or admit he’s full of shit and unfit for the post. While his garage overflows with cars and more customers complain about shoddy work he blames the former owner of the garage and his workmen…although his sign says, “Tom’s Garage..we’re the best you’ll forget the rest”.
In my opinion Fenton Ferguson is incompetent, but he is also being undermined by those who are supposedly competent, but more concerned with the PNP and keeping that group smooth than making public health care their priority. As such, if Ferguson even had the capacity to be a great minister he would have to shed the political paperweights to perform properly. Sadly, he doesn’t have that clout or ability as their postings are far above his pay grade. What the minister should do is resign. IF he has ANY integrity at all there should be no reason for the prime minister to intervene. However, I know he’s in a pickle because resigning as a minister in the face of all that has happened under his watch doesn’t smell sweet for his chances to retain the member of Parliament seat. But integrity should dictate that in the case of Ferguson his character and conscience should no longer be chained to party, power or politics. In the name of your integrity RESIGN NOW SIR.
The eternal face of the Ministry of Health and now made chief medical officer Marion Bullock DuCasse has no reason whatsoever to remain in the position. Actually she leave the ministry altogether though we are quite aware that her leaving really depends on when she so chooses…if she wishes to deny her political connections that is fine, and if she wishes to list her varied competencies, that is also fine. But this is not about whether she is competent on paper or projects. This is about whether after all this time she has shown ANY ability to have credibility or even competence as CMO…we still recall Chick-V, Ebola threats, Riverton fire, Zhik-V, EIGHTEEN babies…and I think the number is much higher since we’ve learnt we CANNOT TRUST the utterances of the Ministry of Health. She needs to forget her tenure, connections, competence, and let her integrity reign instead. In the name of your integrity RESIGN NOW MA’AM.
Dr Kevin Harvey cannot be spared the chopping block. He has proven during his short stint as permanent secretary that he is unworthy of the position. This is not about ego and thin-skinned emotions, coupled with an inability to publicly relate in ways we would expect of such senior sorts. If the PS is a complete ass then I doubt very much the minister simply looks stupid on his own…he’s got a lot of help. If a minister tells you he heard of a serious bacterial outbreak in two major hospitals the same time the public was made aware…long after the fact and eighteen dead babies later…I expect some bags should’ve been packed and ready with desk spaces made readily available. In Jamaica we accept bullshit from public officials, some we elect, and pay all from our pockets, but we think we deserve to be treated like field slaves because we are led by house slaves. Well since we don’t have what it takes to be united against bullshit and prefer to swallow political shit, then Dr Harvey in the name of your integrity RESIGN NOW SIR. I would also ask all the others who are political pawns, part, parcel and party to all the bullshit that helps to undermine the public health sector to resign and go find your benefits in private health care or just fuck off completely… this country cannot afford the burden of shitty public health care.
While we rap the sheet of integrity in public life let us recall that many on the NHT board didn’t get the integrity memo. I wonder if Christopher Tufton, another man deemed likeable and right, has seen the integrity memo…he would do well to reflect on some things he’s done and been used to make happen… all failing unfortunately. I wonder if AJ Nicholson has seen the integrity memo and passed it on to Floyd Morris to take a read. I wonder if Omar Davies has listened to recordings of his boasts of destroying Jamaica in the name of the PNP and checked his integrity. I wonder if Trevor Munroe has merely just had an about turn in his own mind and is simply swimming in the sea of integrity… these days. I wonder if Sandrea Falconer simply believes it is the media that must be blamed if people find her integrity to be less than credible…maybe she hasn’t read the memo in a while. And finally I wonder if the prime minister remembers all or even some of her commitments and promises to hold integrity over the heads of all under her watch. It seems the prime minister has misplaced her copy of the memo and is making the mistake Michael Manley made of allowing his ministers to “run tings” hoping they have read the integrity memo or even subscribe to its dictates.
I require one hundred times more of my government than I do of my opposition for simple and very basic reasons….THEY ARE IN CHARGE…so I refuse to get caught up in spending all the time berating those who want to lead while excusing those who do. I demand good governance and not because I want it only for my benefit, but if the country is sinking it is little time before I will be drowning under crime, unemployment, dismal public health, inefficient policing, unaffordable housing and inadequate socio-economic benefits. It is all well and good to think some of us are above the fray, but living with thirty forms of security just to feel safe in a home? Seems we also forget how ALL of us rich, poor and middle had to deal with Chick-V? We all stood in the same pharmacies, took children to the same Bustamante Children’s Hospital via bus, taxi and Prado to sit on the same benches and bawl?
While some might curse the prime minister for being silent and uninvolved while the nation is faced with all this drama, I firmly believe that if any of these persons had even a shred of integrity there would be no reason to even ask that they be fired. However, it seems a lack of integrity is now a leading part of a political résumé. Sad. The mere fact that integrity is so badly missing should show just why so many things are just run so wrong and not right.
Note: Dr Alfred Dawes former president of the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association has been trying hard to use diplomacy and tact in the face of well known undermining since he decided to publicly show what the ministry of health likes to deny or deflect. Well it is what it is and I hoped upon exit he would’ve maintained the testosterone to speak his mind. I still applaud what he has done since many would never dare walk that road. I wish him all the best in his future endeavours.
Rodney S. O. Campbell ©
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