Sunday Brew December 26

over 3 years in Jamaica Observer

The necessary Cabinet changesWell, well, well, a Cabinet shuffle that some of us heard should have been effected from last November, seems now likely for early next year.Naturally, speculation is rife about which ministers will be reassigned, or dumped from the key arm of government. A reassignment does not necessarily mean that a minister performed badly in the ministry that he held prior to the move. An exit from the Cabinet though, unless it was voluntary, does.The first name that emerges when change is mentioned, is that of Dr Christopher Tufton, the Minister of Health and Wellness. If he is not removed from the Cabinet, then the exercise would have been unnecessary. The question is, will he be reassigned? National Security, I know, has been suggested to him before, which he does not want. But his bad management of the health system, and the dissing of the alcohol companies should make him a natural casualty.The safest minister must be Ed Bartlett at tourism, for he has been the star performer of the year, without doubt. Adding Global Marketing to his portfolio would be a natural.So, now, Prime Minister Holness might want to think about the following:Shift Dr Horace Chang to health and wellness to mop up Tufton's mess; give Matthew Samuda a boost to run national security on his own; send Pearnel Charles Jr to education and information; relegate Marlene Malahoo Forte to the back benches and move up Marsha Smith as attorney general; appoint Juliet Holness as minister of agriculture and fisheries; place Dr Andrew Wheatley at science and technology; promote Dr Norman Dunn to industry, commerce and investments; put Fayval Williams at labour and social security; and, in addition to keeping Bobby Montague at mining and transport, add climate change to his portfolio, which goes hand-in-hand with mining anyway, along with the environment; while cementing housing under a ministry called Road Improvement and Infrastructure to be headed by Audley Shaw.Let us see if PM Holness is really serious.Golding unfair with Montague commentsMark Golding should stop trying to behave like someone that he is not.Too often, the People's National Party President and Opposition Leader tries to lower his standards by engaging in actions and utterances that dilute the respect for, and high regard that he is held in.Golding's latest outburst, which includes him describing Transport and Mining Minister Robert Montague as, among other things a, "likkle bwoy", is just not his style, and he should desist from trying to be like some of the rest.Golding, inside and outside of politics, is one of those regarded as a man of integrity, clean as they come, and hardly indulges in mudslinging, save for a verbal attack, sexual in nature, on another Jamaica Labour Party MP, now State Minister, Alando Terrelonge, which was unnecessary and uncalled for.Now is the time to back off and stay away from name calling... Jamaica's legislators must realise that they have to lead the way in ending the 'boyish' conduct that has left the Parliament as a mere tribal zone.Going on a platform to deliver the main address at an event does not have to descend into calling a man, a member of the Cabinet, and an elected representative of the people a 'bwoy'.All the Opposition Leader has to do is stick to the facts, continue to highlight the things that are wrong in the society, and leave cheap talk alone.Now, the Political Ombudsman has suggested that he apologises to Montague for his utterances, to which he has said that he has seen no need to.People should not be pushed against the wall and virtually forced to apologise. It should come naturally. For if it does not come from the heart, it would be meaningless and worthless.So, Golding, if he is so inclined, must decide for himself, upon reflection, if he should call Montague and say, 'hear wa a gwaan Bobby, although Tufton a bun out the liquor company dem, mek we go hol a drink an agree on a truce. Then we can have an unwritten thing between us that no more disrespect should flow from our stream of unity.'If that can be done, Golding can get into his block again and prepare for the next race. But failure to address the unfortunate comments could result in something that may be used against him not too far from now.MP Donovan Williams is not learningMaybe it's a newcomer to elective politics thing, but what Member of Parliament for Kingston Central, Donovan Williams did recently by painting sidewalks in a section of his constituency green, again shows up the immaturity that exists within the political fraternity.Williams barely made it to the House of Representatives. Had the Opposition People's National Party fielded a serious candidate in that constituency he would have been blown out of the water. But thanks to the pettiness that existed (and still does) in the PNP leading up to the September 2020 General Election, Williams got into the seat when even he did not expect such a jackpot.So, if by attempting to strengthen his hand he chose to paint sidewalks green, then he is woefully misguided, if not misplaced, and is merely following in the footsteps of what his first time colleagues in the Jamaica Labour Party, like Robert Chin coming with personalised buns in his valiant, but failed attempt to upstage the attorney general.The local authority states clearly that sidewalks should be painted in the shade white, emphasised to inform motorists that parking is allowed. When the colour yellow is used, it is to show the motorist that that zone is a no-parking one.So how then does green enter the picture? MP Williams was only demonstrating how terrible a painter he was by posing for whatever cameras were watching him, all because he wanted to brag and boast to the world of his quite sloppy paint pushing skills.Any MP who feels like he ought to be painting public spaces in party colours is insecure. Williams should use this experience to think long, hard, and deep; after which he should convince himself that it should never happen again.There are many professional painters around, who would do well with a job to paint a sidewalk in neutral colours, from which they can earn a bread to share with those who depend on them for survival and sustenance.West Indies act at lastSo Cricket West Indies, belatedly, has decided to part ways with its head selector, Roger Harper, who should never have been there in the first place.In the process too, the managing body for cricket in the Caribbean also cut ties with Vincentian Miles Bascombe (Miles who?), and the search is now on for coming up with a new set of people who choose teams to play T20, One-Day, and Test cricket at the senior level.My contention with Harper is that he is far too conservative as a selector to assemble teams that the West Indies need to achieve success. He is one of those who believe that certain people in the region should not be chosen to play Test cricket, if they play T20, which, of course, is absolute rubbish. And that is why the West Indies end up with the dismal results that have haunted them for so long.If you look around West Indies cricket administration now, it is the poorest of the poor who direct administrative traffic.Harper was a success only at fielding. His batting and bowling were not good enough to take him from the wilderness; Coach Phil Simmons was a monumental failure as a batsman when he represented the Windies; manager Rawl Lewis would hardly have made a good schoolboy team in Jamaica or Barbados, yet, he played for the West Indies; fast bowling coach Roddy Estwick never went beyond playing for Barbados, with moderate success; and there are others who got nowhere, yet they are projected as being competent.There is not even one legend of West Indies cricket who is involved at the senior level. And that is one bone of contention. How can Simmons, for example, no matter what he learned in theory, improve anyone's batting, even by using what he was taught in classrooms in England and this region?He cannot tell any batsman how he took on great fast bowlers and spinners in his time of playing, because he never spent any long time at the crease to force scorers to work overtime. How then can he personalise situations and get young batsmen to buy in?We in the region need to lobby for knowledgeable people to be used as selectors again. Men like Andy Roberts, one who doesn't care where you are from if you become eligible to be selected; Joel Garner, Shivnarine Chanderpaul; maybe even Chris Gayle could be considered, now that he is virtually out as a player, should be looked at.Cricket West Indies also needs to stop fooling around with its physical fitness policy. If one like Rahkeem Cornwall can make a team and others like Odean Smith, Shimron Hetmyer and a few more cannot, then those making such decisions should shift their emphasis on becoming pastry chefs.

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