Ruel Reid — a broken reed and flickering wick
So Brother Ruel Reid is out and Prime Minister Andrew Holness has been forced yet again to assume responsibility for another ministry. Poor guy! His colleagues do not seem to appreciate the enormous burden they place on a prime minister when he or she has to be deflected from running the country to attend to matters of actual and perceived corrupt practices by his colleagues. They do him and the country a great disservice when they fail to conduct themselves with the highest probity in government, when they play fast and loose with the resources of the people, and when they dishonour their own names and that of their families by doing that which is unseemly in the tasks assigned to them.
Like most Jamaicans, I have never spoken to or personally met Reid. What I know of him is what most people do from his national profile in the press. At first blush, he came across as someone to be trusted. As a fairly successful principal of the elite Jamaica College, and as a Senator to boot, he seemed to be a fit and proper minister of education when he was named for that portfolio from the Senate. As if this was not enough, he was also given the information portfolio — a responsibility in which he did not quite distinguish himself. Those who knew him as a Christian minister held him in high esteem.
What seems clear is that Reid is a man beloved by the prime minister. From what knowledge I have, I can aver that he was a friend of the prime minister. It was he who brought him into politics when he appointed him as one of two senators during the infamous senate letter imbroglio which upended Christopher Tufton and Arthur Williams, who were later reinstated, with Senator Williams declining. So persistent was the prime minister in having Reid in his Cabinet and thus minister, he reappointed Reid to the Senate when his party won the election in 2016.
Having great political hopes for him, Reid was encouraged to be the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate in the St Ann North Western constituency. Here he would have to replace Othniel Lawrence, who was desirous of being the JLP caretaker. Lawrence “yielded” pride of place to Reid, an action which has led to speculation as to whether his consultancy contract with the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) had anything to do with this — a kind of quid pro quo.
But now the pitcher has been broken at the cistern and Reid is a broken reed and flickering wick. Falling from such a pedestal he is facing a dismal future. No prime minister asks one of his prominent Cabinet ministers to resign if he does not have matters of a grievous nature before him that influence his decision. The country has not been told the reasons for Reid’s forced resignation, but what seems certain is that the prime minister would not have acted in this grave manner unless he knew that there were similarly grave matters to which Reid has to answer. Having terminated him as swiftly as he has, he must now proceed to tell the nation the reason for his decision. The matter cannot be left to languish as this will only fuel speculation. There are things that he is aware of as prime minister that led him to this drastic action, and the people of Jamaica have a right to know what Reid has done or not done to injure himself in office. Nothing but a full, comprehensive report must be outlined in Parliament. This may well be done before this piece is published, but sooner the better for good governance.
Except, perhaps, for those who know him best, Reid’s departure has come as a shocker to many Jamaicans. He was big talker, sometimes jarringly so, but people saw him as an emerging politician who had a hopeful future in the political life of the country. What I hear often from people is an expression of disappointment that he could have fallen as he has. They did not expect that this kind of fate would have befallen him. Yet, there seems to be more out there that they have not heard.
This recent episode coming on the heels of Andrew Wheatley’s demise from the Science, Energy and Technology Ministry has led many to ask what or who next. Prime Minister Holness has to be very careful that corruption in government is not becoming so familiar a narrative that it begins to define his Administration. He has to be concerned as to which other minister he has to deal with next. After all, he does not have bionic eyes that can peer into every nook and cranny of every ministry. He has to rely on the goodwill of his ministers that they are doing a decent job and not helping themselves at the expense of hapless taxpayers. This has to keep him up at nights, and it is not fair to him. As any other human being he ought to get his fair hours of sleep to function optimally.
There is just so much a prime minister can do, but he can move to strengthen the governance and accountability framework in each ministry, beginning with the humongous Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation. As I have said repeatedly in this column, this ministry is impatient of rationalisation. The concern here is not about the personalities of the chief functionaries in the ministry, but the interlocking bureaucracy and the attendant lack of accountability that emanates from it. As titular head of this superstructure, is Holness going to hold himself personally responsible for any malfeasance that may be unearthed in this ministry? Can he honestly say that, in its present iteration, this ministry is serving the best interests of the Jamaican people? It may help if he spells out for the people, in Parliament, an answer to this question.
One sees that the Opposition is “in its ackee” over this most recent blow to the JLP Administration. No one denies the Opposition its right to make noise when it sees evidence of corruption in government. But the People’s National Party (PNP) would be well cautioned not to gloat too much over this matter for they come to the table with little credibility on the corruption question, having had to answer to years of scandals and corrupt practices when it formed the Government over the past 24 years. People — myself included — who have had more than a passing interest in Jamaican politics over the last 40 years know only too well the level of skulduggery and corruption that has been indulged by successive governments in this country. We are not likely to be fooled by the new ‘righteousness’ that seems to inflict the Opposition PNP each time a whiff of scandal blows their way from the JLP. We have seen their playbook and so treat every utterance from them with the requisite scepticism, if not disdain, deserved. Criticise intelligently they must, but leave the self-righteous bleating aside.
Jamaicans know that there is rampant corruption in their country. Alexander Bustamante advised that it was from “tap to battam”. It is the party that does the best at strengthening the agencies of government against corruption; that brings the corrupt to face real justice in our prisons; and that moves swiftly in apprehending the corrupt, that will win the people’s favour. Howling in the dark and making hollow promises of what you will do better is not what Jamaicans are about.