Aubyn Hill
THE APPOINTMENT of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has ushered in an endless stream of discussion ranging from the freshness and passion of her style, the fact that so many Jamaicans want to be in her presence and support her, the elegance with which she carries herself and the significance and controversy of some of her appointments. But by far the most consistent and passionate topic of discussion surrounding the new Prime Minister at dinner parties, board meetings, office get-togethers and just generally when people meet is Mrs. Simpson Miller's open embrace of Christianity and its principles along with her stated commitment to appoint pastors to boards of directors of government entities.
In the land of dancehall and in-your-face sexuality, in a Jamaica where accountability for public and private corruption is so negligible that it cannot be noticed, in a country where much of the authority of the state has been relegated to the management of dons and in a country which has one of the highest murder rates in the world, the Prime Minister's stand on moral principles based on the Christian doctrine has been jarring to the ears of an important some - luckily not to all ears.
The detracting voices have, among others, the following fears for the Prime Minister's religious position. First, they fear that when things go wrong she and her followers will blame God rather than take responsibility for their misdeeds. These fears should quickly be put aside because the Prime Minister has been in politics long enough to know from experience (of hers and others) that in an open society like ours, she would be blamed for anything that goes wrong whether she is directly responsible or not.
SOME FEARS
Others fear that she will appoint the wrong pastors to boards and still others are extremely wary that she speaks so much about God and that her open commitment to Christian doctrine will usher in a kind of theocracy in Jamaica. It is certainly the right of those of my fellow countrymen who hold these views to express them in our open society, however, it is certainly also the right of the Prime Minister to state her views and espouse a moral position and moral framework on which she will want her government to be run.
The absence of God in our public affairs or talking about God by our leaders has only served to weaken the moral fibre of our nation. It is about time that a Prime Minister set a clear moral tone for our nation, fully recognising that as individuals we are comprised of body, intellect and spirit. We fear, apparently, to speak about the spirit.
I, for one, like the Prime Minister's fearlessness to address the spiritual aspect of our country. But what does all this talk mean to the Prime Minister, pastors, our churches and the wider church-going, non-churchgoing, Christian and non-Christian population?
RING FENCING THE PRIME MINISTER
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller caught in a moment of prayer. - IAN ALLEN STAFF/PHOTOGRAPHER
I believe one of the great outcomes of the Prime Minister's public Christian position is that she has, automatically, to hold herself to a much higher standard of public and private behaviour. This is so because her public commitment to Christian principles is by her own choice and she will be held personally accountable for any perceived or actual departure from this position. Equally important, she will have to keep corruption and those who trade in corruption, violence, immorality, law breaking and murder away from her office. Supporters and detractors alike will hold her to this higher standard. Given our present low national moral standing, this can only be a significant plus for the nation.
When the Prime Minister needs to set a higher moral tone to infuse the operations of the government she leads, she should be expected to turn to the church and the leaders of our churches. Should she turn to dons for moral guidance? Should she even be expected to turn to businessmen whose stock in trade is an inconsistent, at best, weakened moral rectitude? Or should she have turned to the promoters of popular culture who for the most part renounce any kind of moral limits on their behaviour?
MORAL RELATIVISM
There are many Jamaicans who believe that the moral relativism that we have practised for the past four or five decades has done nothing but weaken the moral fabric of the nation and lowered considerably the standards by which we practice government and handle business and social activities. We have waited too long to have a leader who will strike a clear moral position from which the nation will take its lead. The Prime Minister and all of us in Jamaica know that she will pay an extremely heavy personal and political price if her position is taken only merely for political posturing and short term political benefit.
A CHALLENGE TO PASTORS AND CHURCHES
The pervasive discussion of the Prime Minister and her position on pastors on boards has led me to do a little biblical research. I found this passage written by the eminent and very learned St. Paul. I like the way the King James
Version puts it but I quote from the New International Version.
"Now the overseer [pastor] must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family how can he take care of God's church?) In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything. He [the pastor] must not be a recent convert or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgement as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap".
Paul wrote that to his young son in the faith, Timothy (1Timothy: 3). I ask myself what could be so wrong with appointing a person with those credentials to a board of directors that oversees a government entity? These requirements sound like a great set of values. Frankly, more non-government board of directors could do well in using St. Paul's set of criteria in appointing board members after persons are assessed to have particular professional expertise. We have tended to look only to professional experts who are often times bereft of strong ethical or moral principles. The governance of our public and private sector enterprises could have been enhanced if we had used a set of criteria that included the ones outlined by St. Paul. Also, many congregations need to hold their pastors to these high biblical standards.
THE PM AND PASTORS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
In appointing pastors to boards of directors the Prime Minister must be careful that she and her officials do proper due diligence and good homework on the individuals that they will seek to appoint to boards. Using the outline by St. Paul is a good place to start. Pastors and others on boards on which these church leaders will serve will benefit from the sharing of information from business and the expected moral guidance from pastors. Church leaders who are put on boards by the Prime Minister should be aware that they may be appointed by God to the church, but they can be removed from boards by the P.M. or her emissary.
By taking the strong moral position based on Christian principles that she has so publicly espoused, the P.M. will be watched by all kinds of hawks and other animals of prey to see if she will stray from the straight and narrow. They will look for any minute trace of hypocrisy and magnify it and take her behaviour out of context. That, I believe, is a good thing for the Prime Minister and for us who live in Jamaica. I have always contended that if my detractors and enemies would simply leave me alone I might succumb to lethargy and fail. Instead by looking for and highlighting every single speck of perceived weakness, they keep me sharp and on my toes. I must keep myself under constant and rigorous self assessment.
I have learned to treat my harshest critics as very valuable unpaid consultants. I sift through their comments and criticisms and choose what is good, adopt it and change (and often they do not even notice) and reject the rubbish and move on. Prime Minister, do stand firm on your principles, listen carefully to your objective critics, be prepared to change to make things better - but only as they fall within the higher principles to which you are committed. Jamaica certainly needs moral guidance and leadership from the top. Do remember, however, that just as "Freedom is not free", following high principles can be costly - but worth it.
Aubyn Hill is the CEO of Corporate Strategies Ltd, a restructuring and financial advisory firm. Respond to: writerhill@gmail.com
