Commentary

The method chosen by Jimmy Moss-Solomon to highlight his disgust with the poor quality of governance offered by Jamaica's political leaders will hardly find universal endorsement.

Even some of those who share Mr Moss-Solomon's concerns will argue, as Wayne Chen has done, that to withdraw from the boards of state agencies and enterprises, as Mr Moss-Solomon did, will only open their doors wider to the incompetent, the corrupt and the charlatans.

This newspaper, however, believes that too deep a focus on the specific route used by Mr Moss-Solomon to register his protest is to miss the larger symbolism of the act. Mr Moss-Solomon has provided another platform from which to debate and proffer solutions to a problem that most Jamaicans consider to have reached epidemic proportions.

Highly respected business executive

Jimmy Moss-Solomon is a highly respected business executive who held senior positions at GraceKennedy and Company as well as in business-related organisations in Jamaica and the wider English-speaking Caribbean, including the presidency of the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce. He was, too, the convenor of a regional conference on entrepreneurship in agriculture that was hosted by the president of Guyana, Mr Bharrat Jagdeo.

Looked at another way, Mr Moss-Solomon, by virtue of who he is and where he sits in the Jamaican and Caribbean society, commands attention. This is clear from the discussion that has attended his very public resignations from the chairmanship of the Scientific Research Council and as a member of the boards of the University Hospital of the West Indies and the International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Sciences.

"This resignation is due to my inability to accept the numerous incidents that impugn the credibility and honesty of those elected to serve the nation from both sides of Parliament," he said in his letters withdrawing from the posts.

So, Mr Moss-Solomon leveraged his renown to draw public attention to a festering sore. This approach is not to everyone's liking. That doesn't matter.

What is important is that others who share Jimmy Moss-Solomon's concerns take stands in ways that best suit their circumstances, without compromise to the wider cause or personal integrity. The persistent and cumulative force of their effort is likely to deliver change.

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