#BTColumn – Who should I vote for?

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by  Sean St. Clair Fields

I often laugh when I hear politicians say, “if elected,
I promise to do this or that” and after several years have passed when we ask them why their promises were not kept; we are treated to the customary response …… “well, you see what happened is…..”

Perhaps politicians need to put more effort into telling the truth as did one European comedian/actor turned politician, who reportedly told voters that “if elected, I promise that I will break all my promises”.

Interestingly enough, he won his seat by a huge margin. Why was that? Maybe voters saw him as a straight-talking, practical, honest politician.

Now as it happens in all elections, I believe anyone who is interested in voting will at some point during the campaign give consideration to who they should vote for and why.

There are numerous reasons why people vote for a particular candidate. Some vote because the candidate is representing the political party that they support and even if that candidate appears to be woefully insufficient, loyalty to the party is absolute.

They are others who vote for a particular candidate simply because their parents/guardians/mentors encourage them to do so.

Then there are those who vote for the candidate because they have been “active” in the community or they have a nice personality or vibe about them. Yet, there are others who vote for a candidate because they want the leader of the party that candidate is representing to become the Prime Minister.

Whatever the reason(s) that influences our selection, we should never underestimate the importance and impact that our choices have on the type of government that is selected and its capacity to effectively manage our affairs.

It is widely accepted that the cadre of candidates that a political party has on its slate does provide some insight as to the type of government it would become, should it win.

As such, it could be argued that a party with “sufficient” diversification across its candidate’s pool might be viewed as more balanced when compared to one that is mostly comprised of lawyers, accountants and economists.

As we decide who we will vote for, a combination of candidates that are diversified with the necessary skills and expertise to manage our affairs in the type of world we now live, is the one that I am hoping wins.

It may be argued that such a government may not be readily available within the ranks of any one political party and so it begs the question of what a coalition government might look like and how effective it would be, given the diversity of policy choices and philosophies.

I am certain that the mere mention of a coalition government will get struck down by our political scientists, but there are times when we need to try a different approach if indeed we want a different result.

There is no denying that the world we live in today is constantly changing and with the advent of COVID-19, abrupt disruptions to our daily activities is the new normal.

Our agility, our ingenuity, our adaptability and flexibility must be particularly sharp, if we are to survive and make our way through these troubled seas.

It therefore makes sense in my opinion, to ensure that the government that wins in 2022 is the one that possesses the right balance of skills, experience and vision.

Unfortunately, all of us (voters) are only permitted
to vote for

(1) candidate in

(1) constituency.

Our ability to pick who we believe would be the best candidates given their skills and expertise to make up our Management Team (Cabinet) is therefore outside the scope of anyone of us.

In our system of government that responsibility is vested in the hands of the Prime Minister and hence, it is quite possible that the candidate we voted for and who won a seat in Parliament may not be appointed to serve as a member of the Cabinet notwithstanding our opinion of their skills and competence.

For the benefit of our younger unseasoned voters, take note that in our system of government, the party that wins the most seats and its candidates who make up the parliamentary group get to choose one from among them to be Prime Minister.

In such instances, one could only wonder about the nature and type of negotiations that occur as these candidates who won their seats weigh in and choose who they will throw their support behind, to be Prime Minister.

Accordingly, we should not be overly surprised when we see elected Members of Parliament, with no experience or expertise in a specific field, being appointed as the Minister with responsibility for that particular department. Yet we expect our government to function effectively. It’s almost like getting a carpenter with no tangible expertise in plumbing to fix a complex plumbing problem.

To close, I shall like to remind the young people that the future is theirs and not their elders’.

The choice of who to vote for will be hard but whether you pick a candidate to vote for or not, come January 20, 2022 all things being equal, Barbados will have a new government.

So you can either vote for the candidate/government you feel will work to achieve what you require or a government will be chosen for you.

I suggest that you take a good look at the respective candidates, the political party they represent, what they claim they intend to do, their track record as a government or their potential to be an effective government and weigh these against who you think will deliver and also against what the people who you trust have to say about them.

This column was submitted as a Letter to the Editor.