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by Dr Derek Alleyne
“In very basic terms, political clientelism describes the distribution of selective benefits to individuals or clearly defined groups in exchange for political support.”
(Jonathan Hopkin).
A recent article informed that former Minister of Finance Christopher Sinckler was joining a financial institution as adviser on Caribbean affairs. This comes after months of speculation that the former minister had jumped ship and joined the Prime Minister Mia Mottley train. This was given legs by Sinckler’s comments on the eve of the 2022 General Election that Mottley had demonstrated “good leadership”.
Speculation over Sinckler’s political activity had started when he accepted an appointment to serve on Mottley’s never reported job task force.
Not a week would pass without a question being posed about Sinckler’s political stance. Now he has found a job with an international agency and tongues have started losing their grip on reason.
A few questions impose themselves on the discussion. The first relates to the notion that Mottley recommended Sinckler for the pick. What is meant by that?
Sometime in 2018 the former Minister of Health Elizabeth Thompson took a post within the United Nations as an Executive Coordinator for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio + 20) at the level of UN Assistant Secretary-General.
The then Prime Minister of Barbados, the late David Thompson reported, not that he had recommended the former Minister but, that he had given it his blessing. What did Mottley do differently?
Did she go searching for the job or did she write on behalf of the former minister seeking an audience? Is Mr. Sinckler qualified for the job? I daresay he is!
The second issue that begs attention is the employability of politicians who lose their seat or fail to gain one. Some feel that the independence of lawyers makes the decision to join the political elite an easy one.
Nothing could be further from the truth and while the level of their dependency on government for employment may not be significant, many lawyers benefit and suffer because of their affiliation.
The recent decision of the Teaching Service to place political participants Alwyn Babb and Pedro Shepherd on leave when other political participants remain employed, suggests that party affiliation is a consideration.
Mr. Sinckler was well aware that chances of gaining employment to meet the status that he had achieved without bowing to the political strictures of modern Barbados
was impossible.
Even now when he has gone outside, the narrow interest of this incumbent administration perpetrated by a backward press must now reduce his job advancement to the graciousness of Mottley.
Hilgers (2016) in “Clientelism and conceptual stretching: differentiating among concepts and among analytical levels”explains that in addition to being an exchange in which individuals maximize their interests, among other considerations clientelism is about inequality. That is, “it is a lasting personal relationship between individuals of unequal sociopolitical status”. It is the unusual sociopolitical status that informs the system of clientelism of the Mottley brand.
There was a time when people of high sociopolitical status especially lecturers at the University of the West Indies (UWI) would actively engage political leaders of the region.
In Barbados McClean, Howard, Alleyne and Beckles brought critical analyses to policy decisions that placed the issues closer to the understanding of the general public of the possible impact of the policies.
Notwithstanding the uncertainty of tenure, now imposed in the new contractual arrangements, the Cave appears to have fallen from Hill and what is heard are echoes of the rhetoric sent forth by the government.
The young ones with limited tenure cannot be blamed for securing bread for their families. The result is the absence of alternative views, of critical analysis, and the development of a society of silent men and women. This phenomenon is also manifested in the contributions made in Parliament.
Mr. Sinckler now 54 has a family to feed and in particular children to send to school. Most job applications require references and if Mottley wants to endorse him, hip, hip! In Barbados, to gain employment even at the lowest level requires a connection in red.
Sometime in 1982 the late revered Owen Arthur told the nation in tears that politics had become too much a burden for him to carry and his outburst led him on a path to the Prime Ministership of Barbados. Arthur had framed his matter. Since framing is about reducing any complexity to a concise and convincing message, Hans De Bruijn in Hero or Villain: Framing in Political Communication” explains that “reducing complexity is, however, not a neutral activity, it is a political activity”.
The author further contends that “when you have a good frame, your opponents should think twice before stepping into it. This is because, if they do, they will be forced to discuss the issue on your terms”.
Some may argue that due to politics many of us are making Sinckler the villain and Mottley the hero. And this is so even when every day living in Barbados is dependent on the mood and fancy that stir our politicians at any given moment. God help “Bim” (that should be our new name) now we have become a Republic!
Dr Derek Alleyne is a trade unionist and a member of the Democratic Labour Party.
