#BTEditorial – A rearview mirror of convenience

If you have ever had the chance to watch the brilliant skills of the likes of Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Viv Richards, Sir Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, or any of the cricketing greats who have represented the West Indies, two things would strike you.

Firstly, you would be impressed with their ability to masterfully play the correct shots at the right time when the appropriate balls were delivered. Secondly, their spirit of discernment while at the crease was second to none.

The joy not only came when they entertained with sixes and fours but also when they decided to allow some balls to pass by untroubled.

This cricketing analogy known as “a leave-alone ball” becomes absolutely necessary when in a leadership or management role. As human beings with limited energy, limited brainpower and the inability to be omnipresent, we must be attuned to what balls we should play and which ones we ought to let pass.

Recent events and how some situations have been handled by Prime Minister Mia Mottley signal that it would do her well to either watch some of these old cricket games or spend time with a few of our local cricketing greats.

While her performance over the past three years is debatable and while the current COVID-19 crisis has shown up some glaring inefficiencies in her administration, it would be prudent if the PM only plays at deliveries she has to.

An article written by Barbadian research scientist Dr Melissa Goddard was recently published online by the not-for-profit Antillean Media Group. In the story headlined: COVID Surge in Barbados Points to Policy Failures, the doctor used facts to support her position that the surge in COVID-19 cases was due to Government’s mismanagement.

As an individual, Dr Goddard rightfully voiced her opinion as a Bajan as well as a qualified health researcher. Indeed, every single Barbadian in our 287,000 population has the right to speak freely in this still democratic society about the management or mismanagement of the pandemic.

Unto to whom much is given much is expected and therefore our Prime Minister has to appreciate that when you sit in the driver’s seat you must take criticism as willingly as you accept praise.

In public life there are some things that become par for course; negative criticism is one of those things. Leaders must ensure that their backs are broad. The popular adage reminds us “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”

It was not so long ago when Mottley was an Opposition Leader walking out of Parliament, marching with the trade unions and merchants, rubbing shoulders and calling for a reduced Cabinet and for Ministers to be fired. What a difference seating arrangements in Parliament makes!

This was the PM’s response to Dr Goddard: “I don’t necessarily agree with Dr Goddard, but I believe she has a perspective that needs to be heard and I am hoping that at some point we can meet with her and hear what she has to say in more detail… So, I look forward to meeting with her, hearing her perspective — whether virtually or actual face to face.”

But this begs the question: Why must the PM meet with a critic? Why can’t Dr Goddard’s article be treated as a “leave alone ball”?

It was amusing, too, to hear the PM say this is not the time to look back.

“But I don’t know that there is much to be gained at this time from focusing on the rearview mirror. We have, as I said, to get ahead of this issue. . .,” Mottley said.

This is the same Prime Minister, who along with her 29-member Parliamentary group stood at every turn from May 25, 2018, to February 25, 2021, and referred to the previous 10 years of the former administration as “the lost decade”.

The “lost decade” phrase has been repeated even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic where the BLP Government hails the success of the Best-Dos Santos Lab and Enmore Isolation Facility daily –  two facilities that were established during the DLP’s reign during the same “lost decade”. Maybe the decade was not such a huge loss after all.

How does the PM decide when to look in the rearview mirror and when not to? Is it okay to look back to three years but not to four months?

The allegations of COVID-19 mismanagement go back to November, the start of the tourism season. This is four months ago. To date, 25 people have died since this second wave. Twenty-five families have been in mourning and have been left broken and shaken.

The rearview mirror cannot be selective or convenient. Either we are looking back or we are looking forward.  And if we are looking back there has to be more utility in looking at the recent past if we are to get out of the current crisis.

So we agree with you madam PM. We must now “get ahead” but if we fail to acknowledge or accept that mistakes were made during this crisis, we may be doomed to repeat said mistakes should a third wave of COVID-19 come our way.