Submitted by Yardbroom
Deliverance from Whom?
Leadership to Where?
Pragmatic in what we can reasonably afford.
All underpinned by “INTEGRITY” for without that, we are nothing.
In a matter of days Barbados’ electorate will go to the Polls and elect a Government for the next five years. The time for crunching figures is over. The pollsters have trotted out their numbers, the columnists showing bias have pontificated on the rightness of their selections and those in the shadows with much to gain, have invested their dollars and largesse to be distributed, no doubt expecting a large return on their investment. The manifestos are near ready but they too rely on that word INTEGRITY for without it, they will be as useful as a loser betting tickets discarded at the Garrison Savannah.
I asked deliverance, from whom? Deliverance from those in the shadows, whose faces are never seen but their dollars are. They do not mount platforms and tell ribald jokes, and their parentage, domestic arrangements and physiognomy are never questioned, but like a fox at a Leghorn fowl shin-dig, they cannot be ignored.
Leadership to Where? Often it is not a question of what colour the boat is, but who is pulling on the oars. It is here also that INTEGRITY stands in the way. Everything must be underpinned by it, for without that we will continue to spin tops in the mud, and be as nothing.
In a contract for 5 million dollars and there is a million dollars cut, that million must be made up, either in the quality of materials or the level of service, because inbuilt in the arrangement will be less inspection, quality and accountability. Then there is the question of firm employed, all will not play ball, so the one that does come on board, even if of questionable bona fide will be used. Even as important in this arrangement, how will you – the elected – and by extension the people be perceived. Away from the white shirts and smart suits in the boardrooms. They – the elected – will be seen as just “another” to bend the knee for a dollar, no INTEGRITY.
Does it matter? Yes it does, for the extra millions many times multiplied could have been more productively spent on the poor and those without white shirts and smart suits.
For those who believe you can properly govern without INTEGRITY being at the heart of what you do. I say it is like asking a compulsive drinker to take care of the uncorked rum bottle and believe him when he asserts, he will not take a drop.
When all the hype is discarded, promises made forgotten and you are alone with your thoughts in that voting booth to place your X, think INTEGRITY. If you can think INTEGRITY before, during and after you have placed your X. You will not be far off, in voting for a Barbados with a future and one that your children and grandchildren will most likely be proud to be a part of.
Yes! just vote INTEGRITY.
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