Kristen Gyles | Why not Fayval?

As at the time of writing, Prime Minister Andrew Holness is yet to announce the name of Jamaica’s new finance minister, in light of Dr Nigel Clarke’s impending transition to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as deputy managing director. As the head of an at-risk political party, he may be weighing public sentiment, so as a member of the public, here are my two cents:

Suggestions for Fayval Williams to be named as finance minister are well reasoned and practical. Currently, Minister Williams heads the education ministry although she is not an educator, education administrator or education ministry civil servant or affiliate and has very little professional background in academia. Because of her inexperience in the field of education, she struggles to energise the disengaged and disillusioned teachers within the education sector and appears not to have much experience from which to spring novel ideas of how a dynamic and ever-changing education sector can be transformed in light of what seems to be overwhelming levels of illiteracy and innumeracy.

On the other hand, she is an accomplished businesswoman and finance professional. Minister Williams is a chartered financial analyst, holds a master of business administration from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University, according to the OPM website. She has also functioned both locally and internationally in high-ranking positions within the financial industry such as in the capacity of chief investment officer at JMMB Limited, senior vice president at Putnam Investments, a top-ranking investment management firm in the US and as executive director for Kingston Properties Limited.

It is actually very curious how she ended up being assigned to the ministry of education in the first instance.

DOES NOT HAVE THE CHARISMA

Critics of Minister Williams’ ascension to the position of finance minister have argued that she does not have the charisma required to take up the position and is not a favoured candidate among the average Jamaican voter. This is exactly what is wrong with Jamaican politics. At some point competence must be prioritised over charisma and the country’s affairs must be prioritised over party politics.

Yes, charisma has its place in politics. Certainly, it may be a ‘make-or-break’ kind of attribute for politicians who run for representational posts. However, charisma cannot be the number one consideration when seeking a finance minister. In fact, charisma is a dangerous quality to have when one is clueless and lacking in proficiency and competence since it is very easy for charismatic politicians to win the people over to unsound policies simply because they can articulate them well.

The prime minister and the people of Jamaica should consider what it is that enabled Dr Nigel Clarke to function as effectively as he did in his role as finance minister. Dr Clarke is one of the few cabinet ministers whose ministerial portfolio aligns closely to their training and expertise. He was largely able to do such a great job as finance minister, precisely because he has received extensive training in the use of numbers from top-ranking educational institutions all the way up to the PhD level and because of his extensive slate of experience which is surely too long to list here.

Though never the centre of the raucous and divisive political stone-throwing and quarrelling we have gotten used to, Dr Clarke demonstrated a level of confidence in his abilities that would have undoubtedly come from his training. He has made several bold and unpopular moves including the shift from exchange rate focused monetary policy to an inflation-targeting monetary policy regime from very early in his tenure. The decision to prioritise debt repayment was also controversial and drew the ire of many who felt people were too poor for the minister of finance to be wasting public funds to repay debt. Last year’s decision to restructure the financial regulatory system after the twin peaks regulatory model, though controversial, also reflects his own confidence in his understanding of global financial standards, best practices and norms.

GOOD EXAMPLE

The point here is that Dr Clarke is a good example of how well a ministry can function when its head is eminently qualified and experienced in the relevant area.

While it seems many Jamaicans are interested in seeing a politician they like assume the role of finance minister, the prime minister has been presented with a good opportunity to signal to the Jamaican people that he is committed to appointing competent professionals who are worth the big salaries being offered and not simply committed to defending party loyalists.

There is another issue Dr Clarke’s announced appointment to the IMF has raised. All the reforms associated with the review of Jamaica’s constitution (which is gearing up to take several more years) have not been widely discussed and so it is still unclear how much reconstruction will be done to the electoral system. However, what is now being highlighted is exactly how restrictive our parliamentary system really is. With Dr Clarke leaving the Government, the parliament is forced to elect one of its own members, specifically, a member from the House of Representatives to function as finance minister. That seriously narrows the pool from which the new finance minister may be chosen.

Is there any will to change the rules of a parliamentary system that forcibly excludes many prominent non-affiliated Jamaicans from participating in national governance at the highest level? Maybe not, but that is another issue for another time.

Kristen Gyles is a free-thinking public affairs opinionator. Send feedback to kristengyles@gmail.com and columns@gleanerjm.com