Finding the right people for the job

After swearing in Kyle Rudden as the new chairman of the Salaries Review Commission, and Justice Charles Victor Humphrey Stollmeyer as the new member of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission, the President informed us that, “It has been a difficult process finding persons to take charge of the various membership of the various commissions, partly because persons are disinclined to come forward, primarily because there is a sense of fear and apprehension of engaging in public service, especially for jobs, if I may so describe them, that are high in the public domain.” In our society, when comments are made by people in certain positions, they are accepted almost immediately as automatic truths.

We have been groomed to believe that we dare not challenge our parents, teachers, doctors, lawyers, “experts”, and religious leaders because they “know best,” regardless of how questionable the comments are. But, if we all walked around like sheep, there would be no development, and we would probably still be thinking that abolitionism was a result of absolute altruism.

I dare not challenge the President on his experience in, and opinion of the selection of persons to the various Commissions in Trinidad and Tobago, but I’m no sycophant, so I am left questioning the veracity of the substantive content of that statement. In all honesty, it does sound a lot like rumshop logic. How can one limit the selection pool to the same group of people and expect to find the right persons to be Commissioners? It is an affront to the conscience of people like myself to imply that there is widespread fear or apprehension of engaging in public service, when there are many who are desirous of such positions to do good.

In addition to the people with no genuine interest to serve, those who experience the emotions mentioned by the President either (1) do not have the right intentions; (2) have no confidence in their ability to effectively serve (which can be for a variety of reasons, from family obligations to other concurrent endeavours); or (3) have a closet full of skeletons.

The President is an ex officio Human Resource Manager when it comes to this aspect of his job.

And like any good HR Manager, finding the right people requires a broad cross-section of prospective candidates, but this clearly is not the case here. Without wealth or status, consideration for a Commissioner’s position is simply a dream. And who can really find blame in such an approach when the rich and famous have shown considerable concern for the betterment of our country? End sarcasm.

Notwithstanding the aforementioned, considering the neutrality of the President’s position, it may be safe to assume that his selections are based almost entirely on merit. But what exactly is merit? According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, merit is defined as “the quality of being good and of deserving praise, reward or admiration.” With this in mind, a regular man might see factors such as background, education, qualifications, experience, and contributions to society desirable for the position of Commissioner, and I agree. However, these are all extrinsic requirements; it is the intrinsic factors that are most important, but also the most difficult to determine: integrity and passion.

Our TT culture is all about the extrinsic qualifications, and being in the right circles. We prefer aristocracy (status) over aristarchy (ability), even if the person has no qualifications, fake qualifications or a bogus doctorate from Pacific Southern University. The precedent for the wrong people being selected to hold lofty office in our society has already been set, and there aren’t many iconoclastic people willing to change the status quo. Our history tells us that my generation is sure to live to see “Saucy Pow” become Minister of Gender, Machel Montano as Minister of Road and Wuk, and DJ Lurbz get called up to be Minister of Public Affairs.

Integrity and passion for the field in which a person is placed is integral to the organisation’s success.

Only passionate and integrous teachers mould scholars. It takes a passionate and integrous police officer to proficiently perform his/ her duties. So likewise, regardless of extrinsic merit, only passionate and integrous Commissioners can efficiently perform the functions of their respective Commissions.

The parochial view towards the selection of Commissioners is a personal one and has nothing to do with a reluctant citizenry. I’m sorry, but I cannot subscribe to the view that there’s “fear or apprehension” to serve our count r y. . .

it’s just that you can’t go looking for priests in a bar.

J a - mil le85@ msn.com