You are driving past the Sports Complex towards the airport at 120 kilometers per hour and you are about to hit the intersection (left towards the Marina, right towards La Clery), what are you expected to do as a driver? The answer of course is to indicate and slow down by pressing on the brake. Even the Indy 500 race-drivers know that you can’t take a major turn at 240 kmh. You have to gage the corner, brake, turn, and ramp up again. We know all too well that taking a corner at high speed without braking could lead us to the Coroner instead.

I have been reading with great interest about the Labour Party’s first 100 days in government. I have also heard from a number of private sources that the mood in the country is now quite somber, and that a significant number of St. Lucians are already starting to express their disappointment with the style of governance and rate of change in the country’s economic climate. I am not surprised.

A radical political swing in a country is often marked by mass discontent, crisis and chaos, and a sense of urgency with the social and economic infrastructure. These elements breed impatience. People want change - and they often want it yesterday. The fascinating paradox that appears to be at play here, is that our current crisis has been predicated to large extent by a quasi-dictatorial style of governance over the last 30 years - a style which was non-participatory. The call for quick fixes at a rate to satisfy the St. Lucians, would indeed call for action without consultation (quasi-dictatorial rule) - albeit, a benevolent dictatorship.

While I think that we are well aware that implementing significant changes take time, we must be reminded that the process for bringing about change is as important as the change itself. If change is to be accepted and is to be sustainable, the process must be an inclusive one. The Prime Minister undoubtedly has recognized that. You can’t put a coat of paint on a hurricane-ravaged house and expect it to look good. One must first rebuild the house.

If we are to chart a new direction for St. Lucia, which at this juncture in our social, political, and economic history is inevitable, we must reexamine and modify where necessary, misaligned operating structures. I am reminded of an interesting metaphor. If you run rubber through a glove-making machine, you get rubber gloves, leather, you get leather gloves, cloth, cloth gloves, paiye banan, paiye banan gloves. If the Labour government were to simply run the machinery left by the legacy of the UWP rule, all we would get is more of what UWP gave us.

How do we get "restless natives" to keep calm? It’s a major challenge. Unfortunately, we do not have a legacy of participative management in St. Lucia. It was not a tenet of UWP governance, and it rarely exists in the private sector or our schools. Faced with the dilemma of participative management which requires time and addressing the need of a nation that sees time as a scare to non-existent resource, meaningful progress requires a relationship of mutual patience. The government has to be patient with the people (lead by example), and St. Lucians have to be patient with the government. The choice is between "short-term gain and long-term pain" and "short-term pain and long-term gain". Let me take the opportunity to interject here, that one axiom of African culture postulated by a Tanzanian philosopher, is that Africans are not strongly future-oriented but rather, quite near term-focused. The government has its work cut out for it.

Nurturing mutual patience and trust will require a clever strategy involving a portfolio of public education, participative action, long-term focus, tangible short-term results, ethical behavior, transparency, and information management.

Another critical challenge is achieving congruence in philosophy and ideas among the government officials. While the word Team Labour has been used. The fact is that "Team Anything" is a fashionable term. Even the UWP used it. The so-called teams, don’t always work well for a variety of reasons: not knowing what the term "team" really means, differential intellect among members, differing philosophies, differing power agendas, egos, poor followship skills, poor team leadership, unclear team goals and objectives, and a lack of effective performance measurement, control, and reward mechanisms.

Having said all that, based on what I have read in the papers, I am extremely pleased with the emerging style of governance to date by the Labour government. Of course, I am not naive. There is always more than meets the eye. The attempt at maintaining transparency and the use of a participatory style can be life sustaining, and will serve the country well in the long run if efforts are genuine. It will be a major challenge, however, to maintain such a style. Politics has its moments of truth, and sometimes, transparency becomes substituted by translucent behavior.

I am also quite pleased to see the focus of the new government on rebuilding systems, and establishing order in the society through legal reform. There is a need to maximize the distance of government (politicians) from the day-to-day transactions in the life of ordinary St. Lucians. As such, government and quasi-government organizations and agencies that deliver service to the population must have their structures re-engineered to keep government officials at arms-length.

While the 100 days report card is extremely valuable, to expect major results in that time frame is like expecting a mango tree to bear fruit in three months after planting. The new government needs at least a year before we see a significant directional change towards its professed vision. That year represents the BRAKING PERIOD that government needs before it can free itself from the tendrils of the policies of the last government and successfully turn the corner. During that time, the economic and social ball will continue its downward fall (short-term pain) but at a decreasing rate before it stops and starts to climb again.

In the end, I must commend Dr. Anthony and his leadership to date. He has demonstrated a style of leadership that is modern, revolutionary for St. Lucia, and one that has worked for world-class business organizations. I am sure that in spite of the uphill battle, a committed government nurturing mutual patience, respect, trust, and love for nationhood will have St. Lucia turning the corner in grand style. I would like to appeal to St. Lucians to allow the government to complete the corner before accelerating. If after 18 months there are no real positive signs, then we (the people) must ask some serious questions and the government must be prepared to answer.

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