Prime Ministerial intervention

Some problems require prime ministerial intervention, and the calamity in which Vinlec found itself over the last few weeks is one such situation.

Despite some views to the contrary, when there are situations which have the potential to affect the national economy or stability, the intervention of the office of the Prime Minister is absolutely essential.{{more}}

The provision of a reliable supply of energy to consumers here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines is too important to leave anything to chance, and from the evidence which unfolded over the last few days, there was the possibility that the load shedding could have been necessary for longer than was actually the case, had the situation not been taken strongly in hand.

From the time our Prime Minister jumped in and took over the situation, the crisis seemed not so much of a crisis any more, the calls of frustration and anger to the radio stations lessened, and all seemed to return to a situation of near normalcy.

This sort of intervention is not without precedent either here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines or in the region for that matter. In fact it shows prudence on the part of leaders of government, especially if the situation, if left to get out of control could have negative political repercussions.

Only a few months ago Prime Minister Owen Arthur of Barbados added to his portfolio control over preparations for Cricket World Cup 2007. The rebuilding of Kensington Oval had been falling behind, and he wanted to personally ensure that everything would be ready for the event.

The only problem with crisis management is that after a while, it becomes unsustainable. Our Prime Minister cannot keep jumping from crisis to crisis, putting out fire after fire. After a while, something is bound to give.

Even taking into consideration our Prime Minister’s phenomenal capacity for work and brilliance, his day-to-day work must be suffering. He is minister with responsibility for several important ministries, parliamentary representative, leader of the house, and lead prime minister on regional issues.

The question is, why are so many situations allowed to get so messed-up that they need prime-ministerial intervention? Is it that somewhere along the line the persons given responsibility for managing different sectors of state administration have been dropping the ball? Is it time for another shake-up?