As seen in our front-page story there is little if anything that would make anyone with a little discernment, lament Governor Carriere’s leaving Montserrat six months before she was so designated to do.
January 5 2018
She either was not tested nor given the opportunity along lines that would help her to leave with a good conscience of having done her best. “Her best?” Some would say, what we got, “was her best,” they would answer, figuring that we were more than kind with our suggestion.
The 14th Governor of Montserrat Miss Elizabeth Carriere alighted on to Montserrat with a speech that was powerful and promising, which if one were to judge by looking only at her slender physique would believe already she would not be able to deliver. But the saying, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover,’ holds good with us on this side.
Bennette Roach, Editor
Any challenge she would have encountered in carrying out the mandate she had set herself could not have been easier, but one might ask when the following that she said at her very first press conference, Premier Romeo was sitting next to her, welcoming her statements and giving his support as to say that those would echo his governments desires. It may well be that she was very conversant with PDM’s Manifesto. This we wouldn’t doubt after our very first contact and exchange with the Governor.
She enumerated, expanding perhaps on her acceptance speech at an Assembly for the occasion. “One comes under the general question of how Montserrat can turn the corner from recovery to success on its road to self-sufficiency? So this is all to do with the theme of respecting the past and embracing the future and what comes under that is certainly the economy, infrastructure, investment and so on…”
Two: “the second question is, how can Montserrat be made a safer place to live, to visit and to work? That includes preparedness and response to disasters which all of us has been very much engaged with over the last month, issues around criminality and issues around general safety for Montserratians and visitors.”
Three: “Another key thing for me and I know is very important to Montserratians as well is how can we better protect the young and the vulnerable from neglect and exploitation:”
“Fourth. Another question. How can we better develop the huge potential of Montserrat? I know in my acceptance speech I focused on the importance of people as an essential resource the key resource of Montserrat. So the potential of its people especially is youth, is key part of that answering that question. Certainly, the island’s beauty and its environment and the unique character of this island!”
“And finally, my fifth question is, “how can we better ensure that Montserratians get the quality of service they deserve from their Public Service.”
Her Excellency concluded her saying: “These are the key areas that I’ll be looking at working on in concert with my colleagues in government and my colleagues from the UK Government as well…”
This she said at her acceptance speech the day she was welcomed to Montserrat. “I am a firm believer that there is no substitute for good governance; when things get off track, I will be prepared to take action in my role as Governor.”
She should have been asked to explain if it was good governance or good sense for economic development when she fired Gomersal the Program Management expert for ‘no cause’. See her fourth: “How can we better develop the huge potential of Montserrat.”
But having failed to manage and carry out her great intentions, how could she have failed in the area she would have had most responsibility. Sadly, her failure or that she leaves without enumerating the challenges, but shadowing the failures, should cause her concern as she moves on in her ‘career’ if we should believe that, we hope for her that lessons would have been learnt as she had said she needed to do from day one.
We will in time be highlighting just how poorly we would rate her performances with the facts to support. We put those out for our readers to come already to their own judgments. Miss Carriere’s slide strangely perhaps with a year to go really went off the rails after her parting announcement. But, as things have unraveled, she had already lost her way.
