Man from Baker Hill
No person can become a skilled tradesman without help from someone. And therefore any person desirous of becoming a master tradesman should seek to undergo a period of apprenticeship.
Except the master politician, every other tradesman wants to leave his tools with his trusted apprentice. And so he does not wait until he is near death to look for someone with whom to share the fine points of his trade. In fact a master tradesman is always looking for that special person; and when he finds that person, he trains the person, sharing all the knowledge of the trade that he possesses. It is no different with any skilled person or professional; whether it is the fisherman, the printer, the doctor, the professor or the plumber; they all have the desire to mentor someone. Even the elders in the village will spot a talented youth and seek to assign him to a master tradesman so that he can become something of value to the community.
Similarly, except for the aspiring politician, no man or woman waits until he or she is near death to seek to learn a trade. No one would take that person seriously. In fact it is impossible to learn much about anything in a hurry. A person who is in a rush to become something should be likened as a jack Spaniard trying to copy the trade of the honey bee in order to make honey.
This article, dubbed political MENTORIFCATION, is not about tradesmen or about the ordinary men and women of Montserrat whose desire is to practice love and unity among themselves. This article is about the men and woman with extraordinary intentions or desire to exercise power and to influence ‘pseudo change’ on Montserrat. More specifically, it is about being taught the art and science of governance through political management via an apprenticeship. It is about mentoring.
This article is about the lack of meaningful political alliances, political parties or political continuity to plan the ‘now and when’ for Montserrat. But unfortunately, the essence of this article is implied, not expressed.
You may not agree, but it seems as if we have a culture on Montserrat where persons with a desire to Become, idly sit out the ‘quiet non- election time’ days, not learning a damn thing about important matters. Yet as soon as the election storm approaches, and even during the storm you will see persons with ‘election sledge and hammer’ manners or with ‘independent candidate cutlass and hatchet’ tactics rushing to become elected representatives. And when you listen to them, they do not know and will not learn the tools of political constructiveness or political management.
Worse yet, some of us leaders on Montserrat, especially the political leaders, run after the ‘sledge and hatchet’ want to be politicians, grab at them and applaud them, even though we know that they are not suitable for political office. Moreover, of course, we confuse them; we tell them they are part of a political party, even though the so-called party does not, have no intentions to and will not last beyond the day of election. Those who return under the same party name do so after extinction from Election Day to the next election campaign. Montserrat deserves better.
Montserratians, if you and I are feeling the election chill, let us do something before the temperature rises to a fever, because some fevers can turn people mad! And mad people create madness. Nine independent politicians cannot manage a car park, much less a post office; they are the ingredient for political madness.
Believe me; I am tired of political madness and immaturity! Montserrat deserves at least two political parties to contest the next elections. Even now it is still not too late to influence the pathway to political maturity. If the journey begins with the first step and the path is cleared with the desire. Then our first step should be to embark on a journey of Mentoring and political apprenticeship.
Mentorification is my political phraseology.
I believe Montserrat’s political maturity depends on the quality of leadership that each of us can visualize for the journey forward. Therefore, I beg every non-political leader to come on board. Whether you are a preacher, teacher, healer or editor, please become a mentor to some youth. We must see and believe that the youths have in them the ingredients for political energy and hope. And we must see and believe that the elderly possesses some measure of experience or political wisdom. We must therefore seek to blend the elderly and the youths. We must blend wisdom, experience, energy and hope. We must encourage the political apprentices to align themselves with the experienced politicians. We must support all the alliances. We must mentor and guide the hopefuls and aspirants, remaining neutral to their alliances. We might even be bold enough to assign the doubtful to a leader who best fits the temperament of the young aspiring politician.
If the date of the next general election date is set, as the Premier intimated, then the political storm is shaping up. But there is so much work to do in this year of election. There is a dire need for youth and enthusiasm in each political alliance; yet we need experience and wisdom to guide the journey.
Montserrat deserves the best.
Therefore we must start a program of mentoring. It is a good place to start in the journey towards political maturity. We must show to the elder political statesmen the youths who we believe can be and should be trained as politicians; so that these youths can be helped and encouraged. Similarly, we must seek out the youths with potential, inspire them to develop an intense desire to lead Montserrat and point them to one of the elder political statesmen; so that they could learn the craft of political management.
Finally, the essence of this article is this.
Montserrat, in the year 2013, is politically immature! The absence on Montserrat of political parties with structures for attraction, succession and continuity is a sign of political backwardness. In addition, collectively, each of us who holds himself out to be a leader is to be blamed for the political state of affairs on this island. Each of us can offer some political guidance to the youths and we must. The Master politician or Elder Statesman of the political class who has not trained an apprentice as every class craftsman has done, will be deemed a failure.
In other words, Montserrat has been a political failure. Montserrat must enter into a period of political Mentor… Ifi…Cation Now! Or else, Montserrat is politically doomed!
