Looking Ahead

The Issue: The future of these islands in the first quarter of the 21st Century. What will it be and are we up to the task of building brighter tomorrows?

Our View: Leadership of the 21st Century must competently tell the governance of these islands where are they taking them and why.

Leadership challenge in the new millennium will require more than political correctness. It means one must have a sense of honesty, vision, inspiration, competency and credibility. It means possessing all these qualities in order to deal with reciprocity between one who chooses to lead and those who elect to follow.

Since the inception of our constitutional government in 1978, we have dealt with difficult transition issues that were intended to allow for the refinement of our democratic institutions. We have made some strides in this area although we were equally negligent of the qualitative issues-substantive issues we should have taken up in bold fashion to improve the quality of life of our people-for we were bogged down by the good times of the bubble years.

The good times are gone! The bad times are here! We were caught off-guard because we’ve taken for granted the “good times” as being the sole preserve of these isles. Thus, the apparent complacency fueled by royal manana only to realize a bit too late that we’ve missed the train of opportunities not once, twice or thrice, but time and again. Obviously, we need to work diligently on clarity and purpose so we do not perpetuate mishandling of substantive issues.

This brings into focus the issue of leadership, specifically, who would possess the qualities to engage the participation of governance in his visions to address and resolve qualitative issues through wealth and jobs creation in the first quarter of the next millennium. This responsibility is daunting against the tide of mounting deficit spending and growing apathy from governance not necessarily because of what we’ve done but what we’ve failed to do.

It goes without saying that leadership isn’t for wannabes who wanted nothing else but fame and glory. It is reserved for those with honesty, vision, inspiration, competency and credibility. This is what governance hopes to see in the gubernatorial race for the year 2001 among prospects who think they have the right stuff to lead. Such claim would come under full scrutiny by governance when we come to cross the bridge to determine the new millennium’s leadership. Si Yuus Maase`!