Caribupdate Weekly, Editorial
March 28, 2018
The cabinet of ministers, headed by Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, has had a working week to settle into their ministries and begin the serious business of governance of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. There is no denying that the administration has set a bold agenda for this new five-year term.
Outlines of the agenda were presented during months of political campaigning and in the manifesto published by the New National Party (NNP) for the March 13 general election.
In the manifesto of the NNP, which won the election in a 15-0 clean sweep, the party expresses a commitment to continue building the Grenada economy “so that job-creating economic growth and sustainable development will be guaranteed; standard of living is improved to the level where every family is decently housed with adequate access to healthcare’’; and where “social security safeguards are maintained for the most vulnerable’’.
Goal-setting by any entity, government or private sector business, is admirable but requires certain accompanying factors for transforming goals into reality. Among the most important factors are the determination of the project leaders, financing and personnel to execute the policies aimed at achieving the goals.
Dr Mitchell, in his roles both as Grenada’s prime minister and leader of the New National Party, has repeatedly emphasized that he will spare no efforts in meeting the targets he has set for improving the Grenadian people’s lives. “The next few weeks,’’ he says, “will be a period of reassessment and reassignment in this perpetual desire to make government work better for people.’’
According to the prime minister, the members of cabinet that were sworn-in last Sunday are “fully cognizant of the challenge ahead’’ and are “willing and able to face them head on’’.
“I have stressed to each and every one of them the necessity to come to this job, and to govern with humility and with respect for the people,’’ Dr Mitchell said on Sunday, while reiterating a promise of greater investments in the economy for more job creation; expanding the tourism and services’ sectors; encouraging higher efficiency in modern agriculture; providing more training and scholarship opportunities for young people; and also making it easier for them to establish their own businesses.
As well, said Prime Minister Mitchell, “we shall embark on a deliberate policy to turn the creative arts sector into a genuine industry with real futures for our young people; and we shall invest in sports as worthwhile endeavours that will open up additional opportunities for them.’’
Clearly, government will be looking anxiously to the opening of a viable energy sector, with the recent discovery of oil and gas in Grenada’s waters. The NNP, having won the election and now the governing party, says in its manifesto that the party “envisages that the energy sector can become one of the most important elements to engineer a higher standard of living and a better quality of life for all Grenadians’’.
The manifesto, as a policy document, was written by party activists of the NNP. Now, Prime Minister Mitchell and his team of ministers must transform the manifesto promises into government deliverables and must have buy-in from the senior levels of the public service.
As Caribupdate Weekly pointed out in an editorial two weeks ago, no matter how ambitious or well-meaning a government is, it will get nowhere if those who manage the public service on a daily basis are unwilling or unable to execute the plans and programs of the ruling administration.
