Alas! Prime Minister Andrew Holness said something about the SSL scandal that I totally agreed with. No Bailout For SSL.
Still, the PM seems to be upset that some members of the public took umbrage at his taking almost two weeks to address the SSL fraud scandal. But the reason he gave for the delay is worse than the delay itself. He said he did not address the issue promptly because he needed the facts. But Mr. Holness is the Prime Minister of Jamaica. He doesn’t need two weeks to address a critical issue spiraling out of control.
More than anyone else, the public look to him for reassurance and hope in times of crisis. So he must control the narrative and calm the citizens’ nerves. Nobody expected him to have all the details earlier in a crisis-they want to be assured that he cares. So when a leader hides behind the shadows in critical times, people assume he doesn’t care, and that thinking will lead to mistrust. And if the people mistrust you, they will speculate that you are part of the problem or you are protecting somebody.
In late August 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the City of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. The damage was astronomical. Nearly two thousand people lost their lives. But the sitting president, George W Bush, did not handle the devastation well.
Instead of going to New Orleans to reassure the people, he flew over the City in a helicopter. That was the biggest mistake any head of state could have made. It was political suicide for George W. Bush and his party. And Bush never recovered politically from the perception that he did not care. And I am sure that, perhaps, is the one thing that will haunt him until his last breath.
Writing in his 2010 memoir, “Decision Points,” the 43rd president said, “in a national catastrophe, the easiest person to blame is the president,” and “Katrina presented a political opportunity that some critics exploited for years.” He said the poor Katrina response, combined with the “drumbeat of violence in Iraq,” made “the fall of 2005 a damaging period in my presidency.”
George W. Bush
If the PM had jumped in front of the issue and given the people daily updates, he would be a hero. Forthrightness and transparency are essential characteristics in times of crisis.