It is traditional, almost reflexive, that people see in each new year the possibility of new beginnings. Making new year’s resolutions is one outward manifestation of a deep-felt human need to appear to be doing something new or different. It is often a waste of time. No sooner than they are made many people return to their old habits.

The Bible is blunt in describing people who indulge in a practice that is as illusory as fool’s gold. Proverbs chapter 26: 11 (KJV) uses language that needs no theological exegesis: “As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.”

Nineteenth century physicist Albert Einstein, who developed the theory of relativity, would not argue with this harsh but true characterisation. The following often-repeated quote is attributed to him: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

In signalling his intention to reshuffle members of his Cabinet early in the new year, Prime Minister Andrew Holness has fallen to that same practice of buffing and polishing tried and failed actions that cannot produce the desired results.

As I will show, willy-nilly reassignment of ministers to different portfolios is like a game of musical chairs and a colossal waste of time.

An organisation seldom rises above the capacity and capability of the individuals who make up the leadership. It matters not whether that organisation is a business, school, church, or the Government. One way to ensure human capacity and capability is by aligning the academic qualifications, experience, and track record of each person with the requirements of the job he or she is expected to perform. Private sector companies implement processes and expend resources to make the correct selection, especially to leadership positions.

Government, most notably Parliament and the Cabinet, being made up of elected officials, has a particular challenge – candidates voluntarily offer themselves and are selected through the ballot box. Qualification for the job of Member of Parliament or Cabinet minister is not a major consideration.

In Jamaica, for example, parliamentarians do not have a job description much less a list of requirements to determine their suitability. The problem is exacerbated when having won an election and formed the Government, the prime minister must then select from among elected officials of varied and dubious backgrounds people with the prerequisite qualifications to serve as ministers and members of the Cabinet.

The Westminster model of parliamentary Government as practised in Jamaica requires the majority of ministers of Government, who form the Executive or Cabinet, to come from the ranks of elected members of the lower house with a few from the Senate. By contrast, the presidential system, such as exists in the United States, gives greater latitude to the president to go outside of elected officials in selecting the best person for the job of department secretary, which is the equivalent of a minister in the Westminster system.

The mismatch between job requirements and qualifications at the ministerial level in Jamaica compared to, say, the United States, is telling.

Let’s take the education portfolio for example. Minister Fayval Williams, who is best-in-class on paper among people who have decided to enter representational politics, has degrees in business and economics from blue-chip universities. Before entering politics, she had a career as a chartered financial analyst. By contrast, United States Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona is a lifelong educator. He possesses a doctorate degree in education administration. Before joining the Joe Biden Administration he served as Connecticut’s commissioner of education.

To further make the point, the Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton is a business and management strategist, while the Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang is a medical doctor. And I could go on.

The mismatch between the qualifications of ministers and the requirements to perform in their respective portfolios is like putting round pegs in square holes. This can have catastrophic results in a system in which ministers, in addition to collective responsibility for government policy, are expected to function as subject-matter experts within their individual ministerial portfolios.

The mismatch is not solved by a Cabinet reshuffle. In fact, this can worsen the situation.

Let’s again use Minister Fayval Williams as an example. Before being assigned to her present ministerial role she previously served as minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, then as minister in the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology.

One sees at work in her progression a classic example of the Peter Principle. A concept in management developed by Laurence J Peter, which states that people in a hierachical organisation tend to rise, based on their success in previous jobs, until they reach a level where they are no more competent as skills in one job or discipline do not necessarily translate to another.

Stanford University economics professor emeritus and father of the current United States vice-president, Jamaican Donald Harris, upon being awarded the nation’s third-highest honour, the Order of Merit, laid the responsibility for the underperformance of the Jamaican economy squarely at the feet of government. In reported comments he said the failure of the Jamaican society to grow and lift people out of poverty is largely attributable to how the business of government is ordered and managed. A major aspect of this is the system of governance. This will not change automatically upon Jamaica assuming republic status and replacing the British monarch as titular head of State, which is being touted in some quarters as the panacea to cure the largely self-imposed ills of the nation.

In the short term, ministers of Government need to put an end to the emasculation of their permanent secretaries and the civil service in general, where the real knowledge and competence lie. In the longer term the outdated Westminster model, as currently practised, needs to be drastically altered or totally abandoned.

But then, it is the start of a new year when regurgitative reaction to serious problems is the norm. Unless the prime minister has a change of mind, the nation will have to endure another Cabinet reshuffle knowing full well it is nothing more than an exercise in doing the wrong thing well.

hmorgan@cwjamaica.com