Dear Editor,
Minister Harmon has not committed any firing offence. He can be rightly challenged on a number of political gaffes, but none rises to the level of termination.
Clearly, the minister has made a number of errors: errors in judgment; errors in choice of words; errors in timing; errors in association; and errors in bearing and delivery over the last year. Again, none of the foregoing amounts to any extreme sanction when contextualized; however contextualized.
Still, there are a few suggestions that I venture to share with Mr. Harmon and the government at this point.
First, Lt Col (ret) Harmon is no longer in the army. He must jettison himself of the mindset that the rest of us (except the commander-in-chief) are privates and corporals. Some humility is in order; some spit and polish vigorously applied from the shoes up is in order.
Second, and related to polish, the new people desperately need a functioning Public Relations group. Please note: not a propaganda machine, not a PR apparatus; but a small dedicated band of professionals to add texture, tone, and touch to the government’s messages and official proclamations. I daresay that the lack of such a smoothening body exposes Minister Harmon et al to the embarrassments of unzipped fly and egg on the face in the form of wayward phrase, and the not carefully thought through decision and action.
Third, due recognition is given to the heralded relationship between the minister and the president. Such are necessary and priceless.
Nevertheless, the president needs to step forward-must do so authoritatively-and steady the ship of state. He can do so by subtly, but unmistakably, rearranging responsibilities. This is what presidents do. The examples of General Alexander Haig and Lt Col Oliver North should be helpful.
Last, it is imperative that the government as a whole go beyond lip service to this servant-leadership business; that it distances itself from earlier and recent governance traditions and practices; that it manifests a thoroughness and depth in its thinking; and that it institutes a system of checks and balances (the buck has to stop somewhere, other than where it does now) that rein in the adventurous, manages the reckless, and disciplines the tempted.
All in all, I see l’affaire Harmon as a crisis of conjecture. Vigilance should follow to prevent deterioration into a crisis of confidence.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
