The Tribune

WHILE some may disagree with Rev TG Morrison, Pastor of Zion Baptist Church, on various social issues, many agree with a number of compelling points he made at the Majority Rule Day Service in January of this year.

Rev Morrison bemoaned the deleterious effects of having unqualified and utterly incapable people leading key institutions in the country. He was blunt in his critique, which included various public appointments made by both major political parties.

Because of the endless dumbing down of our institutions over the years, which continues to worsen, many of our core institutions are declining in esteem and less fit for purpose.

We are undermining our capacity for long-term development and the delivery of basic services. An extended parody is in order.

During the Summer Olympics, a dear friend is near incommunicado for almost two weeks, except when she reaches out to her friends by telephone in glee and excitement, or bitter disappointment, when one of her favourite athletes or teams triumphs with a gold medal, or experiences “the agony of defeat”.

For her and a global television audience of at least three billion, the Olympics is a celebration of human endeavour, talent, discipline, resilience, and dogged effort. We marvel at the skill, physical endurance, team effort, and athletic prowess of some of the best sportsmen and women in the world.

This year’s Games will be held from 26 July to August 11 in Paris. There will be approximately 10,000 athletes from over 200 nations competing in 32 sports in 306 medal events.

The modern quadrennial Games, the world’s biggest multisport event, is the brainchild of Pierre de Coubertin, a French historian and educator. They were inspired by the Olympic Games of Greece. De Coubertin appreciated the role sports played in fostering discipline and character formation.

How does one qualify for the Olympics? According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC): “Some sports, like shooting and taekwondo, offer quota places for National Olympic Committees (NOCs) based on performances of individual athletes, but the NOC in question can select a different athlete to take that place at the Games.

“In team sports, nations need to earn their place through strong performances in either the World Championships or continental competitions or continental or global qualifiers …

“The IOC sends out invitation letters to all NOCs one year before the Opening Ceremony and those NOCS then submit entries for the Games who are then approved or otherwise by the IOC.”

Note that there are several levels of qualification. Athletes have to demonstrate competence and “strong performances”.

The Bahamas has punched above its weight at the Olympics, especially in track and field. We revel in our athletes who have made us proud, whether they medaled or not. They represent the best of The Bahamas and the world.

Because the Olympics represents a gold standard, consider a parody intended to suggest a few points about the talent required to build and sustain our Bahamas. The 2028 Olympics will be held in Los Angeles.

Instead of fielding athletes based on experience, performance, capacity and discipline, we should choose our 2028 Olympic team based mostly or purely on political connections, party membership, or patronage, regardless of their competence or ability.

We should prioritise the families of Stalwart Councilors from the PLP or Meritorious Council Members (MCMs) from the FNM. Further, those who donate funds to the parties should be given a leading voice in those chosen to represent The Bahamas.

Athletes should no longer be chosen primarily because of their talent, experience, or capacity for growth and development. They should be chosen purely for who they know and as a matter of favoritism, nepotism, or paternalism.

The bar for becoming a member of our Olympic team should be as low as possible, and not primarily determined by merit or skill.

Thankfully, they would not qualify for the Olympics. Why then do we so often appoint individuals with scant expertise or experience to lead us, including at the cabinet level? Why do we have so many incompetent people leading public and private institutions?

Why do we grant a King’s Counsel designation or appoint as an ambassador those who do not deserve or qualify for such designations or appointments? Why are various key public boards led by individuals who lack basic capacities?

The IOC requires: “In team sports, nations need to earn their place through strong performances in either the World Championships or continental competitions or continental or global qualifiers.”

Yet, at the highest levels of The Bahamas, we have individuals lacking in basic skills and strong performance, who utterly, miserably fail to qualify for the posts to which they are appointed.

The Bahamas is not alone in this. There are patronage appointments throughout the world. But we have taken dumbing down and slackness to new heights. We excel in outward appearances, profiling, and lack of substance.

There is a story of a former cabinet minister who, upon arrival at a new post, spoke glowingly to public officers about her resume and supposed intellectual abilities. The minister proved highly incompetent and incapable, typically blaming others for her failures.

The Dunning–Kruger effect, named for social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger, is “a hypothetical cognitive bias”. People with low ability suffer from an “internal illusion [overestimating] their own ability …

“The miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self … It is related to the cognitive bias of illusory superiority and comes from people’s inability to recognise their lack of ability.

“People with high ability at a task underestimate their own ability … The miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others” being more capable.

The sport of competitive swimming is arguably one of the most disciplined of sports because of the daily routines required. Bahamian Arianna Vanderpool Wallace excelled in international competitive swimming.

Vanderpool Wallace is the only Bahamian swimmer to hold United States and NCAA records in swimming. She was the first swimmer in NCAA history to swim the 100 yard freestyle in under 47 seconds.

Now nearly 34, Arianna started her swimming career as a nine-year-old in The Bahamas, never dreaming that she would one day be on top in any event among the most competitive swimming nations on earth.

She participated in three Summer Olympics: Beijing, London and Rio. She made the finals in London, becoming the first woman from The Bahamas to make a semi-final and final in a swimming event and being ranked as high as third in the world in one of her events.

Besides becoming the youngest person from The Bahamas to ever qualify for an Olympic event, she also became the first Bahamian to win a medal at a World Swimming Championship, a feat that she accomplished with a bronze medal in December 2010.

Many of Vanderpool Wallace’s early years were spent as a competitor for the Bahamas in the Carifta swimming championships. She holds the distinction at Carifta of winning every freestyle swimming event in her age group (50, 100, 200, 400 and 800 metres) two years in a row.

In most areas of professional life, training, certification and ongoing development are critical for success and service. We would be derelict, irresponsible in sending a completely unprepared teacher into the classroom or an untrained lawyer into the courtroom.

Yet, disturbingly, in the downward and dysfunctional spiral in our democracy, we continue to recruit and elect unprepared and incapable individuals to the House of Assembly, many of whom are appointed cabinet ministers, sometimes with terrible outcomes.

It is important to be respectful and considerate. But along with Rev. Morrison, there is a blunt reality we must face: there are too many dull-witted people leading private and public agencies and institutions, who are lacking in intelligence, experience, basic skills and good judgment.

Thankfully, we will continue to field our best talent in the Olympics and other athletic events. Arianna Vanderpool Wallace, Shaunae Miller Uibo, Steven Gardiner, decathlon athlete Ken Mullings, and Devynne Charlton, have demonstrated what we can achieve on the world stage in athletics.

If we can achieve this in athletics, certainly we can achieve this in myriad other fields. Can we at least try to do considerably better in recruiting, nurturing, and sustaining similar such talent in those fields critical for developing a country desperately in need of such expertise?

It will not be easy. But, the present disposition is failing us miserably.