Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar told an audience at Harvard law School on Tuesday successful leadership is a function of committed followers, noting that a leader’s performance depends on the cooperation and contribution of others.
She said it begins with a vision and a framework of ideas that inspires others. “In today’s world, an enlightened citizenry, empowered by global communications is not prepared to be dictated to, but want to contribute in a meaningful way in crafting their future,” she said.
Persad-Bissessar said the demand for dialogue between the governors and the governed has never been as intense as it is today because people want some control over their future.
“I am certain that it is as a result of my fellow citizens’ belief that they were being genuinely invited into a partnership that they voted as overwhelmingly as they did for my people’s partnership government; a government consisting of a coalition of five political parties, including labour,” she said.
She said her government’s official policy is one of people centred governance that requires openness, continuous communication, transparency, wide stakeholder consultation and consensus building in decision making. It also requires that leaders maintain close contacts with constituents, she said.
“The paradigm of governance has shifted from one of authoritarianism or different degrees of the same to one where the people view themselves as employers of the government “with the right to fire as much as they hire through the democratic process of the vote.”
She said twelve months ago she never expected that she would be standing before a Harvard audience as Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. However she said what made it possible was a process of consultation and consensus building with as wide a cross section of people and interest groups.
She said that caused her to make “the leap to contest the leadership of my party, a victory that propelled me to the position of Leader of the Opposition.”
She spoke of the dilemma she faced in making the decision to contest the leadership of her party against its leaders and founder. She said that’s when she recalled the style of Mahatma Gandhi that there is nothing as powerful as the force of character, nothing as persuasive as personal conviction and nothing as transforming as prayer.
“I applied all three in my fight to first unseat the leader of my party and then the sitting Prime Minister, all within the space of five months. I believe that if one puts God in front and trusts in Him and if one has a mission to serve, then success is ensured,” she said.
The Prime Minister also spoke of the importance of coalition building in Trinidad and Tobago’s complex and diverse society. And she said she and her colleagues devised a winning formula which she will not change.
“I believe in the power of consultation to secure cooperation. The priorities of the people must be reflected in the policies and programs of the government. Through consultation, you seek to ensure that the people share in the national patrimony…it was our success at building a coalition that created the belief in the population at large that our People’s Partnership could win.
“My approach since winning power has been to continue and even enlarge this process of consultation and consensus building. This is why I choose to spend so much time meeting the people in their villages, identifying with their issues and responding to their concerns,” she said.
She explained that it was that same rationale she used in creating a Ministry of the People to help government respond quickly “to the needs of the challenged, the vulnerable, the poor, in particular, as well as de-bureaucratising government.
My mantra for members of my government is simple – we have three priorities: “Serve the People, Serve the People, and Serve the People.” I believe that the most powerful leaders are servant leaders,” she declared.
She also spoke of the style of Nelson Mandela, which she said also provided her with the inspiration to lead, stating that like Mandela she believes that in order to lead one must first listen.
Persad-Bissessar said there are times she thought she would never make it to the leadership of her party although that had been her ambition since she first entered politics more than two decades ago. She said she learned that success would depend on enlist the support of volunteers.
“I did not have the financial or other resources to hire a paid staff. Managing volunteerism is a special skill which you need both as an aspiring leader and as well as Prime Minister. I have learnt also that having won it is most essential not to forget those who laboured to get you to the top,” she said.
Persad-Bissessar added, “You must lead from the front (that is what you were elected to do) but you must never ever leave your base behind. If you do you won’t stay in power for long.”
She spoke of her life experiences that prepared her for governing. “I was born a Hindu, attended a Presbyterian secondary school. I was baptised as a Spiritual Baptist. I studied, lived and worked in Jamaica. I studied law in Barbados. I went to school in England.
“These experiences taught me to value diverse cultures and peoples and the success that can be achieved from synthesizing the richness of this diversity. It created for me an understanding of the importance of being open to all peoples and the realization that everyone is capable of contributing to the whole, she said.
“If I were to answer as to my leadership philosophy, I would answer in one word, inclusiveness. My country had suffered enough from people who lived on the margins of national life. It truncated creativity and stymied nationalism. You cannot become a competitive nation with only half of the talent and energy of your people,” she said.
She spoke of the difficulty in constructing her government and the severe criticisms “from my faithful party members that I am appointing political enemies to positions of influence” noting that “when you have a philosophy of inclusiveness, this is a real challenge. It is a delicate balance which I must achieve in the interest of uniting my country.”
Persad-Bissessar said race, religion and culture have always divided Trinidad and Tobago because it was always considered politically correct for politicians to use divide and rule and keep one group would perpetually stay in opposition.
“Such a strategy came out of our colonial experience where the colonial elite thrived on the principle of divide and rule thereby creating deep divisions within our society. They were not interested in building a nation. Instead they were exploiters of material and human resources - which always leaves a nation impoverished.
“A society can progress economically even in the face of such division but such progress will not be sustainable. In addition there will not be the cohesiveness to build a nation.
“I have always been troubled by divisiveness, by inequality of treatment, by favouritism, by political patronage and social inequalities. As a child, I witnessed and experienced it all. As an attorney, I have fought such issues in the courts. I have always wanted a fair society, a society that rewards merit,” she said, adding that the majority of people also wanted an end to divisiveness.
The Prime Minister said the reality of Trinidad and Tobago’s demographics and diverse culture made it clear to her that she could never win an election only with the support of the Indo population. The election results, she said, proved beyond a shadow of doubt that the philosophy of inclusiveness, fairness and equality of opportunity which I advocated resonated well.
“The litmus test of this was in our sister island of Tobago where more than 90% of the population are of African descent and where we won both seats,” she said. .
She also spoke of the challenges of taking urgent and meaningful measures to alleviate the hardships endured by large proportions of the population – where there is the urgent need to feed the hungry, to provide decent medical care for the sick, to provide assistance to the elderly, to educate the young and provide meaningful jobs for the population as a whole, the temptation is always great to look at the end and use it to justify the means.
“I have told each member of my government that we shall not build this administration unless we build it on the rock solid foundation of integrity. It is indeed axiomatic to say that integrity leads to truth. Truth and integrity lead to cooperation and peace and that cooperation and peace lead to prosperity,” she said.
“Our goal is to create a socially cohesive, globally competitive nation with justice and equity for all. We recognise that we can only achieve this goal if we can engage the creativity and engender the highest levels of cooperation from everyone in our society.
“Our strategy will be the same as that which we have so successfully employed in the past, of seeking the cooperation of all our people through a process of consultation and consensus building,” she stated.
She also spoke of the need to sustain her coalition, noting that another coalition in 1986 that swept the government party from office did not survive. She said she is determined not to let this happen again.
“To keep the coalition together means the art of negotiation. Coalitions represent interests. A leader must always be sensitive to this…I believe that if leaders of the coalition genuinely believe that they are sharing in the leadership, the coalition will grow in strength,” she said.
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