Let's celebrate our success but...

| Friday August 27, 2010 00:00

The latest report by Newsweek, the United States-based international magazine, compares 100 countries in the areas of health, education, quality of life, economic competitiveness and the political environment in each country.  They then develop a grid on the basis of their assessment of each country's performance by sector.

It is not clear what indices Newsweek used to develop the scores, but we are predisposed to take these reports seriously because a publication like Newsweek would not go to such lengths to develop such a report without being serious about the study.

Purely using the report, we have to credit this country and its government with the strides that it has achieved.  It is no secret that this country invested heavily in infrastructure, especially looking in health, education and transport.

We have the physical infrastructure that should provide with some level of pride, at least at the physical level.  We have the buildings and our challenge is to fill those buildings with people with the expertise to serve our people. 

There is no point in going to a glittering hospital to get lacklustre service.  Most of our people have come to accept this situation because they have no other option.

However, that said, we have to celebrate the success that is being recognised by others.

However, we think this limited success should not lull us into a false sense of security.

This country and its people deserve better, and should do better.  We have to choose the right countries to be compared with to show how limited this success is.

We should not be happy to be compared with so-called sub-Saharan Africa.  Of course, we are number one there, but we are number 80 out of 100 worldwide. What is the meaning of this?

It indicates that we are a success story when compared with countries who have had a much more challenging history.  Most African countries are just coming out of unstable political situations, for example.

We have had an extended time of peace.  We have been independent for a long time now.  We are blessed with an abundance of natural resources that other countries, such as Singapore for example, can only dream of.  We should be compared with those countries.  When that comparison is made, we come off worse.

But of course we should not sit back and feel sorry for ourselves.  We need to take our limited success as a challenge for us to devise a move into the next leap.   If there is anything that this state proves to us, it is that we are due for another leap forward.  The time for looking back is over.

                                                                Today's thought

'Economic development is really a team sport.  And I know of no other sport as competitive as economic development.'

                                                                - Jim Kelley