In his Sunday Sun interview with Editor-in-Chef Kaymar Jordan last week, Finance Minister Christopher Sinckler reminded me of Julius Caesar in his announcement that, were he to be offered the emperor’s crown, he would refuse it.

So emphatic was he that I got the impression that Mr. Sinckler is prepared to go to any length to say “No” to the possibility of him seeking or accepting the prime ministership now or in the future. 

Of course, he did use one teeny-weeny little word that quietly qualified all of the negatives, and that was “foreseeable,” as in “for the foreseeable future.”

Since none of us have 20/20 vision except in hindsight, it follows that Mr. Sinckler could well seek or accept the job if it came to pass in circumstances he did not foresee.

And to follow this to its logical conclusion, given Mr. Sinckler’s dismal track record in predicting how his dreadful economic policies might work out in 2011, I think it might be wise to rule out “foreseeable” future as an option. Therefore, with so much happening in the economy that the minister of finance did not foresee I predict he will indeed be prime minister one day.

This time last year, the government felt confident it had everything in place. The long and sad farewell to a prime minister who had died in office had been completed, a new prime minister and minister of finance were (note the plural) safely in office, a new budget had been read, and within weeks the central bank would proclaim the very good chance for three percent growth in the economy.

The only trouble was, it turned out that we had one person who said nothing of interest, a second who said things that only added interest (to our debt portfolios), and a third person whose only interest seemed to lie in portraying the economy positively.

These three persons “of interest” would be the main focus of any economic investigation into why the Barbadian economy lay down and played dead while others were fighting back against the howling of the global storm whirling around it.

Still, as this day, of all days in the year, is the one wherein we should have good cheer for our fellow man, let me say something good about politicians.

Among the many, many suggestions for getting Barbados back into the global race instead of sitting on the sidelines nursing our wounds are a few which have to do with something loosely called a new model of governance. Since there is such frustration among us all, especially potential investors and their local agents (like lawyers, accountants, etc.), at how long it takes for anything to get done that requires and official sign-off, these kinds of suggestions centre around transferring “fast track” executive power to some sort of super-office which would not mess around.

This super-office would evaluate the matters at hand efficiently and be able to provide permissions, authorisations and the like for a host of applications for this and that that now clog up the system and thereby cause us to lose business investment.

I am not going to mention any specific functions this office would carry, because they tend to vary among its various promoters.

So here is my plug for politicians: Just because the current batch may have failed us miserably, both in government and opposition, mainly because of ineptitude, inexperience, lackadaisicalness or otherwise, doesn’t mean we should cede real government executive power to some super-office made up of unelected, and perhaps unelectable, technocrats and other people chosen for their executive skills.

We already do this in the Senate and look how well that system works. While there may be a few good senators who work hard and are motivated despite being unelected, too many of them have been put in there as consolation prizes for losing their seats or to give them some governmental experience before running for the first time. Some are put in because the prime minister wants them to take a Cabinet position.

Yes, the Senate in general serves its purpose precisely because it does not have to answer directly to an electorate, but that must always be a secondary position in a democracy. The people with the real power must always, always be elected, and I would go so far as to apply that to senior judges and police chiefs, as is done in the U.S.A.

So, on this Christmas Day, let’s offer good cheer to our fellow men and women who are politicians, for eventually their time, like the proverbial twine (or is it wine?), does run out and the voters get to decide their future.

Happy Christmas to all!