The BIG restart, the New Deal

I was listening to MinPres last evening, always good to listen to her, but did not read anything into what she said about our big restart, the much-needed reconstruction of this country, or the lean and mean new GOA, eliminating waste, emerging from the crisis with a higher sense of purpose among its public workers and a much higher appreciation and respect to the public, receiving an equally high appreciation and respect from the public.

I read in the NYT: “Every disaster shakes loose the old order: The sudden catastrophe changes the rules, and demands new and different responses, but what those will be, is the subject of the battle. These disruptions shift people’s sense of who they are and what their society stands for, what matters, and what’s possible, and lead often to deeper and more lasting change, sometimes to regime changes.”

So far, nothing here.  

I also had expectations when listening to the governor on Sunday night, but his was a nicely worded, short, fatherly address, he called for solidarity and sacrifices which might have been construed as a precursor to the BIG restart and the New Deal. Did he alert his audience to the serious reductions in public-servant salaries?  No, he did not really say anything specific about getting us out of the hole, though, from a trust-building perspective, his presence was appreciated. Grant Thornton enjoyed nationwide attention, I guess they sponsored the broadcast.

I endured considerable criticism yesterday about not including more women in my list of business and organizational professionals who have extensive experience transforming large organizations, public, semi public and private.

I compiled a small list of people who I thought may help us formulate the future, the post-corona era, a list of professionals who will provide us with insight and vision, marrying long term sustainability for the island’s economy, balancing stability and growth.

Why didn’t I have more women in the mix was the most vocal complaint, Aruba has many astute business women and organizational gurus, they should be recruited and come on board.

Right.

On this Tuesday morning, mid CoVid19 threat we are dreaming of an improved Aruba at the hand of a taskforce consisting of the right people with the right capabilities, working for the good of the country.

When the late Betico Croes conceived our Status Aparte, he never thought, not in a million years, that his Caribbean isle would fall into the hands of white collar criminals who would plunder its riches, and leave it bankrupt.

But we don’t wanna do this now. Now is not the time to point fingers. Now is the time to put our heads together in a TWO pronged approach. Unity is what we need:

  1. Create a kind of War Cabinet, of key ministers, dealing with the day to day issues, a handful of experts, not 21
  2. Select a Turnaround Taskforce, setting up and executing necessary reconstruction strategies.

Do we need a constitutional change for that? Go head, just do it.

Because, with two separate entities, one in charge of STABILITY and the other in charge of GROWTH / SHRINKAGE, with the MinPres in the lead, pressure will be alleviated at the top.

As the minister of innovations, MinPres already started an innovation track, which is needed more than ever to jumpstart social-economic innovations. That innovation track is an integral part of our Growth / Shrinkage team.

One of my friends called it the NEXUS CONCEPT, with a taskforce operating as a nexus, the connection, between GOA, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and CAFT, making sure all elements of our system for the transformation of Aruba into a sustainable society of the future, are in sync.

So basically we still need our good ambtenaars, they are the professionals who keep the wheels turning, however the New Deal will assign them to inspiring jobs, doing something of value, saving our butts, filling them with a sense of purpose and job satisfaction over doing something totally meaningful.

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March 31, 2020
Rona Coster