Friday Policy Forum Hosts Maxine Henry-Wilson

Tomorrow, April 30, the Minister of Education, Youth and Culture, Hon. Maxine Henry-Wilson, will be sharing from her own experiences of post-election transition periods, and how these impact on governance.
The event takes place at the Management Institute for National Development (MIND), at its Hope Road campus in Kingston. The Minister’s topic for presentation will be, “Post Elections: Management of Political Transitions and their Impact on Governance”.
JIS News spoke with Minister Henry-Wilson, who said that there were a number of issues which the post election transitional period presented, including the period from appointment as a minister, to the time one actually arrived at the Ministry. She also added that the “honeymoon” period after elections is becoming shorter and shorter and that there was a difference in the American model of the transition as opposed to the Westminster model.
In response to the question of whether the previous era of two-term governments had led to developmental setbacks for the country, the Minister said, it was important that governments fulfill the objectives they had laid out before the electorate, during the period of campaigning.
She also noted that “…it is the right of an incumbent regime based on their manifesto and based on the fact that they do have a mandate from the populace, to implement their policies,” while adding that, “.over the years the gap [between political parties] have become narrower, because of less ideological and programmatic polarization…”
The Friday Policy Forum is a monthly gathering of senior executives from the public and private sectors, as well as academia. It is organized and hosted by MIND, under the direction of the Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Carlton Davis.