Dear Editor – Jimmy Rodgers’ signing of the pledge form against corruption is like putting a cart before the horse. He has yet to test his moral values against the challenges of being in parliament.
Former member of parliament for Aoke Langalanga, Matthew Wale also signed a similar document and yet he is not immune from the tentacles of corruption, his alleged ‘dealings’ with a mining company is a testament of that.
Moral values are found in the heart and only God can see the heart of men. It’s unthinkable for a man of Jimmy’s status to foresee the often murky world of politics.
The moral values that each of us have is ingrained in our hearts, the endurance of these values depend on how effective we respond to challenges, in the case of Jimmy Rodgers’ it has to be a challenge from being a parliamentarian.
One cannot equate running a regional organisation with governing a country. These two are totally different from each other.
In a regional organisation, a leader governs by a set of rules that are already prepared and put in place, unlike in running the affairs of the country where the leader has to think constructively and produce objective decisions.
In a nutshell, a leader of a country has to be intelligent and is intellectually of sound mind.
Rodgers also lacks the experience in national leadership. Most of the leaders of regional organisations have once had a stint in national leadership cadre- from being permanent secretaries to even ministers of the crown in their respective home countries.
Rodgers’ previous national leadership role was being an Under Secretary of Ministry of Health for only three years and then he went on to the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).
Rodgers apparently lacks the experience in national leadership and it is even a far- fetched idea to become the political head of the country.
The trail Rodgers left behind before he departed for the SPC, was the invitation of 23 Malaysian doctors who hardly knew how to use syringes at the national referral hospital.
Initially we thought they were real doctors, but it turned out that the so- called doctors were ‘hoax’ and the man responsible for bringing them over is none but Dr Jimmy Rodgers.
Rodgers is obviously an overly ambitious man and everybody does, but it is certainly a gamble to make a pledge against corruption when one does not experience the real test to his or her moral values.
I urge Rodgers’ to be careful from now onwards.
Grant David
Honiara
