Said by one panellist on a show two nights ago: "You took a talk-show host/swim coach and made him an overnight CEO of a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate and expect him to perform?" The rebuttal: "Yes, but he replaced a glorified fashion designer in the same post."

Both positions sadly are right, and if one were to examine the qualifications and experience of many of our ministers, a clear picture would emerge as to why the great disconnect between what is clearly the need and the ability to not only deliver but to push forward beyond and lead.

Most of our breakdowns are management breakdowns and as this is such an easy problem to fix why aren't we fixing it?

Is it too much to ask that the President be empowered to vet and even veto obvious misfits put into senior administrative government positions rather than just robotically administer the oath of office to whomever is sent his way?

In an absence of precedent or any meaningful oversight for that matter, surely we are at the place where the standards ought to be set.

I put to you that even as certain ministries cannot be operated by persons unqualified or unfamiliar with the profession over which it has responsibility, in others they ought not to as well.

For example and clear to anyone willing to stop and look on at the slow collapse of T&T, the absence of any real social development plan that recognises the ills of society at the cause stage and can put into train programmes and policies to turn the situation around is as much to blame for where we find ourselves today as the problems themselves.

We need an urgent intervention into our at-risk communities with a view towards rescuing and rebuilding the family if this nation is to have any hope for a positive future, and said ministry ought to be manned by persons capable of recognising any existing anti-family legislation or government policies so as to at least be able to recommend what isn't working and what should be.

This is where the rubber meets the road, and if we want to stem the tide of violent crime in the future we have to have this conversation now.

Phillip Edward Alexander

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