Jobs for the boys: It's all about swing time

In what Attorney General Anand Ramlogan once called the pendulum swing, the country's leading State companies have new presidents. Whatever the merits of these appointments, there are sensible questions to be asked. And since answers are not usually forthcoming, it is on bare politics and ethnicity that the National Gas Company (NGC) and Petrotrin appointments will end up being judged.

For some observers, the Petrotrin and NGC appointments fit neatly with one of the AG's pet subjects — ethnic imbalance within the State. In a November 2009 commentary titled "Qualified but rejected", Ramlogan considered the restocking of the State-owned sector from the ethnic pool of victorious parties and cited research by Richard Thomas. Thomas had looked at 295 persons in what was described as the "top ranks" of 17 State entities and found 60 "Indos", as Thomas and Ramlogan described the ethnic group.

Petrotrin and NGC were amongst the 17, as were the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (AATT), Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC).
In his commentary Ramlogan concluded that the "statistics provide irrefutable evidence about the exclusion of Indo-Trinis from state corporations." He also noted that "the figures are probably no different in the foreign service, security service and public service in general. The reverse is probably true when the UNC was in power. The pendulum swung from one corner to the next. Can we ever realise that elusive dream of equality and meritocracy?"

On that issue of meritocracy the NGC appointment raises a few questions. With the push to replace senior executives at 60, the country has fallen victim to discriminatory fixed retirement ages, denying itself talent at its best. It appears that meritocracy disappears at this pre-determined age and change is forced. Second, even within these well-appointed boardrooms there is no succession planning. With each pendulum swing organisations are put at the mercy of political doodling. Third, NGC's chairman makes a valid point about leadership differences with and without foreign "head office" support. But it is because an NGC president does not have foreign "head office" support, that person must meet specific criteria. An NGC president must have deep executive expertise; well-established relationships with and the high regard of local and other gas-industry executives; and an ability to command the fortunes of the gas company in a challenging global and industry space.