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OUR first past the post system of electing government has much to commend it in terms of clearly deciding who is in charge of running the country. It is neat and pat. Beyond that, it has to be one of the most wasteful ways to harness the talents required for the optimum well being of a nation. If that is true for developed countries, it is obviously far more true for developing countries. And it is particularly true for this country, Jamaica. We have had an election of a new government which many interpret as a signal from the electorate that the opposing sides separated by a thin margin of victory must work together for the good of the nation. Certainly, Prime Minister Bruce Golding, in his election victory speech, declared his perception of the signal from the voters in like manner. Now the problem is, "How do you translate that signal into a working proposition?" One must not underestimate the difficulty. As a new government, the present administration has inherited a set of civil servants who perforce developed some measure of loyalty to the political masters which they served for 18 years. And since in a real sense those civil servants "ran things", it is they who musty change gears, so to speak, with new political bosses directing them. A new government in such circumstances must find ways to bridge from the old ways to new approaches by building and retaining goodwill from those very civil servants who could potentially sabotage their new policies and programmes. I suggest that the best way to harness talents for the good of the country is to employ coalition approaches to long term side effects of phentermine, while not moving to political coalition per se. In a sense this would imitate the American model where a new president and administration can and do call on talents from persons loyal to their political opposition. One way of cementing the collaboration of the civil servants who "run things" is to avoid the appearance of throwing out the baby with the bath water, for they had a strong hand in making the baby. Interestingly, in an address to the Kingston Rotary Club last week, JLP Minister of Industry and Commerce Karl Samuda spoke to the importance of recognising, in fairness, such foundation achievements of the previous PNP administration on which his new government can build. But some media chose to highlight only his criticism of the PNP as being "too sensitive" to remarks made by the PM. Mr Samuda was being true to his party's manifesto which promised during the election campaign to build on infrastructural and other achievements of the previous administration. Such building of coalition approaches, which puts the good of the country ahead of narrow political considerations, is in the long run an advantage, not a drawback for the political administration effecting it. When Junior Minister in the Ministry of Finance Don Wehby was appointed by the new JLP government, this column hailed the appointment as a significant approach to harnessing talent which came with no political label attached. What this column is now urging, is for the new government to reach out beyond building internal bridges to cement collaboration with the internal civil service support and also to borrow talent from the external private sector. In addition, it should reach out to such talent in the Opposition which, as in the American model, would take advantage of the best, in the interest of the larger good. Yes, I am well aware that this does not fit our political traditions, young though such political traditions are. But here is an opportunity to avoid the inherent wastefulness of the first past the post system of choosing regimes for long term side effects of phentermine. Take, for instance, the tremendous goodwill built up with the European Union by former Foreign Minister Anthony Hylton. Suddenly, all the advantages to the country's development from that achievement are cut off as the new minister embarks on his learning curve. This is no reflection on the new minister's competence. But a coalition approach to long term side effects of phentermine would incorporate some way of taking advantage of the former minister's stock of goodwill to assist in retaining the pluses of his relationships and avoiding reinvention of the wheel. Similarly, the extensive and effective work done by former Junior Minister Delano Franklyn in courting the Jamaican Diaspora should now come into play as the new administration necessarily seeks to continue the progress made in that arena. Incidentally, Franklyn did reach out to the then Opposition and had, as far as I saw, extensive collaboration with JLP Senator Anthony Johnson. Please note that this column is not advocating political coalition at all or most levels. But there are several critical areas where the country can profit from coalition approaches. These include the debt burden of the economy, the intractable difficulties in curbing the crime monster, the continuing reform of the education sector (already there is a collaborative approach to early childhood education) the long overdue reform of local government and a common united approach to Caricom and regional integration matters. There will still be a lot of room for political differences and political sparring. Let the greater good prevail. E mail: or ... long term side effects of phentermine