Former Director for Health Services and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Rufus Ewing appears to be eying the leadership of the Progressive National Party (PNP), but for right now would rather settle for securing the one of the five At-Large places on the party’s ticket in anticipating for the announcement of national elections that is expected later this year.
Dr. Ewing, who was a leading voice for civil servants especially during the twilight months as President of the Civil Service Association, promised The SUN that he would declare his hands during an address at the PNP Headquarters that was scheduled for this past Friday, March 30.
Ewing said that, while he was interested in the leadership of the party, he would not be challenging the current leader Clayton Greene, but would readily avail himself in the event that Greene decided to call it a day.
“I would not announce my candidacy for leadership; that is not up in the air as yet. There is a leader right now in that position, but if he steps aside, I would consider running, but my intention now is to run At Large,” Dr. Ewing pointed out. In the recent past, few voices have come forward urging Greene to demit office, as a result of him being charged with money laundering by the United Kingdom-commissioned Special Investigation and Prosecution Team (SIPT). Greene was charged earlier this year, and like most of the others who had been charged, made one court appearance.
When he was first notified by the SIPT of possible charge, the party leader said that in the event that he was charged, he would consider on whether or not to demit office. But since charges were formally brought against him, at least two prominent figures – talk show host Robert Hall and QC attorney Carlos Simons – had raised objections to Greene remaining as leader.
And while he did not respond to Hall, Greene and Simons veered off into a war of words that was played out through the internet. At that time Greene hinted that he would not be forced the party’s top job, but would rather make up his mind in the interest of the party on whether or not to toss in the towel.
But Dr. Ewing said while he was interested in the party leadership position, now was not the time for having a public jostling, but rather to focus on the future of the country, while endeavor to burnish the image of the PNP so that it would be attractive enough to form the next government.
“Basically, I am willing to speak to the PNP as an organization and the achievements over the years. We will speak to where we ought to be going and where we ought to go, and where we will go in the future. From my perspective, some of the major areas that we ought to be focusing on are education, jobs and employment opportunities and health care issues,” Ewing said.
The aspirant leader told The SUN that one of his main missions was to craft ideas on how to make a push towards independence, so that the Turks and Caicos Islands would be able to chart its own destiny not too long from now. “Another area that I will be focusing on is the push and drive towards independence for sometime in the near future. Right now we should be preparing ourselves for independence, and as time goes by, beginning with the meeting, I will be outlining my vision in that regard,” Ewing asserted.
In the meantime, Ewing pointed out that he was leaving the sector with his head held high, since he had worked tirelessly to make the lives of Turks and Caicos Islanders much better in terms of health care. “Some of them (health care plans that he put in place) people would understand; some of them my staff would understand more that the average man on the street, which include the plan to the strengthening the Ministry of Health to ensuring that there was adequate staff to carry out the Ministry of Health’s policies – that was under my direction and guidance.
The health care system, as it stands now, even though it was put in place by other persons such as Floyd Hall and the PNP, I would still take some responsibility for what is there, even though the policy direction to shape all of it was not my decision, but in terms of having to drive that process, I would take that as well as the health insurance plan.
“There are some challenges with them, and those challenges need to overcome. And those challenges are there partially because of the policies that were implemented, and some of them, because the British Administration just does not know how to manage it, and has not put the policies in place to support it to serve the best interest of the people,” Ewing noted.
He also hailed his passion for the civil service, which he revived and headed up until his last day as a civil servant, as another of his signature achievements. Ewing said he got the Interim Administration to realize how important the civil service was to the running of any country. He last day in office as Director for Health Services and Surgeon came to an end on Friday, March30.
The SUN
