Interview of The Hon Glenys Hanna Martin, November 14,2022

Caelyn: What part of your personal biography or background led you to this position? The position as a member of parliament/minister of education.

Mrs. Martin: Well, the Prime Minister appoints so wherever he sends you, you go, but when I first was appointed as Minister back in 2002, I wanted to go to the Ministry of Education. I just don't know why instinctively and instead I went to Transport and Aviation twice and on this particular occasion I sort of gave up that kind of ambition, but the current prime minister saw fit to put me in this position, but I think the foundational impetus is this notion or perception on my part or belief that our young people are not realizing their full potential. Its start from the premise that I am subscribe to that our children are exceptionally brilliant and have genius and that our educational system is not sufficiently tapping into that or igniting it and that is the reason why I saw myself as being in a position that would bring about whatever strategies that we could embrace that would have the effect of really awakening this thing in our young people and so that's really what drove me originally to want to go into education and I'm still at it now, 12 months, 13 months or is it 14 14 months now and we are trying really hard to see how we can make that happen.

Caelyn: What experiences have most shaped you as a leader?

Mrs. Martin: Sorry can you repeat that please

Caelyn: What experiences have most shaped you as a leader?

Mrs. Martin: I think my parents, it's the experience of growing up under their wings and watching their responses to a whole variety of things, I grew up in a political household my father was in politics, he was a, I don't even know the word to describe him, he was a fighter and my mother was also a fighter they believed in justice they believed in equity they believed in the dream of the Bahamas and what it could be and so I grew up watching and hearing my fathers' speeches when I was just a little girl, a young girl and then an older person teenager, early twenties, I listened to his speeches and I was very inspired by his speeches and it was more than just a father daughter thing which is a very strong bond you know under the best of circumstances but it was more ideological when I heard the way/how he spoke and what he saw and so I think that has, I didn't realize it until later years that he was my mentor because I worked with him in his own political campaign , I managed his campaigns as I became an adult and I truly believe in his leadership, political leadership and also that of my mother, my mother was an extremely empathetic, compassionate person, she was a great reader so she was well versed on many many things and in fact one of the first books she gave me was the book on the story of Emmeline Pankhurst who was a suffragette in the United Kingdom and I was just a little girl and so it was growing up in a household with a very activated parentage who were freedom fighters and so that influence me greatly.

Caelyn: So, would you say your parents, you just answered that I'm sorry, I was just about to ask, and you literally said it at the end, I'm sorry trying to shake off the nerves

Mrs. Martin: No problem

Caelyn: What does leadership mean to you?

Mrs. Martin: Courage of conviction, integrity, patience and putting yourself in the shoes of the other person, none of these things are easy because it's very challenging in a dynamic environment and so it requires a very conscientious engagement on everything. The integrity, the courage of conviction, sometimes there's a lot of pressures, there's the crowd, sometimes you're the only one. I think leadership is when you are true to those convictions of course there are occasions where a compromise is appropriate, so you have to be able to go into that paradigm of compromise where it does not completely violate, well not completely, does not violate what you stand for so it's a mixture of characteristics that come together in a bundle that help you to I guess set a pace in whatever environment you operate in. I think that's what it is to me. And I think you know putting yourself in the shoes of the other person really speaks to having a level of empathy for any sort of situation that you encounter as you go along and sometimes you get weary its overwhelming, but you have to be continuously guided by that particularly in leadership. The stronger the leadership is the more people will gravitate for whatever issues that they face so it requires understanding that that is really what you're facing and that you have to bring the requisite attention to all of these varying demands, and queries and inquiries and reliance and dependencies that come with leadership.

Caelyn: Would you say that I know you said you grew up in a political household, would you say that your path was always set for you to always become a politician?

Mrs. Martin: No, it was not set, I mean I don't know that's determined by God let me correct that I certainly did not see it nor desire it so no I don't think so. My involvement in politics in my early years was to ensure that my father continued to be reelected and I worked in his campaigns and I went door to door and I managed his constituency office, I helped polls for him because I thought that he brought incredibly valuable worth to the public domain and so that is what I saw but you know of course as time moved on I entered politics quite late, I was in my late thirties so this is not something you know , I see a lot of young people entering now but it was not like that for me it's something that happened but it's not how I envisioned myself.

Caelyn: How do you feel about seeing a lot of young people interested in politics now?

Mrs. Martin: I think it's very good but I think that what young people in politics have to be reminded about is because the nature of politics is such that you know it's a great ego boost and so sometimes we lose sight of the fact that we are just learning I myself at this late stage after all these years I understand that I'm still learning and I sometimes I need to take advice. I think the challenge is for young people is to remain grounded and to understand that you are a student and that there is much to learn and that your role is to learn and as you move through you will become more and more engendered into it and one day you'll be that person for some other young person coming along but I think it's very important to learn and to accept and understand that politics and governance is a continuous learning process and to always keep your feet planted on the ground when you are engaged in the exercise.

Caelyn: What are your professional strengths/weaknesses? Mrs. Martin: Professional strengths and weaknesses, boy that's a hard one let me think, I don't know I think I've been fortunate to have grown up under the wing of a veteran political personality who was very astute and I think I was able to learn a lot from him and my mother over the years and I think that experience that insight and the ability to have worked the ground with him from a very early age and for many years . I think that build up, political build up is a strength that has helped me in my political journey. My professional weaknesses, I think probably patience, gotta work on that one, trying to ensure that I have patience with the many many demands, and the rush that comes externally in the enterprise. I think that is something that I'm working on still. And I think the other weakness is or let me put it this way something I'm trying to develop strength in, listening more to what people are saying because sometimes, especially in certain quarters people's expressions are not textbook so you have to ensure that you are understanding what someone is saying without misunderstanding that person so that you can keep that level of communication going. I think that would be it for me and I'm sure there are a lot more weaknesses I just can't think on them right now

Caelyn: You're good

Caelyn: How would you characterize your leadership style?

Mrs. Martin: Aggressive, demanding, result driven, urgent, I would use those words to describe it. I think I'm very demanding but it's not for me I'm not demanding for myself it's for the agenda, because we don't have time to waste, a political term is a very short term, theoretically its five years and its less than five as you get closer to election, it becomes very noisy, so we have to do all that we can to achieve the agenda and the agenda is not just to be reelected but the agenda is to make qualitative contribution while you're here and so that is, I think that would describe it more than anything, its respectful but it doesn't really tolerate too many down the road, through the corner, up the hills when time is of the essence, so, but you know it's completely motivated by a complete commitment to the Bahamian people and to advancing the agenda for them if we're able to do that, we will do our best to make it happen, so that's the driving force and so because of the fundamental importance of that it requires a really driven agenda and that is what we're seeking to undertake in this ministry at this time and you know in education there is a lot of work to be done and the pandemic really exacerbated those things which have been sort of long in existence in education, deficiencies and weaknesses and then the pandemic has exacerbated it so while this is a very challenging time it is also a time of great opportunity because it allows us to open it up and to see how we can go to the source or to the core of the challenges and see how we can create new paradigms for our young people and our children

Caelyn: That's amazing I'm literally like yes mam I love it, I'm eating this up right now

Caelyn: How do you measure success and how do you learn from failure?

Mrs. Martin: How do you measure success, I guess, I measure it by If you set a goal and you're able to achieve it I consider that a success sometimes along the way you discover the goal is not fully developed because you may envision it but you've not envisioned it fully and along the way you see that goal has to be broadened or whatever but success for me is establishing goals and achieving them and hopefully those goals are worthy, noble, and well placed so when you achieved them then you've done something that is meaningful. What was the other part of that question?

Caelyn: How do you learn from failure?

Mrs. Martin: Oh lord, well the first lesson is to understand that when you fail it's a lesson it's not a devastating blow it's something where you see where you have made mistakes and errors you analyze them appropriately and after you've gotten over the horrible feeling of a failure you keep moving forward because you know the good thing about life it's always a new day when you go to sleep with an issue you wake up with a new mindset for tackling an issue so I learn from my mistakes by understanding that they're lessons and to see what those lessons are and to ensure that I don't repeat those errors that gave me such a harsh lesson, sometimes you might repeat something, I try not to do that I think that a long life journey you encounter challenges you make errors you make mistakes and these are learning stages that take you to a more refined understanding of your reality so that's how I see it

Caelyn:I know we spoke about young people but I just want to touch on young women for a minute. What advice would you give young women that are interested in getting into politics.

Mrs. Martin: Well I always believe that women bring a distinctive presence I think part of the problem is women that are still in the process of finding their own in this country in the political realm we have had some outstanding women who've participated so this is not a general comment but I think that we have to see ourselves as because of the nature of who we are and what we are and because of our journey there was times where women were not full-fledged equal citizens and that was manifested in a lot of ways including not being able to vote and so the fact that we have achieved equal rights basically even though we have some constitutional contradictions, I think it requires of us to be even, and you know it's just not women, I mean black people on the whole when you consider the whole journey of black people and the injustice and the suffering and the painful road that has led to where we are which is one of accomplishment and great triumph that we should preoccupy ourselves with what I always called a redemption or redeeming agenda and so for women who are , we are the mothers in our homes, we are wired differently we have different perceptions, the way we see the world, our emotions and I don't say this in a weak way I know that there's a little boy now out of Hope Town, Abaco and he was airlifted to the hospital here in Nassau but it's not just women but I mean I felt that so personally for this lil boy I never met him but it's just this concept of this baby this child this infant and I think that to the extent that women bring this sort of activated maternal thing and also when you look at our own journey that deals with that has to confront the oppression women have faced over the years and still faced that's the other thing, still faced with domestic violence and sexual violence etc and the stereotypes that we should see our role as advancing a social agenda that moves our people beyond this thing and so I think that we need more, I say all that to say we need more women, because the more women I think that are there the more ethos is brought but I think that women have to move away from, many of us have to move away from feeling that we are jumping into a men's game and falling into that modality and understanding that we are there as influencers and we should use that presence to influence the agenda and not sit around a table and allow same old same old but to cause for these various influences that women have and our insights and perceptions that we are able to refine political agendas as we move forward. That's a long answer but anyway.

Caelyn: No that was so good, you have me encouraged like I'm just ready to hop on a plane get back there and start my own political career

Mrs. Martin: Get your education first and then come hop on a plane

Caelyn: I know I'm just excited

Caelyn: What do you want your legacy to be? After you're done with governance?

Mrs. Martin: I don't really think about a legacy to be honest with you, but I think its important to be accurate to a historical account whatever that account is so that we don't start reinventing or reproducing some narrative that does not reflect history and you see that a lot in politics. I think that you know let me think about that.

Caelyn: Take your time

Mrs. Martin: I think the one thing I would want and I don't know if it's possible but I would want to see a culture of people who come forward in public life to see themselves as servants and to see themselves as and I don't mean that in a subservient way in the way in which that you're people have allocated to you the access and the ability to actually shape , change what they benefit from not me, not the individual, it aint about the individual it's how those people who empower you who ask you to go there and to make it good, make it better, make it progressive that you always understand that that is the agenda that is why you're there and that you do all that you can and you don't look left or right and you don't get engaged in questionable activities which cause the loss of confidence and disappointment in people who put trust in you. So I think the legacy that I would like to be a part of is to is for the shaping of a political culture that moves to a very faithful platform and it can be imperfect and no doubt it will but where the Bahamian people can say okay, I know, I know that you went there and you tried your best for us and so I think that would be the culture of p[political leadership, it shifts and I'm not saying that I'm perfect, I'm far from that, but I have tried, I don't even know if it's an effort but I just feel completely committed in that way and I'm sure there are many others but I think that there is a lot of cynicism by the electorate about politicians and sometimes for very good reason and so I think I would love to see a country in which the Bahamian electorate can sit back and say you know this is what's happening in this country, I can sleep at night, I feel comfortable that there are people fighting for my interest and I'm sure there is some degree of that already I'm just speaking across the board that this is what it is and what it becomes, it probably it may never happen in its perfection but I think the more that it is growned and ensured in public life I think the better our people will be.

Caelyn: Okay this is the last question. What are two or three action steps or however many you believe are essential to enable others to be successful? Mrs. Martin: In politics or where?

Caelyn: In politics

Mrs. Martin: Repeat that question please

Caelyn: What are two or three action steps or however many you believe are essential to enable others to be successful in politics?

Mrs. Martin: I think you have to be knowledgeable about your country and about your culture but also about foreign affairs because we live in a global village we don't live in an isolated reality, so from the range of everything from climate change, to the economy to crime and on and on I think to be knowledgeable about the issues that impact your country you should have a strong working understanding of those issues and to be continuously abreast of developments that impact those issues. I think the other thing is ensure that your word is your bond, credibility is a very serious thing in politics and if the people you represent start thinking your word doesn't mean much you begin to lose credibility and that's everything so I think your word should be your bond. The third thing should be the thing I spoke about earlier would be ensuring that you have a respectful and empathetic spirit in your interactions with the people you represent.

Caelyn: Well, that is all my questions for you!