The legendary management guru Peter Drucker famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. He, of course, was talking about business culture and its impact on management strategies for achieving their companies’ goals and objectives. But the observation holds true for all institutions, innit?? Unless you change the culture of the institution you want to be successful, even if you concoct the best strategy in the world, it’s gonna fail. And so, your Eyewitness turns his (troubled) eyes to our challenged Police Force – one of our oldest institutions, having been formed way back in 1839.
And that in itself tells the whole story about the gap between whatever strategy we have been coming up with – seemingly annually!! – to make it become professional in performing its mission to “serve and protect” us, the people of Mudland. At the time of launching of the Police Force, slavery had been abolished just the year before, and the mission of the Force was stated very explicitly – they were to serve and protect the Europeans and their allies AGAINST the folks who’d just been freed after hundreds of years of oppression!! Not without reason; after the violence they had meted out to them in those years, the whites were scared sh*tless that knock got knockback!
So, unlike their friendly Bobbies – who smiled cherubically at wayward children and only had batons to wield against lawbreakers – our Police were armed to the teeth with real GUNS. And were zealously trained to fire them against those who broke the laws – never mind that those laws were made by those same whites to declare what was “lawful” and what was not!! The culture inculcated in the Police FORCE was therefore that citizens were basically savages who’d “riot” – not “protest” – at the least opportunity. As such, the RIOT ACT could be read whenever the whites so decided, and the ranks had to open fire at will!!
This culture has remained ingrained in the Police, who’ve become the most ubiquitous arm of the state, visible to the ordinary citizen!! As we’ve been socialised to accept, this includes the ultimate power of the state – to take the lives of citizens. And while there’ve been some reforms, the militarised orientation stubbornly persists. There’s been, for decades, talk of addressing this orientation by renaming the Police as the “Police Service”, rather than “Police Force” – and changing their Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS) to operationalise the “kinder, gentler” approach. But they haven’t gotten anywhere with that, have they?
The bottom line is: the Police SERVICE should be so named immediately, and the top brass should spend a hell of a lot more of their time changing its culture to operationalise that ethos towards the Guyanese people. It’s all about the culture, budday!!
…in China
There are some who scoffed when Pres Ali remarked that with our new post-oil circumstances, teeny-weeny as we are, we now have the opportunity to influence global politics. Well, the proof of the duck curry is in the eating, innit?? For one, look at all the big’uns who’ve been meeting Pressie at one forum or another. And all those even trooping to our old Mudland – which ain’t exactly been on anybody’s radar since the sixties!!
But if you still got doubts, just look at what just happened in China as President Ali touched down there in his one-week State Visit. The Chinese Politburo got rid of their Foreign Minister Qin Gang – a close confidante of President Xi – and installed an old hand, Wang Yi!! Now, no news agency has connected the dots yet…but it wasn’t no affaire with a newscaster that got him axed.
He was just too blunt when speaking to foreign leaders, and the Politburo didn’t want him rub our Pressie the wrong way!! That’s influence, pengyou!!
…in the PNC
We’ve all got a vested interest in a viable PNC for our democratic future. No…it’s not because we need aggravation, but peace of mind.
But who’s gonna wean them away from their rigging ways? A new leader??
