If it’s one thing the world agrees on with Donald Trump it’s that his move to put tech billionaire Elon Musk in charge of improving the efficiency of the federal Government will bend a lot of folks out of shape. Yet, there isn’t a person in the world who wouldn’t concede that governments bureaucracies are inefficient. Not just the American Government but ALL governments – including ours. Who among us hasn’t visited a government office and had to cool their heels while the government employees yak away on the phone about what a shitty day they’re having. Never mind they’re contributing to the shitty day of the person in front of them!!
And that’s a personalized example. You can extend the concept to every office; every department; every ministry and indeed ever government!! So if you think about it, no one should have any problem when the head of government establishes a “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), right?! We ALL want governments to become efficient, don’t we?? After all if they’re not then it’s OUR hard-earned tax dollars that pay their salaries going to waste!! Point of the matter is EVERY ADMINISTRATION before Trump had attempted – unsuccessfully! – to cut out waste from the Bureaucracies’ Budgets – including USAID.
But only this one has created this much ruckus. Why?? Well merely because Musk hasn’t followed the old way of “reorganizing” and “streamlining” by conducting yet another study that’ll take months – if not years – to compile. By which time the new bosses have settled into the old routines of being buried by paperwork they struggle to get out from under!! Musk, on the other hand, is following the most basic rule of effective management – institute changes you’d conceived IMMEDIATELY!! Don’t get sucked into the morass. And the complaints that kids fresh out of college are reviewing employees?? Well that ensures the reviews are being done without preconceived biases – just according to pre-arranged criteria!! So if USAID’s 9000 employees – only 294 are gonna be retained so be it. This doesn’t mean that USAID needs only 294 employees – just that the number’s gonna be defined by the new programs that’ll now be crafted to further America’s goals.
Now here in old Mudland, your Eyewitness believes that we should institute our version of DOGE immediately!! Just look at what happened to that $100,000 cash grant program intended for every adult Guyanese citizen. It was a disaster…and ended up pi55ing off folks rather than pleasing them!! Imagine these “qualified” government workers couldn’t work out effective systems to distribute checks!! And trust your Eyewitness, we’ll end up with the same chaos with any initiative launched by ANY government ministries.
Let’s have our DOGE established with its sheriff working pronto!! Hee-haw!!
…on PM methodology?
With all the back and forting as elections approach, your Eyewitness gotta really take heed to his grandma’s caution to “pick sense from nonsense”!! Problem is, there’s so much nonsense being spouted, it takes a while to spot the sense!! Take the claim that came out of the blue that the PPP’s then candidate-to-be Irfaan Ali had whispered into the ear of a businessman that he – the businessman – was gonna be his PM pick for the 2020 elections.
Now this came in the midst of all kinds of accusations on land sales from Essequibo to Berbice to folks from Richmond Hill, NY to New Providence!! And so when the PPP’s GS (and VP) explained this was never the way his party went about selecting folks for high positions – your Eyewitness wondered why he even gave the allegation a thought!!
Like them or hate them, the PPP has certain inflexible traditions. A couple being that they follow their Manifesto and select candidates by their Ex-Co!! Yes comrade!!
…in DEI criteria here?
With Trump removing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) criteria from governmental programs, even when USAID returns there’s no more diversity re race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, religion, disability, etc.
