…stocktaking of Govt resolutions
Now that the year is slowly winding down, it’s as good a time as any to look back at resolutions made in the past year, isn’t it? When it comes to governments, their resolutions are the promises contained in their Manifestos. And for this PNC-led coalition Government, your Eyewitness, in the spirit of the season of goodwill, will be kind: he’ll just look at the promises they vowed to fulfil in the first 100 days. Without stressing it’s more than 500 days past that deadline!
Right off the bat, there’s that “significant” salary increase they had promised government workers. Will that ever be fulfilled? Whatever happened to all the monies the PPP was “siphoning off” that would’ve funded the raise for government workers? Was there in reality, no “siphoning” or is the siphoning still going on? And we can’t really buy the standing libel on government workers by the Finance Minister that they’re “lazy”.
Nor that the economy ain’t doing so well. If that’s so, how were they able to afford that 50 per cent increase for themselves? And if, as claimed, the increase was to motivate the Ministers to put their shoulders to the wheel… the results haven’t exactly been sterling, have they? And it sure hasn’t nipped the incipient kleptomania bug, has it?
Then there’s that promised “reduction of the President’s Pension and other benefits”? This, of course, was to underscore their criticisms of President Jagdeo’s pension – which, was described as “obscene”. Well, not only have we not heard a peep about establishing the Parliamentary Committee that would’ve circumcised the said pension – the Government had the chutzpah to introduce a special Bill in the name of Hamilton Green to award him a Prime Minister’s pension ON THE SAME “OBSCENE” TERMS!!!
Well, the Public Procurement Commission was finally established – albeit 400 days late. But according to Mrs Corbin, its Chair, it seems the Cabinet has to be “weaned” off the “no objection” power they still insist exercising over mega contracts!! Ahh… the dangers of suckling on the mothers’ milk of contract graft!! And while we’re on the subject, where in the world is that promised “Investigative Commission on Corruption”? Or will we continue to have Cabinet members auditing each other when caught with their hands in the cookie jar? All in the family, eh?
After a high sounding set of “principles” were announced, there’s also been a deafening silence on the “Code of Conduct for Parliamentarians, Ministers and others holding high positions in public office to abide by.” Or is it since the members of Parliament are all addressed as “Honourable”, the PNC-led Government has decided on using an “honour system”??
There is, after all, honour among men!!
…challenge
“When it rains, it pours” used to be one of those clichés that weren’t even used about the wet stuff that fell from the sky. No more – at least here in Guyana. So what’s going on? Is the present inundation a random throw of the climatic dice or is this the beginning of the big “CC” – climate change? While for lots of folks up north – like a majority of Trump’s cabinet picks – the topic is either academic at best or a figment of the fevered imagination of those “tree huggers”, we in Guyana can’t take the chance, can we?
But with us being so small, what exactly can we do? Move to higher ground, for one! First of all, we need to remind ourselves that our forefathers created most of our present living space with their bare hands. And if need be – and the “need” looks like it’s quite nigh upon us, doesn’t it? – we can do it again. The first time around, it was done through the forced labour of slavery and indentureship.
But surely we can work without whips?
