…in all the wrong places
Your Eyewitness figures the higher reaches of the Public Service must be wondering what hit them over the weekend. It was like the night of the long knives at the Splashmin’s retreat they’d been taken to – ostensibly to review performances. They ended up splashing in the blood that ran like rivulets after the Minister of the Presidency was done.
Permanent Secretaries were sent “on leave”, some were transferred to other ministries, some were switched and a number of senior staff were bumped up. Some ran here, some ran there…and the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth were a thing to behold! The reason given for the roiling at the top of the governmental bureaucratic food chain was they hadn’t spent their budgetary allocations. In some cases, there were only 15 per cent completion rates! Which, of course, makes the Government look bad and the economy worse. But is it really the fault of the Permanent Secretaries?
What about where the buck really stops in the Government Ministries – the senior and junior Ministers? Gosh knows there’s enough of THEM around – 27 at the last count. What’s their responsibility for the abysmal performance? Remember the old folk wisdom – the fish starts to stink at the head? Well, a number of ministerial heads really stink – but they’re still drawing their fat salaries, which were further augmented by the 50 per cent self-awarded raise.
Don’t these Ministers review the performance of their departments on a systematic basis? Is it only at the end of the year that someone woke up and discovered everyone was sitting on their big, fat heinies in their air-conditioned offices? But back to the point we made – which can be made more explicit with an example – the Ministry of Agriculture. Here is a Minister that seems to be lost in space when it comes to his portfolio. How can he drive a process when he doesn’t have a clue about the difference, for instance, between sugar cane or wild cane?
Holder’s management style is reminiscent of GuySuCo’s where we have Field Managers who’ve never seen a field! They sit in their offices and only HEAR about them. And when the cat’s napping, the mice will play! Fact of the matter, this Government thinks it can run on autopilot – with Ministers making grand pronouncements and expecting things to get done by themselves.
There seems to be no urgency with the top-heavy ministerial team. What’s actually needed is for some head rolling to be practised at that level.
Prezzie has to quit with the avuncular style and pull out his own long knife!
…US borders
You’ve got to hand it to the new President of the US of A…the fella doesn’t give up when it comes to pandering to get what he wants. While there appeared to be near unanimous condemnation of his travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, polls showed more than one out of two Americans actually supported him! And we shouldn’t be surprised then, he’s just re-imposed the ban – this time leaving out Iraq.
Your Eyewitness really doesn’t want to get into the merits or demerits of the ban at this time, but simply to point out Trump’s once again demonstrated he knows what Main Street America wants. And that America’s Fleet Street – and its judiciary – are really out of touch with the ordinary Joe and Josephine out there. They’ve confirmed Trump’s charge they’re actually very “elitist”. Now some may say average Americans don’t want Muslims to enter America, because as the polls showed they have “fears” of terrorism and that it’s Trump who’s stoked those fears.
But “stoking” isn’t “creating”, is it?
…oil side deals
We return to Minister Trotman insisting he won’t reveal the ALTERED terms of the contract with Exxon? Any connection to Trump changing the law so US oil companies don’t have to reveal who they paid off?
