…are we going?
After the continued lapses in “good governance” in our poor, abused land, there were some who said all we needed was probity at the top…and all else would follow. By and large, most folks see Prezzie as “decent” as you would want…but the moral and operational lapses in his Administration continue with alarming frequency.
Are we then doomed like that old Greek miscreant who had to expiate his transgressions by schlepping a boulder up a hill and then repeating the labour again and again for eternity because as soon as he neared the top, it fell off his shoulders and rolled to the bottom again? There was hope in some breasts we’d get near the top of the hill when Burnham was ensconced into power by the US back in 1964.
After all, they were fat and rich and had all the things we wanted for the “good life”…by being on their side, wasn’t our bacon browned? It wasn’t, we found out to our cost. We had to start even further down the bottom of the hill from where we’d started when Burnham died. Then came Hoyte, who picked up the boulder and fetched up, up a mite. But he had to let go when he was overtaken by events.
The PPP under the leadership of the old Jagan and then the young Bharrat Jagdeo took charge of the Boulder and there were great hopes for finally reaching the top of the mountain. They did move the rock a good ways up. But they too had to start over after an armed insurrection. And we reach the present where we are clearly enmeshed in futility.
What our experience demonstrates is we can’t just depend on just the bona fides of a leader to break out of our tragedy. As in all tragedies, we also have to deal with the circumstances in which we find ourselves. And unlike what Burnham or Prezzie thinks, our circumstance isn’t just “indiscipline” which will be resolved by militarisation of our society (Burnham) or military fellas running most of our institutions (Granger). Or as Jagan and Jagdeo thought, through economic growth.
Our circumstance just happens to be a divided society where each group wants to see their own leaders in the ruling strata. But we’ve allowed our circumstance to become our fate or destiny – a house divided that will always fall – because we pretended one group’s leader can represent all. Hasn’t happened and ain’t gonna happen even though we may have all the best ideas or plans.
In the end, our rock will slip down the hill, unless our leaders come together.
…are our oversight bodies?
The problem with the PPP – according to the APNU and AFC when they were in Opposition – was they weren’t willing to have anyone looking over their shoulders as they were presumably managing the people’s business with access to the Consolidated Fund. In the new dispensation, all of this would be corrected.
There was supposed to be a Code of Conduct promulgated (within 100 days!) that’d set the parameters of acceptable “conduct becoming a governmental officer”. The country may suffer from induced asphyxiation as they hold their breaths for these guidelines – now appended to PROPOSED Integrity Legislation. One hopes the Government concedes that the 50% hike in ministerial salaries didn’t eliminate the temptation for graft, and the Code with teeth is still necessary.
Then there’s the Procurement Commission the AFC was so hot about, they were ready to endorse the PPP’s AML/CTF Bill if this was out in place.
Not a squeak’s being heard from that quarter now!!
…all the water money
In an endorsement worthy of beatification (a la Mother Teresa), Mrs Van West Charles – nee Burnham – argued for the reinstatement of Goring, the sacked Collections Officer for her husband’s GWI.
What say she now that only half of the claimed $1.9B collected is in the coffers?
