Dear Editor,
A year has elapsed and, at best, the reviews are mixed. In some instances they are downright damning: expectations dashed, promises undelivered, hope squelched. From other quarters, there is watchful restraint and the caution of waiting optimism. Regardless of the recommendations of either position, there must be a far different picture come May 2017. It has to be.
First, the deliverables promised in that manifesto are compacts with the Guyanese people, and must be done deals. There cannot be any halfway measures, pending developments, or shaving and shading. By May 2017, the promised deliverables have happened or they have not. It is said that a week is a long time in politics; well, the incumbents have the eternity of a year to make good. It is a pivotal year ahead, and the issues need neither enunciation nor enumeration. Remember: the first and only word is: deliver.
Second, ministers have to grow and grow rapidly in the operations and command of their portfolios. Managerial skills are noticeably lacking from those who were once mainly sole practitioners and functioned in one-man, shoestring shops. The long steep learning curve requires time. That is scarce, and neither elastic nor forthcoming; to many they have had enough. Thus, ministers have to dedicate themselves to learning on the run, compiling long hours (who cannot work smart, must work hard), and mastering the tradecraft that comes with their responsibilities. For starters, this includes managing people, money, communications, critics, crises, and the attendant politics. They must manage both optics and aroma. In the words of Lord Macaulay ministers must transform from being “all sail and no rudder.”
Next, seasoned corruption investigations must be put to bed and people put before the bar of justice. Society thirsts for its pound of flesh. If not, due to surrounding circumstances, then stop flogging the corruption horse (it is close to dying already), and move on to other matters. Examples include job creation, a more favourable investment climate, and discontinue lamenting about bureaucracies and re-engineer them.
Further, crucially positioned institutions as in the GPF, the GRA, the GPL, and the state media network, to identify a handful, must continue to evolve (and visibly so) for the better in transparency, timeliness, and irreproachable performance. These are but byproducts of honest endeavours. There cannot be talk of business and investment, only to be faced with lumbering bureaucracies and cultivated intransigence. That Guyanese Tammany Hall, better known as City Hall, must be catapulted from its antediluvian mentality and reconfigured into the 21st century. There is no law against dreaming, is there?
Fifth, anything suspicious or sensitive or scurrilous relative to money, personnel, or practices must be dealt with in a forthright and unambiguous manner, and quickly, too. No excuses! No sacred cows! No exceptions! We shall see.
Sixth, the quiet purge of narcotics capitalism must proceed unabated, if not with greater intensity and more results. It is part of the saving of this society, and elevating it to more constructive efforts and ambitions.
Seventh, state boards are expected to stand as serious sentinels of the people’s interests and welfare. These boards cannot be bureaucratic Maginot Lines locked in the past, immovable in outlook, and costly in presence. They must be more than a line of inquiry; they have to develop into one of attack, and become a respected and feared presence wherever they huddle. Theirs must be the intelligence of a shepherd and the tenacity of a British Bulldog.
Eighth, this issue, this vision, this calling embedded in social cohesion needs to take wing in the coming year. It must soar; or it will suffer from the dullness of verbal overuse, and abuse. Let it not be relegated to the emptiness of meaninglessness. It must be fuelled and set free; or it stalls and stops. In this year, there must be undermining of the psychology of ethnicity.
Separately, the critical have protested, sometimes rightly so, that some (self included) have given the government a pass on occasion. I agree, as I believe that it is due, given the preponderance of an iniquitous legacy, and the narrow span of time; there has to be careful equipoise. To refresh the memory of the forgetful, the same exhortatory, supportive, cautionary postures formed part of the record of appeal to the previous administration in the early days of this century. Then the screws tightened. They will get tighter today and tomorrow too, as warranted. Blindfolding of self is not an option.
Last, the government of today must appreciate and realize one thing on which there can be neither debate nor negotiation nor dissembling. It is this: the absolute worst nightmare for a great many citizens of this longsuffering land is for there to be a repeat, or continuation, in whatever limited slimmed down fashion, of the type of government experienced before. To repeat for emphasis: this would be the worst nightmare of the thinking, the conscientious, and the patriotic. There is no more room, no tolerance for the danse macabre that was, and which was an insult to governance.
Now, the government is duly forewarned as to expectations and mindsets. To paraphrase Gandhi: thoughts lead to words, words become actions, actions transform into habits, habits mould character, and character inspires destiny. If this government strives to be on the right side of the law, ethics, and honour, then it would be well-positioned to make good on a worthwhile embraceable destiny. It starts with one defining thought and committed patriots. They had better be present. The year is underway and the watchmen watch. Now the clock marches relentlessly forward. The year ahead can make or break: it can make minds and hearts be receptive to the realities of a new way; or it can break the residue of fragile beliefs that remain.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
