The local government minister is an enforcer not a policy-maker

Dear Editor,

Georgetown is my city, an old and lovely city with a few markings still around that make me remember how it was. When I go about my chores, I sometimes pause at the sight of the City Hall. What I remember was a majestic building now run down and showing its age, like the city. In my reminiscing I think of the great minds that passed through that pristine building and who are probably standing aghast to see their place turned into a victim of vindictiveness. Inside the building there is turmoil that has been going on for some time, and the response of the Minister in charge is both pathetic and unprofessional. His ambition, it seems, is to see how much farther he can push the envelope.

Does the Minister of Local Government know what he is doing? I am sure that when this gentleman is introduced he proudly accepts the designation that he is a minister in the government. And by extension a politician. But is the Minister really a politician? If he were, then he should know the methods which would ease the tension emanating from City Hall. Of course I know that he takes orders, but even his dislike for the present elected council should not have obviated an amicable relationship with them. If you pound your chest and declare that you are a politician, your only reason for being alive politically is to serve the people. Politicians act out of political consciousness to reduce tension. Is the Minister a politically conscious person? I doubt that.

The Minister’s latest escapade shows quite clearly that he is just an enforcer, not a thinker and not a policy-maker. He is instructed to stand resolutely in defence of the unqualified woman who is the Town Clerk (ag). On the other hand his proposed dismissal of another woman who has fifteen years’ experience in her job creates tension with ethnic implications.

I am not sure that the Minister is cognizant of the message he is sending out. If he was a knowledgeable politician he would also know that understanding politics is getting to know how tension works. But since he has no knowledge of that his message is clear: Mediocrity is big in Guyana and so too is incompetence, and we will fight to keep it so. Looking at the cabinet one can see where mediocrity and incompetence can get you a ministerial position in the government or the city council.

What has happened to the Minister unfortunately is that he has been caught in his own tangled web of deceit, which places him between the proverbial rock and a hard place. The truth has jumped up and bitten him and not even Houdini like gyrations can extricate him.

Yours faithfully,
Milton Bruce