The arms of the local metaphorical rumour windmill have started gathering speed and names are being bandied around for the vacant post of Director of Sports.
Unfortunately, this coveted position is reserved as a job for ‘one of the boys,’ one of the party hacks of whosoever is the government of the day. Once again, it appears as though another square peg will be foisted upon the nation’s athletes, sportsmen and sportswomen, just like the two predecessors, one from the APNU+AFC administration and the other from the ranks of the current government, during their last term in office. Both were clearly unsuitable for the job and were quite often out of their depth. Naturally, their fragile political egos would have told them otherwise.
Why does it seem that every significant vacancy has to be filled by ‘one of the boys’? Why is it that every important decision which has a long-term effect on us, as a nation, has to be dictated by party politics, rather than national interests? The University of Guyana readily springs mind as one national institution which has been bludgeoned so badly by party politics that it begs the question, why bother to have it at all, if it is not being allowed to serve its defined role in society? (But that’s a subject for another time and discussion.)
The Director of Sports is responsible for the development and administration of sports in the entire country. This position should always be held by the best professional available who fulfils the requirements of the post, rather than one who has an interest in sport and is the bearer of the appropriate party card. As head of the National Sports Commission, his/her vision plays a key role in the lives of the nation’s youth. This is a time-consuming position. This is not a Monday to Friday, eight-to-four job involving congratulatory handshakes and posing for photographs, the favourite activities of all politicians. It is one of those high-energy, demanding jobs where one is constantly on the go and where one must be consistently aware of what is taking place everywhere and what needs to be done to improve the standards of all disciplines across the board. With the recent announcement that the government plans to develop three multi-billion multi-purpose sports facilities at the Anna Regina Ground in Essequibo, the Mackenzie Sports Club in Linden, and the Albion Community Centre in Berbice, the next Director of Sports will obviously be someone constantly on the move.
However, from all appearances, one gets the significant impression that the position of National Sports Director will be filled by ‘one of the boys.’ Once again, the Peter Principle, which has now taken deep root in every strata of our society, will be played out. The Peter Principle, simply put, states that people tend to rise or be promoted to their level of incompetence. The Peter Principle, first published in 1969 by Laurence J Peter and Raymond Hull, argues that in hierarchical organizations employees tend to rise to their level of incompetence. Here, in our rather small society, party members are rewarded with jobs for which they are clearly unsuitable, thus, simply catapulting them to their level of incompetence.
Will this vicious cycle of appointing party members to cushy jobs ever be broken? It does not seem that this is likely in the immediate future. In fact, with the expected influx of oil revenues, this practice can only be expected to become further entrenched, as the ambitious party faithful jostle among themselves for the spoils of power – the real purpose of them being there in the first instance, rather the usually spouted ideological rhetoric. As long as this manner of doing business persists, our standards of performance will probably continue to decline across the board.
How does a society solve a riddle of this nature? Cracking the code of this one will not be easy since it involves the development of a new entity built around the sound principles of professionalism and the determination to run the country as a competent business (which is how it really should be handled). Any such new organisation can expect stout resistance from the current powers that be, on both sides of the fence, even jointly if necessary, if the new establishment is considered a significant threat to their current stranglehold on power.
Unfortunately, until we, as a nation, decide that we wish to be governed by competent professionals, we are going to be stuck with a series of square pegs in round holes.
