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Rebuilding Institutions

Sep 06, 2009 Editorial

There is a great deal of criticism of the government of the day as our state and society seems to be sliding inexorably into ever-increasing disorder. Murders and robberies of civilians by members of our Disciplined Forces; governmental servants extorting bribes from members of the public and even the names of high officials being mentioned in the trials of drug lords do not suggest stability. The analogous disorder in the rest of society simply mirrors the anarchy from above.
Much of the blame for this woeful state of affairs lies at the feet of the steady destruction of the institutional base that we inherited at independence. The British left us a judicial system that was the pride of the Caribbean and delivered justice that by and large was even-handed and accepted without rancour by the people. Order was maintained by a police force that was professional and staffed by individuals of the highest discipline and honour. Can anyone today imagine any member of the police force rising to be appointed as Governor General of this country, as a past serving member once was? We could go on but we believe that the point has been made.
The rot did not set in overnight and we must appreciate that it will not be reversed overnight either. The previous administration took up the popular chant of deriding the institutions that sustained our state and society as “colonial” and insisted they be changed. Even giving them the benefit of the doubt that some of the changes may not have been for personal or financial gain, it should be obvious by now that they threw out the baby with the bathwater. Like Humpty Dumpty, it is very difficult to put institutions back together again once they have been shattered. The problem becomes almost beyond redemption, when as now appears to be the case, the administration has suspicions not only of the efficacy of the institutions but their very loyalty.
Institutions are much more than organisations, i.e. the people that comprise them. We can begin to appreciate their complexity and ultimate fragility when we consider the definition of one early student. “Institutions,” he said, “are the humanly devised constraints that structure human interaction. They are made up of formal constraints (values, laws, constitutions), informal constraints (norms of behaviour, conventions, and self imposed codes of conduct), and their enforcement characteristics. Together they define the incentive structure of societies and specifically economies.”
Meddle with one aspect – the enforcement of the rules of the institution, say, and the integrity of the entire edifice crumbles. This is the situation that confronts us today.
We cannot for, instance, select some members of any institution, give them orders that go against the rules of their institution – even if couched in the language of the “greater good” – and not expect those members to soon believe that they are above all rules. All institutions depend on the impartial dispensation of, and adherence to, the rules of the game. The formal rules should only be changed by the stipulated formal institutions- be it a commission, the judiciary, the legislature or the executive. The informal rules can only be changed through education – transparent to all.
At the top of the heap of institutions that must be sacrosanct from arbitrary interference by those in power is the constitution of the land – our fundamental law – that establishes the rules for the other apex institutions of our country. Starting again with the previous administration we have been too quick on the draw to change our constitution to suit the whims and fancy of the latest incumbent. The latest chatter has been the discussion of a third term for the presidency as if the constitution were a mere bother. This attitude undermines confidence in our entire system of governance.
We must begin the process – long and tedious as it may be – of reconstructing our institutions. Let us learn from our past mistakes and do this on the basis of consensus reached among all sections of our society.

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