NOT THE JOB FOR ‘THE DONALD’

Feb 25, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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‘Reshuffle’ means to shuffle again or to rearrange and make new. This is an inapplicable word to apply to the Cabinet reorganizations that have taken place infrequently over the years.
What we have interpreted as a Cabinet reshuffle is nothing more than tinkering with a few Ministries. We had that in the past when an additional Minister was added to the Local Government Ministry and when a Public Works Minister swapped places with one of his colleagues. We also had a process of addition such as when Satyadeow Sawh was added as the agricultural Minister.
There has therefore not been any major Cabinet reshuffle. The pack has not been rearranged in any meaningful way and thus it is better to say that we have had a few minor Cabinet adjustments.
It is now being rumoured that there will soon be another such adjustment which will see the General Secretary of the party enter the Cabinet. The rumour mill is buzzing that this move is to bring ‘The Donald’ into the Cabinet since he is the one likely to become the PPP’s Presidential candidate and by working for the government he will become better known and more popular.
Well if this is the rationale for bringing ‘The Donald’ into the Cabinet, I would suggest that he decline the offer. Working in the Jagdeo administration is not going to make him more popular. It will make him more unpopular.
The present administration is surrounded by controversy and ‘The Donald’ should avoid becoming identified with an administration over which there are so many adverse question marks.
He further should not harbour any desire to be part of an administration that will harm rather than enhance his presidential chances. What the PPP needs is someone outside of the government as its presidential candidate so as to distance the party from the record of the present administration which has seen serious allegations being leveled against it.
‘The Donald’ is well known in Guyana. It is totally misleading to conclude that he needs a government Ministry to be better known.
‘The Donald’ is no spring chicken. He has been around for a long time. He has been his party’s General Secretary since the passing of Dr. Cheddi Jagan. He has been a longstanding member of the party and is known throughout Guyana. He does not need the government to enhance his appeal.
In fact, by mixing with the administration he can do just the opposite to his unsullied reputation. He should therefore think twice before he accepts any Cabinet offer.
‘The Donald’ is respected within the party as a man of integrity, and he should therefore avoid having anything to do with the government until it gets its act together. The government is going to be a liability to the PPP come the next elections since there is too much dissatisfaction over the performance of the government.
Obviously there is a need for some changes within the government and thus there may be the temptation to bring in ‘The Donald’ to take over one of the major portfolios.  One Minister has died and therefore thought may have been given to finding a replacement for her.  However, there are other Ministers who have been extremely low profile and therefore serious questions need to be asked as to whether these Ministers are needed at all.
There is no need to call names; the public knows these Ministers who are virtually invisible.
There is also clearly a need to merge certain Ministries so as to obtain greater value for money. The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, for example, can be merged with the Ministry of Education and the savings in administrative costs plugged directly into sports.
Right now the administrative costs of running that Ministry is too high and therefore much more can be done if these costs are reduced significantly.  But this suggestion is not likely to be taken on board since the government seems comfortable with a bloated bureaucracy.
In judging the performance of any Ministry, one has to examine the resources that have been released to that ministry as well as the timeliness of these disbursements.  This is all the more reason why it is risky for ‘The Donald’ to join the government. He may very well find himself in a situation where he is not given the resources to effectively manage his Ministry.
The timing is also not right. The party needs the leadership of ‘The Donald’ at this point in time. Local government elections are just around the corner and there is a great deal of work to be done.
We are told for example that some 18,000 persons have made claims to be included on the voters’ list. The PPP will be required to check each and every one of these claims, in addition to verifying a representative sample of the preliminary list. This requires a great deal of work.
Perhaps though, the government appreciates the work which has to be done at the party level, and this is why there have been rumours that two other Ministers are to be assigned different portfolios.
Perhaps it is not different portfolios. Perhaps it may be that they will be taken out of the government and retired to Freedom House to take charge of the party’s election machinery.

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