GUYANA NEEDS A MODERN STYLE OF GOVERNANCE

Dec 13, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

One of the most troubling developments in Guyana since Independence is the style of governance of the present administration. This style is not conducive to development, especially in today’s world where there is a need for greater devolution of powers so as to cater for expansive nature of relations.
Governments today are dealing with ten times the number of issues that was dealt with, say thirty years ago, and the size of governments is shrinking rather than expanding to deal with these problems. Part of this shrinkage is due to the adoption of technology which allows things to be done with greater speed and impact and in larger volumes than ever before.
This is why it is so important for a small country like Guyana to reap the benefits that come with embracing new technologies. The difficulty that governments face, however, is when there is a disconnection between its own way of doing things and the modern way.
Take for example the situation on our roads today. It is only now being acknowledged that there is a major problem developing on our roadways which requires multiple responses taking place at the same time. There is, for example, a need for major traffic revisions within many areas to deal with congestion on our roadways. Correspondingly, there is a need to have expanded infrastructure to address increase in traffic. Thirdly, there is a need to regulate public transport vehicles. Then there is a need to promote greater safety. Also, there is a serious problem with the insurance coverage that many vehicle owners are taking out. Finally, there is the perennial problem with the traffic police.
Now these are multiple problems which means that the responsibility for dealing with these problems should be devolved to lower levels so that decisions can be taken and many things done at the same time.
Instead, what is taking place is that most of the decision-making is being done at the top and therefore only one thing at a time can be done. This is not how modern governments are run. This is stone age governance which is going to always see Guyana trying to catch up with the rest of the world rather than moving forward.
A country today simply cannot be run like a cake shop. The world is too modern, and too many things are taking place to allow for such a style of governance. It has seen Guyana retrogress and we will always be in a fire fighting mode rather than ensuring forward thinking and planning.
Why, for example, was it necessary for the President of Guyana to be meeting with the taxi operators about the colour change for hire vehicles? A President of a country has to be doing that? This should not be happening.
There is no way that anyone will ever find President Obama or even the Prime Minister of England, having to meet with the owners of taxi services so as to agree on a how a colour change is going to be implemented.
These are minor decisions which ought to be handled by some lower level traffic officer.
Once the policy is made by the government, the mechanics should be left to lower level officials who should be held accountable for ensuring its implementation and who should be held responsible for any failures.
Unless these things are done what is going to happen is that only one thing at a time is going to be done. It will be necessary to micro-manage every small project and thus very little is going to be done and Guyana, despite the progress that it has made,
is going to left behind.
We have seen the tremendous strides that Suriname is making. It is moving aggressively because once decisions are taken at the top, it is left to lower level officials and technocrats to oversee their implementation. You will never find the new president of Suriname having to meet with any taxi operators about extending the deadline for changing the colors of their vehicles.
Things have got to change in Guyana and this change has to begin at the top because this is where the main problem is. There is a great deal to be done; there are the resources to do most of it. What is required is for faster decision-making so as to allow for the multitasking.
Guyana cannot go forward with this stone age way of doing things. Even in today’s world , a cake shop owner knows that he needs to adopt modern methods of management so as to stay in the game.
Why then cannot our political leaders realize that things need to be done differently.
If Guyana wants to become a modern developed society, it has to dump traditional ways of doing thing. Cake shop management cannot run a modern day corporation.

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