To protect public funds is to become the opposition

Feb 13, 2011 Features / Columnists, My Column

---

The past few days were not pleasant. In fact, they were disturbing because of the accusations and the criticisms from Government circles. Many were caustic with the most caustic coming from none other than President Bharrat Jagdeo.
I edit this newspaper, and one thing that I insist on is professionalism. I would often say to the reporters that they should leave their politics behind, because the reading public wants news and information.
And there has been a lot of news these past few weeks. There was news about the madness that passes on the roads, the action of the police put there to ensure law and order, the murders and the brazen action by some gunmen.
But it was not all bad. There was news about development, the most prominent being the reports on the government’s decision to make the nation computer literate. This programme is known as the One Laptop Per Family programme, and it promises the distribution of computers to 90,000 families countrywide.
I am an educationist. I once taught and I recognise the importance of education. It hurts me when in increasing numbers children leave school unable to read. I have had cause to comment on the quality of students who apply for jobs with all good intentions.
I have even had cause to remark that in my days as a youth, the only people who were illiterate were some rural people, mainly women who grew up at a time when their parents fashioned them for life as a housewife and child-bearer. These were women who were taught to cook and to keep a house.
They were docile and more often than not ended up being the victims of domestic abuse because they could do no more than keep house.
Today, the illiterates seem to be a large number of urban people who perhaps concentrated on the finer things of life than pay attention to what was being taught in school. Many of these are the people who become drug mules and young bandits; the people who would do anything to get money to attend the shows featuring foreign artistes.
Then there are those who graduate from the highest learning institutes in the land but as some employers, among them Clifford Reis of Banks DIH, once said, these people are functional illiterates. Former Education Minister Dale Bisnauth also shared this view.
I found that the problem was that most of them could not read as opposed to recognising words. They were poor at researching thus, when they presented theses and other assignments, the conclusions were shallow. Many would later claim that they could not access adequate research material. It is here that I found President Jagdeo’s One Laptop Per Family programme an excellent idea.
Students would not be forced to lug the massive load of multiple textbooks to school. Further, reading material would literally be at their fingertips. And they would be able to read just about anything. University students from poor families would be able to do proper research from the confines of their homes.
However, the newspaper, while recognising the advantages to be derived from this programme, opted to look at the national picture as it relates to spending taxpayers’ money. Many programmes are conceived with all good intentions, but the execution often leaves much to be desired.
To this end, the paper decided to ensure proper execution, and so it set out to pry into the various aspects. Above all, it wanted to ensure that the money was properly spent. So it was that it sought specifications of the computers, the source and the maintenance programme to accompany such a venture.
Information was not forthcoming and what did come forth was conflicting. On Friday, President Jagdeo himself admitted that his government did not put out enough information on the programme. That being the case, and given his acknowledgement, it was rather strange that he could actually vilify the newspaper for its reports.
What rankled the most was the accusation that by its reports the newspaper had become the official organ of the People’s National Congress Reform. The offshoot of this accusation has been the comment by the publisher, Glenn Lall, that to expose corruption is to end up in the opposition camp.
Far too often people from every corner of the country have been calling to complain about shoddy work undertaken at their expense. There were road programmes that collapsed after a few weeks of their execution.
Many times people would call the newspaper to point out this situation, and on many occasions the newspaper would call the relevant authorities, only to be told that the very people who complained should have been the ones to ensure that the programme was properly executed.
That was most unfair, especially when the very people were unaware of the specifications. They could not be privy to how many loads of sand would be needed, or how thick the road surface should be.
Kaieteur News was also criticised for prying too much. On one occasion, head of the Privatisation Unit, Winston Brassington, told a reporter that the newspaper could have entered a bid. Newspapers are not into the construction business, so this was not only rude and disrespectful, it was also arrogant.
Gone are the days when newspapers in Guyana were merely to report on happenings and gone are the days when people were merely content to sit back and accept what was served to them. National development never came about that way.
I can only suppose that there would be more vituperation in the wake of reports on national programmes.
The government would do well to take the public into its confidence. The details of public programmes are not state secrets. The offshoot is that the government would find itself saving money that it could use to enhance its reputation.

---

---