Unfulfilled promises

Jun 16, 2011 Editorial

There are times when with all good intentions, the government would promise to execute projects and programmes. Sometimes, the elements would conspire to thwart the government but they would only delay the projects and programmes
Two years ago, President Bharrat Jagdeo, at the Summit of the Americas told a press conference that within months Guyana would follow the rest of the major Caribbean countries and introduce Freedom of Information legislation. The government Bill is called the Access to Information Bill. Trinidad had one and Jamaica had one. Guyana, once the most literate of the Caribbean countries, was without what the world now sees as an integral piece of legislation.
The world contends that governments need to be kept in check and one of the sure ways of keeping Governments in check is to allow the media access to government information for the benefit of the people who choose the government.
Indeed, in neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago, the government was forced to act on a media report about a contract. She cancelled it because she was unaware of it and because the award appeared questionable.
The very media were instrumental in exposing a massive airport fraud in Trinidad. In the end people were jailed.
President Jagdeo’s promise of the Freedom of Information legislation within a few months of his pronouncement was never kept. When the issue came up again, again there was another unfulfilled promise.
More recently, the Cabinet Secretary has been left to explain the delay in the promulgation of the legislation. Some of the arguments he proposed were that there was the need to have people draft the legislation. He then said that the draft had to be fine tuned. Then he said that the government was waiting on the draft Broadcast Legislation since the government wanted to table both the Freedom of Information and the Broadcast Legislation at the same time.
A fortnight ago and more than two years after the Presidential promise that the legislation would be tabled, Dr Roger Luncheon announced that the legislation would become a reality by now. In fact, on June 1, he said that the legislation would be tabled within two weeks. The two weeks have come and gone and like the promise by President Bharrat Jagdeo two years ago, it remains empty although the Cabinet Secretary says that it is in Parliament but that Parliamentary mechanisms now delay its presentation for debate.
Surely the government would not enjoy the reputation of being long on promises and short on execution. The very government has been known to become angry for much less. It is this failure to deliver on promises that has people questioning so many aspects of the government, more so its pronouncements.
It would be nice if the government could make a reality of some promises. However, it continues to defy logic and reason. It is as if it intends to keep taking the populace for granted. For example, while it is not involved in the actual construction of the road leading to the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric project it remains silent on the road project.
It may argue that the powers that be who are public servants are monitoring the project and are making the necessary pronouncements. Indeed these public servants are critical of the project. They now say that the road failure threatens the very hydro electric project.
The most recent failure to deliver on a promise involved the Enmore Packaging Plant. Criticisms led to the bold announcement by the Minister of Agriculture that he would open the process to a forensic audit to silence the critics.
A private citizen with support from the Managing Director of Kaieteur News, took up the challenge. The Minister of Agriculture said that he was not bluffing, that he would authorize the audit. Needless to say, there was hesitation on the part of the sugar company. Another promise by the government was about to fall through.
Some find this highly irregular since the audit has nothing to do with the Auditor General. Was there some plot to fabricate an excuse? And to add salt to the wound, the sugar company issues a statement that it is committed to the forensic audit.
Things like this can happen because people have become apathetic. They have been fed so many inconsistencies by the government that they hear the statements but do not listen to them. They feel that like all other governments there will be statements and unfulfilled promises.

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