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For too long, settling scores has been a disturbing feature of our political life

Jun 21, 2015 Letters

Dear Editor,
If I were a columnist, I would feel obligated to use my craft to contribute to the public conversation and to enable my readers and the public as a whole to make sense of the world they live in.
This means I would have to write about what I observe and see around me. This means that I would have to take the facts as reported in the news, and subject them to analysis and critical inquiry, so that they become understandable and useful to the public.
I would also have a responsibility to ensure my opinions on the issues of the day are endowed with some degree of legitimacy. This would only be true if my opinions have a reasonable basis or at least sufficiently informed to make them sustainable.
I would have betrayed my responsibility if my opinions are merely suggestive of my feelings about a particular situation or person.
I would also have erred badly if I allowed vested interest because of political affiliation or otherwise to colour my views about what I see.
If I see things wrongly, then I should be the first to admit I made a mistake.
But above all else, I would have served the public interest the most when I maintain a critical eye of whatever the government of the day says or does. It would be my duty to challenge every policy, question every decision, even if it is just for the role of playing devil’s advocate. I believe government benefits greatly when it feels constrained by contrary views. Robert Jackson was on point when he said: “It is not the function of government to keep the citizens from falling into error; it is the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.”
In light of this, I believe there are two current issues which are deserving of ongoing vigilance by our columnists.
The first concerns our long standing problem of political victimization. For far too long, settling scores has been a disturbing feature of our political life. It is high time that this tit for tat be put to an end. Our APNU/AFC coalition should not only tell us of its commitment to this ideal; it should show us.
I would be greatly relieved to find out that the current spate of dismissal of public officials has little to do with political victimization, and that something more logical and explicable is involved.
Secondly the scale of investigations and forensic audits of government agencies seems to me to be ridiculously over the top.
Never mind the talk that forensic audits are the way to go. I know of no proven link between the inward flow of foreign investments and transparency in our fiscal affairs. The way these investigations are taking off, they are on track to cost us a fortune.
Our coalition government should be concerned that when money is tight, it is even more beholden to make the best use of it. It should be reminded that the enormous cost of these audits should be matched against any perceivable benefits to the public interest.
It would be regrettable if all that money is spent and nothing to show for it. It is perhaps true to say that a downsized investigation targeting a handful of carefully selected government agencies would be the more sensible approach.
Surely our coalition government would not want a few wealthy and well connected accountants getting richer as a result of this extraordinary amount of audit work.
APNU/AFC’S agenda and its scorecard of accomplishments would not be well served by a fishing expedition that knows no limit.
WESLEY HICKEN

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