THE GOLDEN RULE

Nov 21, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

I have always argued that even in the days in Guyana when a party card could guarantee you a job in the state sector, if you did not have a party card but you were really bright and hardworking you could not be denied employment.
You, however, had to be far above average. If you were average, you could end up being a victim of the party-card system but if you were exceptional, you would always stand a good chance of securing employment.
You may have to end up working, as many did, under dunderheads and persons of lesser ability that you, but your talents would eventually be recognized. You may not make it to the top but your break would come.
There were a lot of people who are now lining up to see Ministers of the government. They are walking with folders with what is said to be their academic papers. They are complaining that under the previous government, they were not obtaining jobs and therefore they are seeking to do so under the new administration. Others are coming with other credentials. They are claiming that they are party supporters and need jobs.
The new government has to be careful with how it is dealing with these persons because it could create more problems for itself than in the past. The downfall of the PNC government could be traced to developments as far back as the early 1980’s when the then PNC government was forced to retrench tens of thousands of State employees because under the system of paramountcy, party supporters were being employed in mass numbers in state entities without regard to qualifications.
The state sector eventually became so bloated than when the monies ran out, persons had to be dismissed in droves. The PNC became highly unpopular amongst its support base.
A number of persons have lost their jobs since the new government took office. A great many vacancies have been created by these dismissals. But how many of them have been filled by a competitive process? How many have been filled by simply political selections as distinct from political appointments which are allowable for certain high-level and sensitive appointments?
How many of them have been filled on the basis of family or party connections or who knows whom? How many of these vacancies have been filled by a competitive system?
There are many supporters of the government who need jobs. But the way to fill vacancies is to advertise them and have all those eligible apply from which the best candidates will be selected. Handing out jobs without a competitive system is unfair. It is unfair not just to those who are not party supporters. It is unfair also to some party supporters who are denied the chance to compete for a particular job. Party supporters are being denied a fair chance because of the lack of interview process for some jobs where the appointees are handpicked.
Any appointment made without a competitive process may be considered a political appointment. Right now there is a political appointee operating in a government department and this person is making waves over things other than what is being paid to do. If perhaps the position was advertised, this type of publicity would not be happening.
Handpicking persons for jobs will not encourage persons to want to qualify themselves. If many jobs are going to be doled out on without a competitive process, then what is the use of trying to earn qualifications?
If the government wants to encourage children to go to school and learn the golden rule; if they want them to study, then the government has to remove the disincentives to studying.
Right now, the government is creating a disincentive for studying. It should gave serious thought to what it is doing because it is no use asking people to study and obtain qualifications, only to find that this is not the basis for employment in the public service.
If you tell students they should qualify themselves, there must be a competitive system for employment. Persons should be applying for jobs, at all levels, so as to ensure that the most deserving is selected.
If political strings, family ties or other reasons other than qualifications are the grounds on which jobs are being given out, it will make those students within the school system feel that they are wasting their time studying for examinations and they will fallout of the school system.
They will see no use in education and will therefore not be interested in attending school.

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