Tit for tat politics is harmful

Feb 13, 2016 Editorial, Features / Columnists

When one listens to former Public Service Minister Dr. Jennifer Westford one is left to wonder at the nature of the government that ruled this country for the past twenty-three years. During the now ending budget debate she said that the present administration should eschew tit for tat politics.
Indeed, one sees the wisdom in her call because tit for tat politics could only spell doom for a country that is struggling to shake off the shackles of underdevelopment. It is now no secret that at least one country that was at the same stage of development as Guyana when this country became independent fifty years ago, is now some two hundred years ahead of Guyana in terms of its development.
Singapore in the 1960s was a poor country with little or no resources. Guyana was a sugar producing country; it was one of the world’s largest suppliers of bauxite and it had the potential to feed itself. When it became independent it was one of the leading countries in the Caribbean. Its underdevelopment is rooted in its political underdevelopment.
Like Singapore it had its ethnic problems. Singapore solved its ethnic predicament; Guyana is still holding to its own, using it as a political tool and as a means to maintain one or other of the political parties in power. In fact, this was so entrenched that former President Bharrat Jagdeo once said that his party, the People’s Progressive Party, would never lose another election in Guyana.
The tit for tat politics of which Dr. Westford spoke involves political witch-hunting and promoting people based on their political loyalty rather than on the level of their skills. Then there is the issue of spite. The previous administration denied many people benefits due to them because of the perceived political loyalty.
Many people, among them the current Minister of Agriculture, had resigned themselves to the fact that they would go to their graves knowing that they served but would be denied their benefits by a vengeful government.
Former Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon had uttered the same sentiments that Dr. Westford uttered in the National Assembly. In response to a reporter, he said that if one were to seek to emulate the bad actions of the previous government so many years later, then heaven help Guyana.
Political loyalty is one thing but national development supersedes all such considerations. Employment should always be according to merit and any government should be so minded. Prior to the October 5, 1992 elections there was talk about people voting with their feet. They were leaving the country in droves because of political insecurity.
After 1992 these people returned and many expected to be rewarded for their loyalty to the party. And many were. It mattered not that they were unqualified for a certain job; they were hired for being a party faithful.
Today, the situation has not changed. The difference is that the government recognizes the efforts of those who remained and who are capable of undertaking the job. People in the Diaspora did support the government and there were those who contended that they should be given top jobs merely because they were supporters and sometimes financiers.
To their credit many in the present government quietly let some of the people know that they might be unqualified for whatever job they are demanding.
Back home there is still talk of witch-hunting because the new government sought to remove people from positions they were not suited to hold. Many had been placed there because of their political loyalty. Ms. Westford’s admonition could be extended to this area. She could be saying that one should not place people in positions because of their political loyalty.
Tit for tat politics has no place in Guyana.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News