Longevity in office breeds a possessive mentality

Sep 10, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I was motivated in writing this column after I saw two analytical pieces by sport journalist, Rawle Welch on the unsuccessful tenure of Guyana Olympics Association (GOA) president. Mr. Kalam Juman-Yassin. As I read his two pieces, my mind flashed back to several columns I did on term limits for all kinds of occupations. And I recall Mr. Juman-Yassin was on my list.
In a country like this, people with poisonous intent take it as personal, anything critically written on their office. In the dialectical interplay between social forces and events, it is virtually impossible to keep the individual out of the picture. The West Indies Cricket Board has to take blame for the lamentable state of our game. Once the Board is identified as one of the culprits, the Board chairman comes within your radar. The same goes for all spheres of activity in life. How can you not focus on the Public Health Minister or Agriculture Minister if health delivery and agricultural productivity are in shambles? It doesn’t mean one’s critique is a conspiracy to personally get the Minister.
This is where Welch’s assessment of the barrenness and bareness of the GOA is relevant. Welch claims Guyana has only had one medal – bronze – in our entire Olympics history. Then he asked what Juman-Yassin achieved for sports in Guyana after two decades at the helm of the GOA. Juman-Yassin is seeking re-election in December. If he wins, he will chalk up 25 years in office. It is not only the longevity issue that needs to be highlighted, but what the office holder has done with 25 years of reign.
Take the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA). Its functional head, Mr. Mike Mc Cormack, has been in that role for over thirty years. The longevity issue is definitely a problem. What about the organization’s non-functional life?
This is a cruel, insensitive, oppressive country. The poor and powerless are treated with merciless disdain by powerful forces of all kinds. They have no source of comfort. People come to your gate at midnight with maudlin stories of violations. People come to your gate before you have your morning coffee and their sad appeals move you to tears. People stop you at family gatherings and complain about mistreatment. And you have a human rights organization with a big building and staff and it does absolutely nothing.
How can that be right? Why should Mc Cormack and company resent you for highlighting this state of affairs? But they do. If there is anyone’s name that is treated with leprous scorn by McCormack and company, it is this columnist. But have I vilified Mr. McCormack? Have I written anything personally attacking? The answer is no. My concerns are his permanency in office which is accompanied by functional bareness.
Take the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU). Its head, Mr. Patrick Yarde has been at the helm for over thirty years. Under Mr. Yarde, term limits were removed from the union’s constitution. Like Mr. Juman-Yassin, let us assess his tenure. The 1999 strike ended ignominiously. Public servants have been pulverized by 15 years of spite and venom from Presidents Jagdeo and Ramotar. Even with a government that Mr. Yarde would have friends in high places, public servants only got a 10 percent increase. But let us leave such an uninviting record out the picture: why would Mr. Yarde want to continue after chalking up 30 years and more?
In the case of Juman-Yassin, Yarde and McCormack, one needs to ask if anyone has been groomed to take over and that person has been at the side of the head for about ten years. If the answer is yes, then it is time to make the succession. But it will not happen in a country like this. The Guyana Consumers Association’s head reigned for more than 35 years and died in the chair after reaching into her nineties. Her deputy is not far behind with a similar record.
I haven’t done the research, but I am sure there are several more situations like the ones pointed out here. And people stay silent on such crucial issues in their country. Welch has written. Will anyone take him up his mantle? Will we see an outpouring of views in which people recognize the need for term limits and the endless possibilities that rotating leadership brings?
One of the benefits of term limits is that it creates more skills and experiences that the country needs. If the GPSU, GHRA and GOA had term limits, then it meant there would have been more people with valuable experiences to share.

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Longevity in office breeds a possessive mentality

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