We must try to live a life of high moral standards

Jul 01, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,

I have decided to pen this letter on moral standard and ethics from personal experience with people in Guyana as well as those out of Guyana. The word ‘ethic’ can be defined as follows:

”A set of moral principles, especially ones relating to or affirming a specified group, field, or form of conduct.
The basic concepts and fundamental principles of decent human conduct. It includes study of universal values such as the essential equality of all men and women, human or natural rights, obedience to the law of land, concern for health and safety and, increasingly, also for the natural environment. ”

Let me begin with work ethic with the question: How many people in Guyana go to work on time? How many managers, supervisors and CEOs and clerks can you meet at 8:30 a.m. in their offices? I have visited several offices in Guyana and observed most workers going to work late and the bosses are never in office on time. I also observed that many workers just idle their day away collecting the government’s money by false pretence.
If you call many offices to talk to a person in position they are always in a meeting or not in office or too busy to take your call. They never return a call or replied to your messages. I have seen these activities in most of our offices in Guyana more than thirty five years now. Over two months ago I saw a vacancy at the University of Guyana. I sent an application online. I got a reply after four days that my application was received. After a month I sent them an email of inquiry about my application. They replied in a few days saying that my application is still under consideration. It’s over two months now I sent them another inquiry in a week I get no reply. Here is the highest academic institution of learning taking months to process a job application and don’t have the moral standard to write to me to say if my application was NOT accepted or to go for an interview.
My next experience is with the Ministry of Legal Affairs.
They wrote me a letter dated 28th November 2017 informing me that my
”Application of Appointment as Justice of Peace and Commissioner of Oaths to Affidavits is now at The Minister of State for Final Deliberation.”
That letter was only sent to me because I wrote about it several times in the newspapers questioning why my police report took over two years to be sent to the Ministry of Legal Affairs. After several inquiries to the Minister of State’s office by calls to date it’s about eight months now and I did not receive an email, phone call nor letter pertaining to the status of my appointment and this procedure of my application started since 2003 since the PPP administration.
What I have discovered in this country is simple matters that can take a week or month will take years because of incompetence and lack or morality and ethics.
In Trinidad you get your Birth Certificate the same day, Here it’s weeks and months.
I wrote a book and sent it to my publisher , I got a reply in five minutes. I sent Warwick University an email and I got three replies in ten minutes back and forth. How do we compare ourselves with these institutions abroad? Why can’t we be competent like them?
Yours Respectfully,
Rev.Gideon Cecil