GOVERNMENT HAS TO DO BETTER

Oct 16, 2018 Editorial

Serious lapses and the lack of leadership within the government have contributed to the inefficiencies and inept policies that continue to stall the development of the country. The truth is there are too many grey areas and an immensity of the inefficiencies that need to be placed in intensive care for quick remedies.
The gravity of dishonesty, abuse of power, arrogance, unnecessary mistakes that are made and the high level of incompetency as well as lack of oversight at the highest level is mindboggling and defy reasoning. It is obvious that the government is incapable of managing the affairs of the country. The public would be surprised to know the extent of the human resource deficiencies in the various government departments and agencies.
The government has many qualified and experienced persons within its ranks, but they have been catapulted into positions that have made them square pegs in round holes. In terms of professional employment, the government seems to have poor judgment. It has faltered badly in this and many other areas, including doing due diligence.
It seems that the government cannot fulfill its simple election campaign promise to professionalize the civil service. Most of its appointments are political in nature. It is our understanding that these positions were not advertised which suggests that persons were hand-picked to fill them. What is more troubling is not only that these appointments were condoned because of cabinet solidarity, but some members have stated that they were not informed and were dumbfounded by the appointments.
The president seems unfazed or not to know that there is something of a crisis in the Ministry of Finance with the departure of several senior officials. The sudden departure of these senior executives without any proper reason given to the public could have a ripple effect on the Ministry that could result in a loss of public confidence.
The public fear is that either those in authority are out of touch with reality, or they do not understand the importance of such a key ministry or they are asleep at the wheel. Whatever it is, one thing is for certain, this is no way for this government, which was elected on a platform of change to run the country. Guyana lacks transformative and visionary leaders to move it into the 21st century.
The fact that the government has refused to renegotiate the lopsided oil contract it signed with ExxonMobil shows inept leadership. This is despite several warnings from the independent media, local and international experts and financial institutions, such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund. As if the horrible contract with ExxonMobil was not flawed enough, this newspaper has reported that the government has signed an even worse oil contract with Tullow Oil.
The contract with Tullow Oil reveals that Guyana will receive a much smaller share of oil revenue from Tullow compared to the ExxonMobil agreement. It allows for only one percent royalty as compared to the two percent from ExxonMobil. And even though the amount of the signing bonus has not been revealed, it appears that Guyana is obligated to repay its pre-contract cost just like ExxonMobil. This government has to do better.

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