Political appointees

Aug 20, 2020 Editorial

They come to light every five years, or whenever government changes, and they come in droves. There is sharp, deep-seated anger and aggression directed at political appointees of the losing side by those who hold the reins of power. There is also wholesale resentment by those on the receiving end of exposure and ousting from place of work and state sponsored place of abode.
None of this builds any political goodwill, leads to the much-needed political handshakes to lift us out of the lunacy that is of Guyanese elections and Guyanese divisions. Those on the victorious side cheer for the ship of state steered more sweetly and satisfyingly from what is dished out to opponents and what could come their way, as the spoils of the winner takes all system and control of the levers of power.
But the hard and unsparing reality is that when these actions take place – be they on the rare five year cycle of this occasion, or over a 2-decade run, as has been more customary here, much damage is inflicted on, felt by, the recipients. On both sides, suspicions and tensions intensify, bad blood increases, and lasting rancor results. What starts out as ‘never again’ ends up as ‘wait until the next time’ and the ‘next turn.’ And so, the cycle continues endlessly with no different approaches endeavoured, no easing forthcoming. The ill feelings harden, and the memories sharpen. This is not a way for any society to coexist, particularly one that aspires to being “One Nation, One People, One destiny”.
The pivotal point and issue is not how to get there to that place of oneness; but how to mould minds of those doing the hurting and those being hurt to begin to think of that unifying ideal, and to desire to work towards achieving some semblance of it, some nearness to it. To be frank, it looks well nigh impossible when the reciprocal afflictions register and linger with unyielding strength.
Before proceeding farther, it must be admitted that there were many political appointees, and as the records of contracts and provisions and spending are exposed, quite a few of them appear inexplicable and indefensible. There is some irrationality relative to the number of such appointees and the number of dollars expended to keep them on the taxpayers’ payroll. They make no sense, and reek of providing jobs – lucrative jobs-for the boys and giving them a jolly good time. It is enlightening that both parties, from time to time, have condemned adversaries and campaigned on the history of cronyism of the other, only to repeat the norm and end up in the same dispiriting place; the excesses boggle the mind.
It must be emphasized and expressed that there are no clean hands in this regard on the part of any of the two political groups that have dominated Guyanese politics and the Guyanese public bureaucracy for over the last fifty years. There are no innocents on the score of political appointees, and it is not going to be any different this time around, starting in August 2020. How can it be and why should it? Not with so many supporters, who rallied to the party’s cause and stayed a hard, brutalizing course. Something must be found for them, and there is the trouble of politics in general, and Guyanese reality specifically.
Rather regrettably, this cycle does not promise to be broken any time soon, if at all. It becomes a matter of whose turn it is today to rule the roost, and what distills to taking full advantage of the spoils of our electoral wars. One of the sentiments that stood for a time was something undefined and unconcluded about a power sharing arrangement, which may have seen a broader division of the fruits of the state, and a less contentious succession to office. That proved to be short-lived, went nowhere and, for all intents and purposes, was dead in the mentioning.
So what we have here, in essence, is the equivalent of political boom and bust. Today it is one side on the inside, and then it could be out, if the usual political wrongdoing takes hold. This will only hold for so long.

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