The President needs to get a grip on his government

Jun 22, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – The President of Guyana must share some responsibility for the controversy which has erupted over the Vice News feature on the Chinese presence in Guyana. The country’s Head of State has given too leeway for the Second Vice President to involve himself in too many areas of governance and to be seen as wielding too much influence within the government.
Full executive authority resides in the President and the President alone. However, the President can delegate aspects of his executive responsibility, and this is done through the assignment of ministerial portfolios.
The Vice President has been handed responsibility for the country’s natural resources sector. But it appears as if he is adopting the role of a super-minister by regularly pronouncing on issues which relate to other portfolios.
Even yesterday, he took the liberty of speaking on the Commission of Inquiry which has been established. He also speaks regularly on matters concerning the economy and has been the lead person in government’s part-time jobs’ initiative.
Upon his return from the Commonwealth Summit, the President needs to get a grip on his government and to clearly demarcate the areas of responsibility of the Vice President. There is a Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister who has responsibility for information. That Minister should have been the one who should have been dealing with the media on the issue of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the 2020 General and Regional Elections.
There is also a Minister with responsibility for labour relations. It would have been more appropriate for that Minister, rather than the Second Vice President, to have spearheaded the initiative aimed at providing part-time jobs to thousands of Guyanese.
Instead, however, the Second Vice President has been darting around the Regions implementing this initiative. This should never have been and is perceived, in some quarters, as a pre-emptive move to enhance the Second Vice President’s popularity in anticipation of any possible fallout from the Vice News feature.
Vice News failed miserably to entrap the Second Vice President. All they were able to do was to have someone state that he collects fees for facilitating investors. But that brag is not even prima facie evidence of criminal wrongdoing. The Second Vice President has long disputed allegations of being involved in bribe-taking.
The Vice News feature did however reveal some inappropriate actions. For one, the Second Vice President is not the Minister of Finance or the Minister with responsibility for investment. The President holds the finance portfolio and is assisted by a Minister with responsibility for Finance. Investment issues have long been under the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce but it is not clear whether GOINVEST – the agency responsible for promoting and facilitating investment – falls under the Office of the President or the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce.
Either way, the Second Vice President should not be involved in facilitating any investment outside of the natural resources sector. And even more so should have excused himself from any discussion on an investment being intermediated by his tenant. This represents a potential conflict of interest.
Also, no one should be providing any commitment to facilitate an investment unless that person is au fait with the nature of the business. To express a disinterest in knowing about the business deal of the undercover investor but at the same time to say that support will be given is an ill-advised response.
The President has to prevent any such future occurrence by doing a few things. For one he should clearly outline, the various ministerial responsibilities, including that held by the Second Vice President. Every Minister should be instructed to not encroach on the portfolio of other Ministers.
Secondly, the President needs to establish a Code of Conduct for all his Ministers, including the Second Vice President. That Code of Conduct should make provision for avoiding possible conflicts of interest, including between Ministers and their tenants. In light of another development, it should also make clear measures relating to what happens with someone’s business interests when that person becomes a government Minister.
Thirdly, the President should consider the fact that the appointment of Vice Presidents creates a political hierarchy. But the Second Vice President, constitutionally, is not the second in command of the government. After the President is the Prime Minister who is automatically a Vice President. He needs to be so referred and needs to be so seen if the country’s constitutional hierarchy is to be respected.
The President needs to rein in the Second Vice President. There is no need for any superman within the government. Such a development, even if only at the level of perception, will undermine respect for the Presidency and create headaches such as that which the government now faces.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)