Guyana is being run like a cake shop

Sep 18, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – Nothing really has changed from the pre-2015 PPP/C Government. Returned to office in 2020 with a slender one-seat majority, the PPP/C has resorted to its old habits in administering the government.

Under the Constitution, the President is authorised to delegate executive authority. One of the ways in which he does this is to assigned specific responsibilities to his Ministers. These ministerial responsibilities are usually published in the Official Gazette.

According to the Official Gazette of 13^th September, 2020, the President reserved an extensive list of portfolios for himself. These were listed as citizens’ complaints, regulation of gambling, science and technology, sustainable development, climate change, investment and export promotion, land titling, wildlife trade management, environmental protection, national security, defense and Cabinet.

This is the first sign of cake shop-styled management where authority is centralised. The President’s portfolio is much too extensive. Much of these could have been delegated to Ministers. Why, for example, is investment and export promotion under the President and not under the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce?

Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo was appointed by the President as a Vice President. He was not named a Minister but was assigned a supporting role to the President. He is thus a creature of the President. Jagdeo was handed oversight, not ministerial responsibility, for finance, natural resources and the environment.

There is a Minister of Natural Resources. Mr. Vickram Bharrat. So why was Jagdeo given oversight of this portfolio? This makes no sense but is typical of cake shop-styled management.

It has been Mr. Jagdeo, more than Mr. Bharrat, who has been hosting Press Conferences appearing on the Guyanese Critic podcasts and the Kaieteur Radio, to talk about the oil and gas sector.

No Minister of Finance was named. The Constitution provides that where no portfolio is assigned, then it remains with the President. Since no Minister of Finance was named it is assumed that the President is the Minister of Finance.

In its extraordinary publication of 23^rd December, 2020, the Official Gazette indicated that Dr. Ashni Singh was appointed as Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance. This clearly confirms that the finance portfolio is held by the President who is the Minister of Finance.

It was therefore shocking and surprising to have read a few weeks ago, the Vice President saying that he had asked the Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance to meet with bankers to remedy a situation. What authority does Mr. Jagdeo possess to ask the Senior Minister to do anything of that sort? But this again is typical of cake shop- styled management?

The President has departed Guyana to attend the annual General Assembly of the United Nations. And immediately, the Vice President has hit the road. He turned up in Region 6 to announce massive spending on infrastructure and to share out cash grants to fishermen.

This is not the first time that the Vice President has taken to outreaches when the President is out of the country. On a previous occasion, he announced the creation of the temporary jobs programme.

This time, the Vice President took to launching the distribution of the fisherfolk cash grant. This honour should have been given to the Minister of Agriculture. But instead the Vice President has taken to overshadowing the Minister of Agriculture. But that is how cake shops operate – sometimes the baker outshines the owner.

The Vice President was intemperate with some of his outbursts in Region 6. He made some serious statements concerning the fishing licenses problem with Suriname. He went a bit too far. The facts would reveal that Surinamese law would have to be amended to allow the Santoki Government to issue licenses to Guyanese fishermen.

This matter is being carelessly handled. Jagdeo by his inconsiderate outburst may have made the situation worst.

Someone had the bright idea, recently, of issuing a public statement condemning the Suriname government for harassing Guyanese fishermen. This is not how such matters are dealt with diplomatically. This matter should have been protected by the issuance of the appropriate diplomatic note of protest, not by a statement. But cake shop-styled management does not have a role for established practices of diplomacy.

When the President returns, he must remedy this situation. He must clearly outline just what are the responsibilities of his Vice President and how these relate to the portfolios of his Ministers. Otherwise the baker will take control of the shop.

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

 

 

 

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