Latest update August 3rd, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 12, 2024 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
Kaieteur News – The President’s recent performance at the criminal justice reform conference highlighted the need for a more coherent and focused approach to public speaking. The President’s performance was marked by a meandering and generally incoherent presentation that did a disservice to his office and the nation.
This event, which was attended by top-notch legal professionals to discuss significant issues, was marred by the President’s rambling speech. While his intentions were noble and his points relevant, the delivery left much to be desired. This irony underscores a critical need for a reassessment of how the President communicates in front of such audiences.
The President touched on several significant points during his address. First, he emphasized the importance of judicial predictability, highlighting the need for fairness, soundness, and consistency in legal decisions. Judicial predictability ensures that similar cases are treated similarly.
However, one must question whether this issue is as pressing in criminal matters in Guyana and the Caribbean as it is in civil actions. It is known that the government is concerned about certain decisions made in our civil courts and the fact that some of these decisions appear to have deviated from established precedents.
The second noteworthy point the President raised was the necessity for strong legislation to be matched by judicial excellence. This is an excellent argument, as robust laws are meaningless without a competent judiciary to enforce and interpret them. Yet, again it remains unclear whether this issue is most pertinent to the criminal law system or if it extends more broadly to other areas of law.
The President’s third point was perhaps the most contentious. He argued that crime feeds on political instability, and threats to democracy and the rule of law. This is a debatable assertion, Authoritarian regimes often maintain lower crime rates through stringent measures, albeit at the cost of human rights abuses. Onto this day, there are persons, for example, in Suriname, who assert that crime in the country was lower under military rule than under elected governments.
Democratic societies, on the other hand, strive to balance security and individual freedoms, which can present challenges in crime control. Guyana’s own experience with crime during periods of political instability is not the same in other jurisdictions in the Caribbean where apart from Trinidad and Tobago in 1990, political instability is rarely a problem.
The President’s presentation to such an esteemed audience of members of the regional legal profession, lacked coherence. The ideas offered, while solid, were not clearly connected and did not flow smoothly from one to the next, making the overall message easy to understand and follow. The speech was not clearly structured and at times was superfluous. But this may have been because of the rambling and conversational style utilized.
One effective strategy to avoid such missteps by the President would be for there to be debriefings with his staff after each presentation. These sessions would allow the President to receive constructive feedback on what worked and what did not.
These debriefings should be conducted honestly, without sycophants and fawners who merely tell the President what they think he wants to hear. Instead, the President should be surrounded by advisors who are willing to provide candid, constructive criticism aimed at improving his public addresses.
Body language is another critical aspect that the President should be more attentive to. During his recent address, many attendees, including eminent members of the legal profession, appeared to be not attuned to what he was saying. This non-verbal feedback should have been a clear indicator that the presentation was not resonating as intended. By becoming more aware of and responsive to his audience’s body language, the President can adjust his delivery in real-time, ensuring that his message is effectively communicated.
It was not the best of days for the President. At another event, he was reported as saying that Guyana will soon be capable of supplying the Caribbean’s sugar needs. Clearly, the President was not aware of the current realities relating to sugar consumption in the Caribbean. The Caribbean’s sugar consumption is close to 800,000 tonnes, two-thirds of which is imported.
Guyana, struggling to produce even 100,000 tonnes, is far from being able to meet this demand. This kind of uninformed statement undermines the President’s credibility and highlights the need for better-informed presentations.
These criticisms are offered in good faith and are not intended as an attack on the President. By addressing them, the President can enhance his public addresses, ensuring that his important messages are communicated effectively and respected by his audience. This improvement is crucial not only for the President’s image but also for the nation’s standing on the global stage.
(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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