A lighthouse without a keeper

Sep 17, 2025 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – Under the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) government, it seems our rulers prefer governing by gut instinct, or perhaps by the faint smell of political expedience, rather than by the constitutional directives. For the past five years, two positions have remained conspicuously vacant: the Secretary to the Cabinet, required by the Constitution, and the Head of the Presidential Secretariat, which, while not mandated, is a hallmark of competent governance.

One might wonder whether the government simply misplaced these offices, like car keys left on the kitchen counter. Or if the absence is intentional, a subtle experiment in chaos theory.

The Secretary to the Cabinet is not, as some might imagine, a glorified note-taker or a bureaucratic paper-pusher. No, in the Westminster system Guyana supposedly follows, this is the custodian of memory itself. He or she ensures that Cabinet decisions are meticulously documented, archived, and preserved for posterity.

It is, in other words, the nerve center of institutional continuity. Without such a person, the Cabinet risks degenerating into something where decisions vanish into the thin air. And yet, for years, this post has been vacant, leaving ministers to rely on memory, hearsay, or perhaps interpretive dance to convey policy decisions. One can almost hear the Cabinet meetings now: “I vaguely remember we agreed to that… or did we?”

Then there is the vacancy of the Head of the Presidential Secretariat. This person plays a critical role in coordinating the machinery of the presidency itself. This position ensures that the President’s agenda is organized, priorities are clearly communicated across ministries, and interdepartmental initiatives are tracked and executed efficiently. In effect, the Secretariat functions as the nervous system of the executive, translating the President’s decisions into coordinated action.

The Head of the Presidential Secretariat had in the past served as a go-between the media and the government. But today, the media is left scavenging for information from the General Secretary of the PPPC at his weekly press conferences, a role so inseparably partisan that one wonders if journalists should bring protective gear—masks, gloves, maybe even a seeds’ guard to fend off the spin.

In the past, the role of press liaison was undertaken by the Head of the Presidential Secretariat, most notably by Dr. Roger Luncheon, who at least had the decency to brief the media on the deliberations of Cabinet. Today, that practice has lapsed. The silence is profound. It is the kind of silence that compels one to invent imaginary Cabinet meetings just to feel a modicum of governmental engagement.

One might argue that appointing these officials is merely a bureaucratic detail, a trifle among the myriad challenges of governance. But here’s the rub: these are not details—they are the difference between a functioning state and a glorified shadow show. The Secretary to the Cabinet preserves institutional memory, ensuring that decisions are not ephemeral and that ministers cannot simply shrug and declare, “Oh, I thought we meant the opposite.” The press secretary, meanwhile, prevents the information vacuum from being filled by rumour, conjecture, or the General Secretary’s charmingly partisan musings.

And yet, the PPPC has, for five long years, treated these positions as if they were optional, like an umbrella in a monsoon or a nap during a sleepless night. Perhaps the government is testing a new philosophy of governance: “If we ignore the Constitution long enough, maybe everyone will forget it exists.” Or maybe they simply enjoy the tension of a Cabinet shrouded in secrecy, the thrill of clandestine deliberation. Either way, the experiment is perilous, teetering on the brink between absurdity and authoritarianism.

Now, there is a flicker of hope. Rumours swirl that appointments are imminent. One can almost hear the bureaucratic harbingers preparing for their ceremonial entry, briefcases in hand, pens poised, and perhaps a touch of existential dread in their eyes. It is a relief to imagine that the Constitution will finally be acknowledged, that the Cabinet will have its memory restored, and that the media might again hear from someone who is not a party functionary. Yet, one cannot help but fret: will these appointments be meaningful, or will they be another vignette in the absurd comedy of Guyanese governance? Will the Secretary to the Cabinet dutifully record decisions, or will they, like the rest of us, occasionally wish they had stayed home?

The vacancies of the Secretary to the Cabinet and the Head of the Presidential Secretariat are far more than bureaucratic lapses. They are symptomatic of a political system flirting with opacity, where the line between party and state has become a blur.

Filling these positions is not a cure-all, but it is a first, indispensable step toward the restoration of transparency, accountability, and sanity. Let us hope, then, that the new appointees arrive soon.

(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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• constitutional directives, Guyana Cabinet, Peeping Tom, PPPC

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