First year report card of selected government ministers
By GHK Lall
Kaieteur News – Both the encouraging and disturbing came in the one-year report card of selected government ministers. I take good and bad and, unlike Guyanese, I throwaway ‘bad bush.’ Such is a true emancipated spirit, which can be the most energising, most inspirational tonic for the soul.
Social Protection Minister, Vindya Persaud, stands head and shoulders above the class: a real striver, a proven overachiever. From elderly to abused to trafficked, she and team have led the way. Though a political player of pedigree, Minister Persaud has shown herself to be at home ministering, in the fullest spiritual sense of the word, to those in need. Reassurance comes: topnotch class valedictorian.
Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, made the best with what he had, what was before him. Despite missteps (children, post-quarantine testing, curfew, and straight shooting with reality and not at skeptics), he did commendably. His team has been tireless in pulling weight, making a difference. Good going, Mr. Minister; the silver medal is his.
The Minister of Education means well, but must understand she is not a cheerleader, but chief steward of Guyana’s children. Sometimes, she gets carried away with politics, and loses sight of the mysteries and potencies of the pandemic. I sense a showdown with the union brewing: tongue nah gah teeth but he bite fuh true. People are uncertain; worse yet, they are scared. The trouble with Guyana is that everybody is a political creature, which makes most people lose any human feature. When I think of September, I assess the Education Minister – guilty of truancy. I detect potential wasted. A middling grade, it is.
His Lordship, the Bishop cum Minister of Public Works, and his logistically powered junior sidekick, flattered to deceive. Many strident speeches were made about throwing the book at backsliding contractors (airport, roads, and elsewhere) and then fading came, people fell apart. I hope that the book, which the Minister promised to throw at the stubborn (Chinese, et al) was not scripture. I judge him as overpromising and under-delivering. Unless those people responsible for the airport expansion have delivered, then my prayers and literary supplications for the good Bishop/Minister will not be enough. He mesmerised first, profaned later. The man should be a missionary, not about political sorcery. His Lordship knows better, leave that to unrepentant sinners, like me. Since the Bishop/Minister (which is more important, pray tell?) drew so much attention to himself, expectations ran high. Now, they have been flooded out, not by Noachian downpours, but by political spittle. I regret a-below-average performance. Three recommendations: cut the preaching, start practicing. Become a terminator.
The Attorney General pretends to love the law. His inconsistency with its majesty, precedent-as once advocated, bewilders. He could have been better, but content to be lesser, and comes across as cheaper, and cheating on himself. A loud backbencher, a frontline disappointment. A work in progress, placed on probation.
The best for Minister of Home Affairs one year later, is that he has jumped ship: absentee caretaker, unsteady corrections chief, struggling disciplinarian. Cobwebs imprison. Sure, he communicates better, thanks to not one but two police voices that could make sandpaper feel like syrup. Cotton Tree, crime, and police corruption, and the word is: no problem. Spin, baby, spin. It is blood, sweat and tears out there, but there is this spinning wheel PR business. The man asks us poor Guyanese to trust him still. I cannot for a proxy minister. His card: incomplete and absent.
Last, there is the Minister of Oil, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Mining, Projects, Public Disclosures, and assorted other portfolios. His one-way mirror tells him he is the fairest of all on oil. As one steeped in economics, physics and the properties of light elude him. Light shines on those fearless with facing facts, as they are, truths that stand. Outstanding economists know that when supply of truth is scarce, intensifying demand follows for the light of oil truths. Hoarding the supply of truth pressures demand for it. A failure, self-incriminator for leader. School closes.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
