GOOD BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH
Uncle Donald may be moving a bit too slow for everyone’s liking. But he is generally doing the right things even if there is a need for him to quicken his pace.
The past week saw him deal candidly with the issue of corruption, explaining its effects on the country and why it needed to be clipped. His statement of corruption was halfhearted but nonetheless an important beginning.
The President is saying the right things at the right time and he seems to be following up his statements with some action.
His statement of corruption was followed almost immediately with announcements that the Chief Executive Officer of the National Communications Network resigned his post following an investigation into alleged financial wrongdoing at the state-owned media company.
This is also a good move since it shows a developing culture of individuals standing up and taking managerial responsibility for things over which they were not incriminated but which occurred under their watch.
The same thing has happened at the private telephone company where the CEO also resigned following an investigation into alleged lapses at the company. It is good that these things are happening.
The President no doubt is sending a message also that this is what he expects of senior officials of the government and he should be urged, as he did in the case of NCN and with the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown, to also request special investigations into other state-owned media enterprises to ascertain whether there are any irregularities taking place.
There were however some disappointments. The first was the eight week suspension of a senior official of NCN who allegedly paid a cheque into his own account. Regardless of the years of service this individual may have provided, it seems contradictory that the Board of the NCN would have accepted the resignation of the CEO, yet sanctioned someone who did something wrong with only a two-month suspension. This is not the sort of action that one was expecting and especially following the sentiments expressed by the President who is also the Minister of Information.
One would hope that the Board would revisit this decision or explain the rationale for this tap on the knuckles that it has administered in relation to the investigation that it launched.
It is also hoped that the President will launch an investigation into the prequalification process that has seen a limited number of companies prequalify for a major contract in the health sector. So far there has been no independent assessment of the prequalification process and it is expected that the President will give meaning to his recent talk about corruption and his seriousness in combating it by reviewing the prequalification process to ensure that it is not rigged in favour of or against any company.
The President should not allow these issues to hang over his administration. Since he has now publicly indicated that he has nothing to hide, then he should bring out everything in the open and satisfy the public that certain procedures are above board.
Perhaps the same local audit firm that conducted the investigation into NCN can examine the prequalification process used to prequalify companies for the supply of medicines in the health sector.
The second major disappointment concerns the Marriot Hotel project. Uncle Donald has only taken quarter measures so far. He has said that he is not out to push anyone out of business. But he is yet to justify why over fifty million US dollars should be spent to build a hotel that many believe will become a white elephant and can be constructed for half of this sum.
Uncle Donald can show that he is serious about what he says by asking a foreign audit firm to determine whether the price being proposed for the hotel is inflated because this is one of the serious contentions of critics of the project.
The President must also state what steps he is taking to ensure due diligence is done on the background of those who will be investing in the project. here are serious concerns out there that the wrong money may end up financing this project. Guyana cannot afford any scandal involving the use of tainted funds. More important though is whether the cost is too high for the hotel.
The country is tired of half measures and it is time for Uncle Donald to step up to the plate and show what he is made of. He should go the full way and distance himself from the very things that caused him to be heading a minority government.