Govt. asks nation to “trust” them on salary increases… Nation’s bank account of trust is overdrawn – Dr. David Hinds
By: Kiana Wilburg, October 19, 2015 | By KNews | Filed Under News, Source
Minister of Governance, Raphael Trotman recently called on the disgruntled members of the public to exercise “trust” in the government regarding the salary increases for Members of Parliament (MPs). But in the face of such a comment, University Professor, Dr. David Hinds says, “The bank of trust is overdrawn.”
In his most recent publication on his website, www.guyanacaribbeanpolitics.com, Dr. Hinds said that Trotman’s plea for more trust is not what the doctor orders. In fact, he said that it is the government’s turn to trust the people.
The Political Activist said, “The way you trust the people is by grounding with them, relating to and seeking to correct their history of government denial, consulting with them and embracing them not as an abstraction, but as living flesh and blood whose right is to be is given due value.”
He added, “I think I hear the voice of the people saying ‘you are mistaken, you are wrong, we don’t like it and we don’t want it.’ Can’t we the leaders trust that voice? In the words of the poet, the government must hear with ears of the people and speak with the voice of the people.”
He noted that while the Minister of Governance asked the people to trust the government last week Wednesday, President David Granger later weighed in on the matter to the effect of justifying the hike.
Speaking at the recording of the Ministry of the Presidency’s “Public Interest” programme last week, Granger said that while the decision on the salary increases was a difficult one, it was decided on in the best interest of the country.
“As far as the salary increases are concerned, we had to make some choices, and choices were made in order to assure the public of the efficiency and commitment of the Ministers … It was a difficult choice in the first place. It was not something that we did recklessly. We had to consider all of the options and in the final analysis we felt that this was the best means of ensuring that the work of the Cabinet would continue,” he said.
Dr. Hinds said Granger tried to soften the blow, since the bulk of the resistance came from his own supporters.
But it is this aspect, he said, that intrigues him the most.
Dr. Hinds questioned, “How can a leadership and a followership that seemed so in sync five months ago have such divergent views on a matter in such a short period of time? Worse, why is it that both sides so badly misread each other?”
He said, “The answer, of course lies in the very nature of our politics and society. Ours is a post-plantation society in which the governed and the governors and potential governors have found common ground against things but never for things. Our history is full of that phenomenon…”
The University Professor continued, “I know David Granger better than I know any of our past maximum leaders and I think he possesses an understanding of our history that would preclude him from repeating the sacrilege of our past leaders. For, it is in our history that the key to a higher politics lies.”
The political activist noted however that he would be lying to readers and to himself, should he not admit that he worries when examining the entire situation and all its nuances.
For all the breath of fresh air it has brought to the country, Dr. Hinds said that the APNU+AFC coalition government has stumbled when it comes to feeling the heartbeat of the nation.
He emphasized that it is not enough to give workers a salary raise and to fix their roads and afford them water and electricity. He said that that is what any and all governments are supposed to do. Dr. Hinds said that while the coalition government does it better than the one before, it has to do more than that because more is expected of it.
The Professor said, “This government is expected to lift the political culture, to be qualitatively better than those before.”
Dr. Hinds opined that the government has to understand its “specialness” and the responsibility that comes with that “specialness.”
He said that “Wrongly or rightly, they are the Joshuas of our time; they simply can’t be like the others.”
The political activist said that Guyanese have been betrayed too many times and they are “Sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
He concluded, “Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, one of the political finds of our time, correctly told the discredited PPP that he has no apologies for the 50 percent raise (for senior Ministers). But Joe has to understand that the matter of government compensation is bigger than the PPP; it is at the heart of his constituency’s rage. So when he speaks on such a matter, he must know he is speaking to his supporters too or at least they hear him speaking to them too.”
