SQUARE PEGS FOR SQUARE HOLES
March 29, 2016 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom, http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....gs-for-square-holes/
The political parties and coalitions that have traditionally run Guyana have been looking for the right persons in the wrong places. They have come into office and have tried to find competent persons from amongst their loyalists. The two do not always go together.
The PNC ruled Guyana for twenty-eight years. During that period it pursued a deliberate strategy of dominating the administrative space in the country. It wanted its own supporters and its own loyalists in the right jobs in the public sector.
When it took power in 1964, there were already persons sympathetic to the government in senior positions within the public sector. The PNC destroyed the credibility of many of those persons by making them political lackeys. Some of these persons went as far as defending the shameless rigging of the 1968 and 1973 elections. They were so blinded by their loyalty to the PNC that they could see how the dishonest positions they took undermined whatever semblance of respect and professionalism they had left.
The PNC superseded many professionals with incompetent political hacks whose only qualifications were their political loyalty to the ruling party. A great many of the professionals within the public service who were bypassed for promotion or surpassed by political appointees migrated and kept their peace. Even now, they speak about their humiliations in private. They left Guyana because they could not stomach it anymore.
None of the Guyanese journalists in the diaspora have found the time to assemble a collection of the stories of these men and women who were the victims of the politicization of Guyana’s public sector.
The PPP also did the same. And many professionals left also during their time in power. The stories of this set of professionals also need to be told.
Change is inevitable whenever a new government takes office. But you do not throw out the baby with the bathwater. People can always be replaced but the damage done to morale and professionalism cannot be undone as the history of the public service in Guyana has demonstrated since Independence.
APNU+AFC has dismissed or terminated the contracts of many persons since they came to office in May last year. They have replaced those persons in most instances with loyalists. The problem is that many of those who have been given jobs are pushy people with assertive personalities but who do not always have the talent for the specific job they have to undertake. You have people working in positions earning fortunes but who are not experienced enough to be occupying those positions.
These political appointees have bypassed other persons who worked within the system and who were waiting for promotions. Instead they are seeing a repeat of what the PPP did: put its own political appointees in office.
If this trend is not brought to an end, the exodus of skilled Guyanese will continue. Professionals now have more options. They can find work in the Caribbean. The free movement of university graduates has seen many Guyanese professionals take up job offers in the Caribbean thereby further reducing the skilled persons available to the government. Professionals are not going to stick around to be humiliated and to take orders from persons of lesser ability.
The government should not employ persons with limited experience to assume authority over skilled professionals who are qualified and experienced. It should not take persons who were its loyal supporters and simply place them in organizations without them never having any experience in the field in which they have to work. This is going to set this country back and demoralize the public service.
You cannot simply take persons and place them into certain jobs on the basis only of their trustworthiness. They must have the necessary expertise and experience.
Donald Trump once advised that employers should examine what someone brings to the job. What were their achievements in the field in which they worked? And are they going to be able to replicate that success in their new job?
If someone has just a little experience and no great achievement in a particular field, then that person should not be given preference over a tried and tested professional. Political loyalty and cronyism should not take priority over competence.
Due diligence, even on loyalists, must be done. There are persons lining up for jobs with the new government. Some of them were living overseas. It would be interesting to know just how long they worked and what they achieved during that period. It would be interesting to know of their experience in the type of job they are being put to do. It would be interesting to know of their familiarity or adaptability to local systems.
There should be a competitive process for filling vacancies. You cannot simply go around and appoint persons to positions. There is no guarantee that you will get the best person for the job this way.
There are a lot of fortune hunters out there looking to capitalize on the insecurity of the new government. Some of them are pushy and self-confident but behind that veneer there is nothing but hot air. There is no talent and no expertise. The government has to beware of these types. Contaminating government with such individuals will lead the coalition down the same road to disaster as the PNC and the PPP governments of the past.