After every election, those who emerge victorious are duty bound to embark on a course of action that would see their vision and promises made to the electorate, ahead of the concluded polls, fulfilled.

How they execute their action plans usually determines whether they will have the ability to win another election or whether they will be defeated.

Competence, Good Governance, Consultation and Trust play a major role in the execution of their vision and plans as it is easy for major blunders to be made that could send confusing signals to the populace especially those who voted in favour of their electoral platform.

Usually, those who aspire to hold political and executive power, avoid making lofty and fanciful promises because they run a higher risk of failing to implement these promises because they are confronted by a myriad of practical and realistic factors that mitigate  against the realisation of the essence and core of the promises made.

As a result, politicians take their time to prudently craft their promises ahead of the elections and also plot what course of action can be taken to immediately implement them if they are successful at the polls. This minimizes the ‘surprise effect’ when they start to unfurl changes and governance policies. The populace is at ease because life continues while the significant marginal improvements are noticed and welcomed as a result of the changes.

Unfortunately, in Guyana’s case, the outcome of the May 11 General and Regional Elections has left the country in a perplexed and anxious state and each day, the level of uncertainty rises.

Even though the new Government came to power back in May, it has not managed to settle itself in office. It appears that it is behaving as though it is still on the campaign trail and in opposition.

The new A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change ( APNU/AFC) coalition Government appears to be in a haste to push changes down the throats of Guyanese regardless of the adverse impact and so  exposing in the process, thee absence of a codified plan or blueprint for Guyana’s short, medium and long term development.

Government is rushing to do this and do that, making major blunders in the process notwithstanding the margin of errors allowed for new administrations.

The Finance Minister got the ball rolling by declaring incorrect debt figures to the Parliament in a obvious attempt to make the former Government look bad. He and the State Minister then claimed that the Petro Caribe Fund was empty.

Government claimed that the country was bankrupt but somehow still managed to transfer huge sums of monies to GuySuCo to avert a crisis; hold massive celebrations for Independence and an ostentatious  President’s Inauguration; meet its wage bill; offer salary increases and budget measures to various sectors; upgrade the luxury levels of its new Ministers by purchasing new vehicles and undertaking renovation work in various places.

The Finance Minister continued the farce with a flawed budget which upon the objection of the PPP had to be restructured to become compliant with Constitution and laws. He then admitted that no $23B dollars was available in the budget to directly subsidize the ailing rice sector crashing the hopes of thousands of rice farmers who had welcomed his announcement.

The Government went on a firing spree probably not realizing that a majority of the people being terminated and sent on leave were from two ethnic groups, not from their traditional constituency, raising ethnic uneasiness amongst an already divided society.

The Ministers still cannot get on top of their sectors and the country is at a standstill as the President travels touring here and there, and engaging this summit and that summit while the domestic affairs of the country worsen.

The Government needs to slow down and to craft a National Development Plan and a five year strategic plan for lifting the country’s standard of living. The Ministers need to stop the campaigning and start working genuinely. It has to stop this obsession with the PPP and COIs as it is like Nancy Drew looking for clues, finding them but the mystery is still not unraveled.

Guyana cannot have two opposition parties; one must act like the Government because it was elected as just that! This Government must heed the advice of Shakespeare “Wisely, and slow. They stumble that run fast”. Unless the Government has the ability to “look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not”, then it must thread carefully.