The Donald makes a good move

April 28, 2014, By KNews, Filed Under Features/Columnists, Peeping Tom, Source

Donald Ramotar was never going to change the economic course of the country. He has generally not varied the economic policies that were introduced by the Jagdeo regime, and with just cause. Why change a successful formula?

However, three features have distinguished the presidency of Donald Ramotar from that of Bharrat Jagdeo.

The first of these has been a greater commitment to transparency in so far as major government contracts are concerned. If the major deals under the Jagdeo presidency were denoted by their secrecy, Ramotar has lifted that veil by making public the contracts which were signed by his predecessor.

There is still a smoke screen of secrecy over the Marriott Hotel deal. But it is expected that sooner rather than later, the President will do as he has done with all the major deals cemented under Jagdeo: make them public.

The Opposition now has all the ammunition it wants to criticize the deals made under the Jagdeo presidency. The contracts have been made public, having been distributed to parliament and to the media. Donald Ramotar knew that he would attract some criticism within his party and government for going this route but he has done. He has laid all his cards on the table. He is not hiding anything.  He has come out looking good for so doing.

In keeping with his thrust for greater transparency, he arranged confidential briefings with the opposition parties on the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Facility. The opposition parties had the unprecedented opportunity to question the investors about this deal and to raise any concerns they may have had.

This approach to greater openness and transparency has left the Opposition and their mouthpieces flatfooted and dumbstruck. By pulling the excuse of secrecy from out under their feet, the President has forced them to oppose the contracts on merit. They have failed to do so.

The APNU could only say that they are unaware of the financial architecture in relations to certain deals, despite them having more than one opportunity to explore these issues with the relevant investors. The AFC has hedged its support for the hydroelectric project on the outcome of an analysis by the IDB.

The second distinguishing feature of the Ramotar presidency that set him apart from his predecessor has been the pro-worker decision to set a forty day work week and to demand that workers be paid overtime for work in excess of this period. When coupled with the setting of a national minimum wage, these measures offer the ordinary workers, the greatest benefit and the greatest protection ever.

Elements within the private sector tried to balk at the directives. They may have harbored hopes that the government would have reversed itself and allowed for them not to have to pay overtime for work in excess of forty hours. But Donald Ramotar stood firm. Today many ordinary workers are happy. Thousands are no longer being exploited and overworked. Such a policy would never have materialized under the Jagdeo regime.

The third distinguishing feature of the Ramotar presidency is now emerging and is likely to take shape in the months ahead. At a conference of the Guyana Police Force, the President of Guyana announced that integrity testing could be introduced into the Guyana Police Force. He even indicated that promotions could be based on this testing.

Readers will recall that one type of integrity testing- the most controversial type known as polygraph testing- was introduced under the Jagdeo regime. It was introduced for the staff of the Customs Anti- Narcotics Unit (CANU) and the Guyana Energy Authority.

It was controversially employed in these two agencies but was stoutly resisted when it was tried in the Guyana Revenue Authority. When asked if it was going to be introduced in large agencies such as the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force, the Jagdeo regime contended that it was possible to have the tests done in such small units like CANU and the GEA but it would have been more problematic for larger agencies such as the Guyana Police Force.

Not many persons bought that excuse. And it now seems as if The Donald is not either. He has signaled the possibility of integrity testing in the Guyana Police Force which many people suspect is rife with corruption.

Integrity testing must not be confused with polygraph testing. The latter is just one way (and a controversial one at that) of undertaking integrity testing. There are many forms of integrity testing which are now standard fare in organizations in the developed world. Many organizations, in the United States for example, use written psychological tests, as a way of determining whether someone would have the proclivity to engage in dishonest practices. A great many of these tests are given before an applicant is hired and they are used to assess character and personality traits, unlike the controversial polygraph test which only measures physiological changes to determine whether someone is answering a question truthfully. Integrity testing has now gone beyond the polygraph test which is mainly used in criminal interrogations and not as much for integrity testing relating to hiring and promotion.

During the Linden Commission of Inquiry one witness spoke about what he deemed to be the attitude of one of his officers. Now with integrity testing, the psychological of an employee can now be scientifically assessed and could thus form part a person’s employment records, thus allowing for it to be considered for the purposes of upward mobility within the organization.

By signaling the possibility of integrity testing, Donald Ramotar is sending a message to the Guyana Police Force that  he expects honesty to be hallmark of police work and that this will be an important consideration in future promotions in the Guyana Police Force.

Given the timid attitude that the PPPC has traditionally employed when dealing with the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force, this is an important departure by the Ramotar administration, one that is progressive and one that separates the President from the patronizing policy towards the Disciplined Services that was adopted under the Jagdeo administration