The Trinidad example

The occurrences in neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago have not escaped the notice of Guyanese with specific reference to the actions of that country’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar with the recent firings of several of her government ministers. Those removed from public office as a result of running afoul of the personal and political principles of their erstwhile leader are probably now considering the errors of their ways.  But let us examine the options available to our very own President Donald Ramotar. First of all it is generally accepted that His Excellency is not his own man as evidenced by the wholesale bequeathing of cabinet members by his predecessor.  Allegations of impropriety have been an almost normal characteristic in this current dispensation and reflect a continuation of misconduct under the previous administration. Nothing to appease the soul of the governed is attempted and the collect psyche is further debilitated by inexplicable executive irresoluteness and indecisiveness. It is apparent that this government is quite comfortable with the perceptions our neighbouring countries have of us and therefore there is no urgency to treat with behaviours which in other countries are not tolerated. Maybe His Excellency can learn from some of the experience of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir who fired his entire Cabinet and Vice President within two years of his country gaining independence from Sudan.  To show that there are no sacred cows, among those sent packing were Pagan Amum, the Secretary-General of the ruling party and top negotiator at the peace talks which led to independence and Vice President Riek Machar who had untimely ambitions. President Jacob Zuma of South Africa effected a cabinet reshuffle seventeen months after first announcing the names of his government ministers.  Zuma who has since become a lightning rod in a controversy over accusations of unethical conduct, made further cabinet changes each following year from 2010 to 2013. France’s new Prime Minister Manuel Valls unhesitatingly made significant adjustments to the Cabinet lineup when he sacked the finance minister and shifted around the incumbents of several portfolios including for Women’s Rights; Urban Policy; and appointed a new Environment and Energy Minister. What is perhaps significant is the resoluteness of the aforementioned Heads of Government who do not seem to be hamstrung by any impediments to their occupancy of the highest office in the land.  Allegations of corruption have been addressed in Malawi by President Joyce Banda probably in response to a European Union warning that it would stay the release of a pledged €29m (£25m) disbursement in December if a corruption scandal involving her minister was not resolved. It is believed that the Malawi President had purged her government so that those implicated could be investigated.  The alleged malefactors included ten government officials who were arrested and charged with money laundering, misuse of public office and corruption; nine senior police officers who were each jailed for 14 years for their roles in a $164,000 (£102,814) fraud; and twenty-five ministers whom she fired since she had lost faith in them, and to make sure that those implicated did not interfere with the investigations. Donald Ramotar’s fatal flaw could be seen in the context of not looking far enough ahead to recognize the potential political backlash which his seeming reluctance to decisively confront those deviant personalities he had inherited could unleash. Interestingly, Banda’s Finance Minister who at the time was heading a high-profile delegation to Washington meetings with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund was also fired with his colleagues. There can be no getting away from the widely held view that Guyanese were shortchanged with Ramotar’s sheepish acceptance of the old ministerial appointees some of whom had been tried, tested and found wanting in the balance. There is a current mood of unfounded strident optimism that is counterbalanced by the uncertainty of ever regaining majority status if the same level of belligerent arrogance prevails.  President Ramotar must be seized with the urgency to pick a new team based on competency and not be saddled with relics of the worst excesses of political expediency in this country. His Excellency must unburden himself and step up to be counted as the President who accepted no less than the highest moral standards from his cabinet.