Being a public servant, whether it be a minister, police officer, judge, magistrate, president, prime minister, military officer or just an ordinary clerk, is a position with much honour. Sometimes one gets the impression that as a people we have very low standards, hence we do not demand a higher quality of service from public officers. But that is far from being accurate. We have standards and very high standards too. Many of us desire a higher level of service and conduct from our public officers.
I wish to make specific reference to two recent incidents. The first involves Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee and the senior officers of the Guyana Police Force. Eleven senior officers decided to throw caution to the wind and tell the Minister what was on their minds, and publicly too.
This provoked an a— kicking comment from the Minister in public, that should not be taken lightly. Not by the Minister or the citizens.
There were a number of points raised in the officers‘ letter which highlight issues of integrity, trust, respect and dissatisfaction with disciplinary matters surrounding their colleague, David Ramnarine, among others; and generally the impact these could have on the professional relationship between the Minister and the GPF, or certain sections of the Police Force.
I am interested in the Minister’s response to the officers‘ letter. Nevertheless, I do not think that it should be treated as another matter for disciplinary action but rather requires a conflict resolution intervention; perhaps mediation.
The parties should agree to become engaged in a mediation process as an attempt to address the root cause of the problem, heal the relationship between the Minister and his officers and restore respect for both parties and the wider Force.
I am not for one moment insinuating that the officers were wrong in their approach. I understand that they are adults and professionals and expect to be treated that way. From the Minister’s point of view, I understand his frustration. I am also frustrated with the GPF in some areas. One specific case in point, I have a personal matter which I am still waiting for the police to investigate since 2002; it is now ten years, and I guess that there are thousands of Guyanese with similar stories. But the Minister’s position is different; he cannot demoralise members of the GPF in public and expect to motivate them.
Which brings me to the point of the impact of the various development projects and programmes which are undertaken throughout the country. Many of these projects focus on conflict management and resolution, personal development, organisational strengthening, among others. There was the UNDP’S Social Cohesion Project a few years ago, and then the Enhanced Public Trust, Security and Inclusion Project (EPTSI), USAID’s Guyana Democratic Consolidation and Conflict Resolution (GDCCR) Project, and currently the Citizens’ Security Programme (CSP) implemented by Ministry of Home Affairs and funded by the IDB, just to name a few.
All of them in one way or another addressed very strategically the areas mentioned above.
As a country we have at some point to progress from the training stage, to actually begin to see change in behaviour. I think that it is time that we start to see some real impact from these interventions.
For example the Minister has an excellent opportunity to own the CSP project. To become the champion of the Citizens’ Security Programme, by displaying the impact the programme has had on his personal development and conflict management skills.
The second incident I wish to raise involves Kwame McCoy, Press Officer, at the Office of the President. Last week when there was the protest outside Parliament Building, I saw on the news, Minister of Transport Robeson Benn and Attorney General Anil Nandlall, in their wisdom, engaging Mr McCoy in a discussion in an attempt to persuade him to adopt another course of action given the circumstances. However, Mr McCoy chose to continue to hold a certain position. I think this public incident (not only what occurred but the manner in which it was done) between Mr McCoy and the Ministers is something that should not be tolerated. These were Ministers, his superiors and I think that more respect should have been shown. We have a public life and a private life, how we treat with each, has to be different.
We should not and must not become casual about these occurrences, showing respect for authority and each other are fundamental to the sustainability of any country.
Many of us are parents and teachers trying to raise children with good values and principles, and we want to have local role models that we can exhibit to our children. We are trying to train them to respect authority, but respect has to also be shown by senior persons in our society too.
Many of us refer to President Barack Obama as a person that children should aspire to emulate. But we want local examples too.
So I think Mr McCoy should publicly apologise to the two Ministers.
And Minister Rohee should not indulge in any more a- kicking language, in public. As a matter of fact, there should be no more of such language by public officers, especially senior public officers. Let’s raise the bar and turn a new page as from today.
Finally Minister Rohee and Mr McCoy should not take this personally; we are actually on the same page. The higher our social capital, the more development and investment choices and opportunities we could have.
Yours faithfully,
Audreyanna Thomas
