– life in the kleptocracy
I know I’ll earn editorial permission to make today’s offering most brief.
The issue is as national and pervasive as it is disgustingly negative for a once-innocent nation that is not deserving of the reputation it now “enjoys” within the Caricom region.
Yes again I’m talking about the now “national”, countrywide, seemingly-insitutionalised thievery! Executive banditry! Collaborative corruption! Kleptomania and a Kleplocracy! Gosh, I was influenced to revisit this issue through the sheer volume (of the reportage) of the known instances of fraud in officialdom, in the corporations and in urban centres and rural communities.
Poverty? Need? That is what is responsible for that national increase in thievery? Well to me, frankly speaking, it’s the new morality! Pardon this my own repetition, but wrong is a blurred definition to today’s young. The adults in high places amongst us are bequeathing the young with attitudes accommodating wrongdoing as an acceptable way of living here. Church or no cosmetic church!
In the fifties – sixties poverty, being poor, even hungry, never dictated robbery, burglary or wider – spread corruption. (“We bear we chafe” because of grandparents’ advice, guidance – and threats.) Today? Endemic stealing is normal. White collar, blue collar – the clerk in tie, white long-sleeves and sunshades; the supervisor of the bond or “section” are now more, or as rampant as the gunman bandit.
The kleptocracy today
Yeah I know. That kleptomania is a condition whereby the normal law – abiding individual gets the urge to steal – for no good reason or need. And does so.
The kleptocracy is a state where top players in officialdom steal in an institutionalised manner. The king and subordinate cohorts plunder the public purse at will.
Well in our burgeoning Guyana kleptocracy the subordinates seem to have taken to heart, mind and brain, the alleged kleptomania of their superiors. Never have I heard of servants of the people stealing so consistently. Our quasi-kleptocracy now makes the Burnham-era mischief appear angelic.
Just conceptualise this: somewhere last night, this morning, a clerk, supervisor or manager decided to operationalise his/her well-thought-out plan to steal and defraud the company, ministry, bank or consumer. This thing is now structured and scientific. The entity’s system was always vulnerable. Time to strike. If ever discovered, it might be weeks later.
I say this, my still-honest friend: if only just a modicum, an iota, a fraction of the reports of fraud, theft and corruption – as reported in our media – is true, it means we are perilously close to the full status of a corruptocracy (?)
Just imaging again friends! Real uncovered frauds – or alleged frauds at the Deeds Registry, the GT Magistrates Court, the GT&T, the GRA, NCN, the GDF Co-op Credit Union, the Police/ Home Affairs Ministry, the GPL, GuySuco, One Laptop Programme, you name the other places. From the Police Finance office to the President’s Office, anywhere money or usable resources reside, thievery now is uncovered. At the very least uncovered. Employees turn up to work, to plot and steal?
I close this sermon thus: it is inevitable that when there are no healthy examples at the top, the middle and bottom will rot. When the government – functionary or policy – the police who must enforce laws, and when the church is seen to be artificial; and when cocaine builds commercial high rises, what do you expect from the young? Needy or not? Discuss…
Elections considerations
I contend that one of the numerous signs and symptoms of Guyana’s under-development is our inability to conduct local government elections. You’ll get explanations, never the elections.
The old USA, where hundreds of thousands of our people live, decided that the system of Electoral College Votes is the best possible method to decide a presidential winner, even when the popular numerous votes indicate otherwise. It’s all about fair play, then fair representation. Find out more about it. (You receive “small pieces” from there!)
Poor me “Columbus” Fenty. It was only last week I discovered the CANU chief James Singh. And who is his father!
When the US Consulate visa gentleman in Kingston tells you to turn off your cell – phones you certainly do. “Eyes pass” church or bank, but Kingston…
Identify five (5) brand new products at Guyexpo for me.
Til next week!
(Comments? allanafenty@yahoo.com)
