Negative attributes
For the past 22 years, the country of Guyana has been administered by an alliance known as the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic or (PPP/C). During this period, the PPP/C began to install Interim Management Committees or IMCs in communities and organizations across the country to replace elected officials whom it claimed were not functioning properly or effectively. The most severe of the IMCs is the one which the PPP/C has imposed on the entire country and by which Guyana has gained global notoriety. The IMC of concern here comprises “Incompetence, Mediocrity and Corruption” that appear to be the new normal for Guyana. These are negative attributes which have rapidly become embedded in the production, distribution, social and moral fabric of the Guyanese society. These negative attributes also show up as policies embraced by the government. This article points to three high profile cases which lead this writer to this conclusion and which reveal that half of a year’s income of a household whose breadwinner earns the minimum wage is lost to incompetence, mediocrity and corruption. As Guyanese head into the New Year, they must decide if they are satisfied with this ‘IMC’ and want it to continue.
Coalition of intentions and inaction
Writers on public policy like Thomas R Dye and Edward C Page, for example, view public policy as a coalition of intentions and actions of a government which are carried out or not carried out. From the works of Dye, Page and others, Guyanese should realize that inaction by the government to curb incompetence, mediocrity and corruption constitute public policy with which it seems to be quite happy despite the deteriorating image of the country. As such, the refusal to prosecute known cases of wrongdoing at the National Communications Network (NCN) constitutes public policy as is the refusal to investigate the assets of convicted drug dealers. The refusal to dismiss an Attorney-General who has brought disrepute to his office and