Dear Editor,
Leading up to the elections, the coalition made much ado about stamping out corruption if elected to government. It made the case that corruption was a cancer that had metastasized across Guyana’s institutions and needed to be surgically removed to restore public confidence. The Guyanese people listened carefully to the argument and agreed with the assessment, and on May 11, decided that Mr Granger and his coalition were best equipped to handle the task.
In the President’s address to the department heads yesterday, he outlined his expectations and goals in this regard, and from all accounts, the speech was well articulated. It however fell short of substantive action, and many are now asking if his campaign speech to forcefully deal with corruption was just that − a speech.
As the President knows, it is mandatory for all civil servants to resign their posts prior to mounting the political campaign trail. (We saw this in the case of Elisabeth Harper.) However, some of the heads who elected to become political candidates did not resign and are currently still on the job.
Allowing them to remain in office is to reward and condone corruption, and they therefore should be asked to resign. The Guyanese people expect nothing less; this is not about witch-hunting, but about holding people accountable.
Yours faithfully,
Berkeley Van Bowen
