There has been an election, swearing-in and inauguration and now that the dust has more or less settled, one imagines that the servants of the people are getting down to doing the jobs they would have campaigned hard for.
The transition will not be easy. One imagines the opposition will be watching like hawks, eager to pounce on the slightest mistake and hold it up against their own dismal record. One imagines too that the people of the nation will be dogging the steps of the new appointees and everyone will have an issue which will be deemed to be of paramount importance. Ministers who had sleepless nights while on the campaign trail are about to become insomniacs as they find themselves held to a much higher standard than their predecessors were. But then, this is what they signed up for.
There are many areas in which there has been glaring inefficiency, if not neglect, and one of the more prominent of these has been the previous administration’s failure to hold local government elections. This is, of course, one of the top priority items on the APNU+AFC government’s 100-day plan and it is expected that an early date to host such elections will be named soon.
Security, the liberalization of the telecommunication sector, including Information and Communication Technology, the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission and a long-term sustainable economic development plan are also among the list of priorities.
While these will redound to the benefit of all, the ordinary citizen will have needs he/she considers to be more immediate. The simple but necessary and long overdue act of restoring pride in our national monuments and surroundings has brought to the fore a sense of national pride, galvanizing awareness and support. But this is not the be all and end all of it.
The euphoria will subside and when it does, persons prone to dumping will attempt to do so again. This must not be allowed to happen. There are systems in place to prevent this and these must be employed. Anti-litter laws should be enforced to the maximum and without fear or favour. City Constabulary officers must do the work they are mandated to do, likewise the City Council – the current one and the one to come – without any interference by the central government. However, they should be sanctioned if their performance is subpar.
This brings to mind state agencies that operate as if they were submerged in molasses. While the need for careful checking is understood in some sensitive areas, it is painfully obvious in several places that public servants operate with a deliberate lack of alacrity. Some seem to believe they are doing the waiting public a favour and others seem to be awaiting offers of inducements. This must end.
Where necessary, equipment and infrastructure must be put in place to allow for the proper functioning of departments which draw high traffic. One such is the General Register Office (GRO). Use should be made of modern technology to allow the efficient operation of this agency. Perhaps there will be need for an assessment to see whether in fact it should remain under the remit of what is now the Ministry of Public Security. But that should not impede the urgent upgrade this department needs. Its challenges, best known by the average citizen seeking its services, were all laid bare during the last election season.
With the need for careful and up-to-date records of births and deaths in mind, the embarrassment of the national population census also must be addressed. The last census was taken in 2012 and yet to date all that has been published is a preliminary result and this was nearly a year ago. There is no reason why in the twenty-first century, a country with 747,884 inhabitants (at last count) should be waiting three years for the final results of its census; none whatsoever. Unless of course the Bureau of Statistics is using an abacus and its fingers and toes, or there is something intrinsically wrong with the census and/or the results. Either way, the Bureau of Statistics, which is also a public service entity, should let the public know.
It has been said that one of the easiest ways to break something is to fix it when it isn’t broken and one of the hardest is to watch broken things limp along because no one cares enough to access the easy fix that is available. One hopes the new mantra of change extends to these things.
