Recently the Stabroek News (Feb 28, 2016) reported President Granger saying: “I have no interest in having an unprofessional Public Service… I also said that I did not just want an efficient public service but an ‘unbribable’ public service; professional people, people who can do their trade and people who are prepared to do their jobs without fear or favour.” It is good to hear a Guyanese Head of State finally making such a comment. It is crucial that the civil service evolve into a professional, developmentalist and politically neutral body.
For those of us who have studied development economics from an eclectic perspective – and not the purely neo-classical variety – we observe how the State can do well for economic transformation once the capacity is in place. On the other hand, the State can be predatory and retard economic development. I would place the Guyanese State – in particular the police, CANU, security forces and others – more on the predatory than developmentalist side,