Dear Editor,
A former Commissioner of Police doing immigration. A former investment banker given an ambassadorship to India. These men are working outside their areas of training and expertise.
Running a government is about recruiting skilled and competent people. Bureaucracies must be managed to deliver goods and services efficiently. All the sound political and management principles we had learned and inherited from the British colonial masters have been thrown out the window. And we as a nation became bungling and backward.
I am in New Delhi purchasing rugs. The salesman threw out one and said the price is $5,000; another $3,500; and yet another $2,000. The cheapest looked prettier and more aesthetic to my eyes. I have no idea how to evaluate rugs. The salesman said to look under the rug for stitches per square inch; the more stiches the more expensive.
Minister Ramjattan is touring Camp Street prison and the Lusignan improvised holding facility. Knowing nothing about prison control and safety ‒ like me knowing nothing about rugs ‒ Ramjattan simply did not know what it was he was looking at. A disaster was waiting to happen but he could not see it. He could have asked his subordinates simple questions and he would have gotten answers to enhance his understanding of the problem, but we must assume that he didn’t.
Some managers ask a lot of questions; they are ‘a quick study’ and they make good managerial decisions. Some folks are too lazy. They will screw up every time.
The very definition of Guyanese politics works against competency. If you were a good organizer who was loyal to the party, but have no formal or technical education or training, you will get a ministerial job. This nation will pay a huge price for this kind of crazy politics.
By the way, the real price for the $5,000 price-tagged rug was $1,500. Like me, a tourist waiting to be scammed, Mr Ramjattan is a Cabinet minister waiting to be exposed as a square peg neatly fitted into a round hole.
Yours faithfully,
Mike Persaud
