Dear Editor,
It appears the government has pla-teaued out already after an initial blast. In that initial blast, a lot of unpleasant particles were emitted with the appointment at the ministerial, the lead public service positions and corporations. This country is not going anywhere if this trend continues. Persons are appointed because of political loyalty and simply being friends and family of politicians in power. Many of them are ill-suited for the positions and some downright incompetent. Incompe-tence and failure are rewarded because of insecurity. There is no room for competent persons with integrity and vision. No room for patriots. No room for persons who display initiative and demonstrate accomplishment. And therefore this country will continue to wallow in backwardness.
The constant blackouts and low voltage is a stark example. Do the citizens of Guyana know the billions of dollars spent to improve GPL over the last 28 years? 23 under PPP and 5 under APNU/AFC. Can the small opposition parties demand that this be made public? But Bharat Dindyal is back at GPL as the CEO. GPL was already spiraling downwards under his stewardship. It got worse under the APNU/AFC. Now this government is clueless on when GPL will function as a modern energy supplier. It’s the same with GWI. Van West Charles was a disaster. Now Shaik Baksh is back. But Shaik Baksh cannot fix GWI because he relies on a set of persons in very senior management positions who are totally clueless. But he hangs onto them. He is afraid to make the tough call and fire persons. He got the new ministers fooled that fixing non-revenue water will improve the financial and operational situation in the company. Whatever he tells them will not ever get done because he is surrounded by incompetence.
The senior minister with responsibility for finance is unsuited for any role in government. He is more interested in the limelight. Anywhere there is a TV camera one can find him. He did a poor job in growing the economy in his last tenure. Nothing will change in this round. All the projects Ali espoused are unlikely to go beyond the pre-planning stage in the short term. Never mind expressions of interest. He has also appointed person who are incapable of grasping issues and coming up with solutions. An example is the key Ministry of Public Works. There are a lot of talk. Especially in the drinking rooms where persons are flapping their new wings and tongues. But that’s all will happen. A lot of talk. So things are really bleak.
Sincerely,
Harrish Singh
