Dear Editor,
It’s not every day that you hear of a president gathering his cabinet and public servants at 5:30 in the morning to give them a dressing down. Yet, here we are in Guyana, where the President has taken the unusual step of berating his team for what he calls “unacceptable” deliverables. Don’t get me wrong, accountability is key, and public servants do need a wake-up call (though maybe not literally before dawn). However, this approach raises questions about leadership and what it truly takes to improve governance. Are these fiery speeches a genuine call to action or just theatrics to deflect blame?
If the goal is better performance, let’s focus on systemic issues: capacity building, clear objectives, and resources to get the job done. Public servants don’t magically perform better because their boss yells at them before breakfast. They need training, realistic deadlines, and policies that prioritize service over bureaucracy. And then there’s the political angle. By lambasting his team in such a dramatic fashion, the President may have stolen two key strategies the opposition perhaps never thought to use. First, the public perception that the government is out of touch or inefficient now has a counter-narrative: a president supposedly demanding excellence. Second, it undercuts the opposition’s likely campaign promise of being the alternative to lethargy in governance. In one bold move, the President has positioned himself as the watchdog of his administration, leaving little room for the opposition to claim they can do better.
Leadership isn’t about catching people off guard at sunrise; it’s about inspiring them every day. If we’re serious about fixing “unacceptable” deliverables, maybe we should start by examining the system itself, not just the people tasked with executing it.
Sincerely,
Keith Bernard
