Promoting Meritocracy

THE development of every society is hinged on the quality of performance of its people. Where performance focuses on quality, delivery efforts will be put in place not only to attract those who meet the criteria for doing the job, but also to ensure that they are provided the requisite support to get it done. Over the years, Guyana has been shortchanged on meritocracy and by extension the development of the society and its people.

The public sector, which is a country’s single largest workforce and provider of services, and usually sets the standards for other sectors in the economy, has not escaped the sacrifice of meritocracy. Stories of persons appointed to perform technical and managerial duties without the requisite skills and/or talents required for the job are known. These appointments, which are invariably made primarily on political affiliation or acquaintance with the person making the appointment, have been debilitating. Conversely, those who are able and qualified to perform the job have been sidelined in the actual workforce or denied opportunities to fill the position for various reasons.

The oft referred to ‘square pegs in round holes’ has cost the nation in dollar value, suppression of required skills and talents, and in the flight of human capital. There is no denying that when mediocrity becomes the acceptable form of securing and maintaining a job, elected or appointed, the society suffers. At the same time, none can truthfully deny when meritocracy is promoted as a matter of national policy and priority,that it makes it easier in accomplishing the tasks ahead of us.

Persons feel assured and are invested in an environment where they know opportunities will be afforded them based on ability. In instances too, when these are denied and felt such are un-deserving should there be institutions — in law and establishment — to allow them to pursue justice it incentivises meritocracy. Leaders — elected and appointed — taking the approach of rewarding meritocracy will not only attract competent skills, but will also transmit clear signals that anything less is unacceptable, and will not be supported.

Looking around our society, skills and talents come from diverse sources, and should there be focus on meritocracy, there can be found in every group — race, political association, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities etc., competent individuals. In this regard Guyanese, at home and abroad, can identify with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s. entreaty that the “content of character” be the determining factor in treating with people.

Through change of political administrations there have been allegations of persons being removed from appointed public offices based on their political association and/or race. In parlance, this suggests meritocracy is being sacrificed at the altar of mediocrity. The truth be told, some of these claims have not been without merit as seen with the gutting of professionalism in the Foreign Service post-1992, and the court awarding judgment to career diplomats. They are also those who have not used the court system, but have suffered similar fates. The bleeding of skills and talents has been a setback to the society.

Outside of appointed officials, there have been elected officials who have not met the standard of performance befitting their office and responsibilities, and this has hurt policy conceptualisation, execution of the task at hand and saw wastage of resources, financial and otherwise. When President Granger came to office and announced that it is not his administration’s intent to remove public servants, that was a welcoming sign and must become national policy, though it is important to base this policy on meritocracy.

Honest and frank discourse will acknowledge that mediocrity is present in every society, but when this is allowed to become the norm it does grave disservice. Similarly, it has been proven that societies that recognise the wisdom of promoting and supporting meritocracy as the norm make better use of their resources, optimise and reward the performance of its people, and relatively have had better developmental indicators- human, revenue, and otherwise

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