LAST Sunday, our newspapers carried reports of “children and relatives” of the head of a public organisation being employed in the same organisation, thus raising questions of potential managerial and staff relations improprieties.

The very next day, the head of the organisation responded (also in the said newspapers) that “my children were not given any special or peculiar treatment in terms of position, salary or status and were subjected to competitive interviews before being employed” etc etc.
Issues regarding the employment of relatives in the same organisation, whether or not the organisation is headed by a relative, has always been quite contentious and, as far as I know from my fairly wide experience, the dilemma will continue, especially in small societies that are prone to suspicion, rightly or wrongly, of malpractices, especially among executives and leaders, despite the protestations, swearings and/or substance of ‘due process’ in the employment function.
It is a conundrum that goes to the heart of the age-old doctrine of ‘letting justice be done and be seen to be done’ with greater emphasis on the “seeing” as opposed to the “doing”!
Some organisations have a stated written policy on the subject. The United Nations for example, of which I have firsthand knowledge, expressly prohibits the employment of children and ‘blood relatives’. Others do not expressly prohibit it, but set out exceptional conditions or extenuating circumstances and safe-guards (for example, proving that no other suitable candidate are available and that there would be no direct reporting relationships etc.).
Other organisations are silent on the subject, supposedly preferring to leave it up to the wisdom, judgement and maturity of the respective managers, the labour market context and similar socio-economic factors.
In the case of Guyana, one may also have to be cognisant of the plurality and well-known prejudices in the society, which might strongly invite serious consideration of the maxim: “Discretion is the better part of valour.”

NOWRANG PERSAUD