A FEW weeks ago, in the United States, Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann all but accused longtime and trusted aide to Secretary of State, Bill Clinton, Huma Abedin and another Muslim government worker of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, an increasingly influential Islamist party in the Middle East;the insinuation being that such ties constituted at best disloyalty to America and at worst ties to ‘terrorism’.
In a polity where Republicans and their supporters have levelled all sort of ad hominem attacks against the President himself – from questioning his citizenship, his religion, his commitment to democracy – this might easily have been taken as just another week in America. The difference in this case was that someone finally decided that Bachmann, representative of an increasingly influential hardcore ultra-right wing of the Grand Old Party, had gone too far – and that someone was none other than Obama’s opponent in the 2008 presidential campaign and respected Republican, John McCain.
McCain, followed by others, both Republicans and Democrats, have rallied in defence of a humble, gracious Abedin, praised across the aisle as a committed and dedicated public servant, an intelligent woman whose grace was only recently tested by the very highly publicised indiscretions of her husband, former Democratic congressman, Anthony Weiner. What is notable is that McCain did this, even as people who are supportive of Bachmann are spreading their influence over the Republican Party.

Like America, Guyana finds itself in a particularly tense situation with regard to interplay between opposition and government. And as in America, what we find is that the victims of this tension are people whose only crime seems to be commitment to their jobs and a tangential vulnerability to ad hominem sniping, disguised as fair comment in the interest of the public good.
The case I want to single out for brief commentary is that of Gitanjali Singh, the wife of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh and her substantive appointment with the Audit Office of Guyana as Deputy Auditor General. I can rehash arguments both for and against the claims of conflict of interest in this case and find virtually equal plausibility in both sides of the debate. What I find absent in all of this is – abstraction aside – an even prima facie case in which either Ms. Singh’s competence or her commitment to her work has been called into question. Indeed, what we have found has been, by default, the opposite: by virtue of their continued interaction, without protest, with Ms. Singh for six years, the opposition had effectively signalled their comfort with her work.
This specific case should be seen in the context of the overall new dispensation, the new distribution of political power in Guyana and the increasing impetus – on both sides of the political divide – to have a renewed focus on the strengthening of systems to deal with our particular situation, and the avoidance of ad hominem attacks designed more for political mileage than any purported public interest.
Let me look at the issue of conflict of interest for example – it is no secret that there exists a paucity of specialist skills in Guyana, and even as our economy is growing, the disparity in personal income between Guyana and other countries continues to attract our best and brightest. Factor in our relatively small population, and you’re going to find that very often potential conflict of interest situations arise, whether familial, personal or professional. In light of this, we have two options – institute a blanket presumptive conflict of interest regime that prevents people from serving in positions that they are qualified for; or we strengthen systems of accountability that can monitor and deal with real conflict of interest, as well as other, issues as they arise.
As of now, what we have is a disturbing trend towards the ad hominem in place of the objective, the witch-hunt parading as political responsibility, and in the aftermath of all this, we will slide backward because we will find not only that we’ve unfairly alienated good, competent people from serving in the public interest, but we would have established an environment that their best potential replacements view as hostile. It is time that we grow past the personal and the partisan and say that enough is enough – we need our own local McCain to speak out, regardless of the potential political damage, and to stand up for what is right and decent.