BY now, it is apparent to the most casual observer that the consciences of the majority of Guyanese have taken an extended holiday, and this is a direct consequence of the immorality and amorality of corrupt administrative conduct witnessed over the past five years.
The British Guiana Public Service was created in the mould of the British system and public servants once straddled the spectrum of high values, absolute professionalism and impeccable integrity.

But then the status quo changed and most of those qualified through proper channels were no longer deemed qualified for jobs during Burnham’s reign.  The only qualification then was a party card – for any office.  The consequential decay seeped into the national moral fibre and has become endemic to the national social construct.
Minister former, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, once issued a warning to doctors who have been trained at taxpayers’ expense but who refuse to serve the nation as, when, and where the need arises.

However, despite the fact that scholarship awards are majorly funded by the host governments, Guyana’s government still expends humongous sums in subsidising the acquisition, at all levels, of education; and in the case of scholarship students, there are expectations of returns whereby the requisite capacities are expanded to enable equitable and dependable services in all the sectors that afford accessibility to all those in need, wherever they may reside.

Healthcare is a major component of government’s deliverables that are aimed at optimising the quality of life of citizens countrywide.  However, the horror stories told of the laid-back, even arrogant attitude of many healthcare workers to patients are highly believable, because they are told by simple people who are not versed in dissembling.  Even more, they are most often very much in awe of what Vice-President Jagdeo once described as “these tin gods”.

Many nurses who have been trained at government’s expense and whom are employed at public institutions work at private hospitals, delivering premium healthcare to those patients paying hefty sums, and use their duty period at the public institutions as their rest periods, as a consequence, delivering such inferior service that oftentimes it has been alleged that lives have been lost as a result of such negligent care; or rather, lack of care.

There was once a regimen in hospitals that ensured nurses worked as per a schedule to deliver optimal care to patients, but today, nurses often ignore a bedridden patient requesting help, or are so rude that patients are fearful of asking for help.

Former President, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, had once remarked with his trademark frankness that doctors had become businessmen to whom the welfare of patients was no longer paramount.
Unprofessional behaviour and misconduct by most public servants has become endemic in Guyana, and they are further encouraged by their unions and the opposition, members of which politicise every issue in the land, to the detriment of the citizens of the land.

The proliferation of lawlessness in society is phenomenal and has even infused what should be enclaves of innocence, which are our schools, and it is not uncommon to hear of instances where parents and/or students have abused a teacher or another student, and vice versa.
The incidents of violence, bullyism, thieving, etcetera are rising in direct correlation to the joint opposition’s continuum of encouragement to the criminal fraternity in Guyana.
PPP/C Governments, past and current, expends large sums into the various sectors every year in an effort to create facilitating mechanisms to propel upward trends in service delivery and enhance individual lifestyles; yet at every step these efforts are stymied by the doomsayers and naysayers who encourage mutiny – open and secret, by members of the public and joint services.

It is apparent that many criminals join the security sector to use it as a front for their covert criminal activities.  Of recent times the credibility of the joint services has been taking a battering because of criminal actions of some of the ranks.

Gone are the days when the sight of someone in a police uniform provided assurance of safety for members of the society, which is more than sad; it is tragic, because there are many good and decent police men and women, who work in accordance with their mandate to “serve and protect” the nation.

The benefits package of public servants, when added to their salaries, far outweighs wages earned in the private sector, yet they are on a permanent go-slow.  Most report late for work, then spend the days lazing away and chatting on the office phones.

It is incumbent that these anomalies are addressed, and even though the joint opposition will oppose for the sake of opposing, as they are wont to do, all the sectors in the public service need to be cleared of deadwood and decadent employees.

And none of the opposition parties are in a position to cry “foul”, because if they are investigated by the Guyana Revenue Authority, especially those of the legal and medical fraternity, then it would no doubt show how much they are birds of similar feathers, and how much they have in common with those in the public service who draw salaries and collect attendant benefits under false pretence.