THE newly installed government has been constrained to terminate the services of political appointees holding sinecure positions.
The President of the country, as well as each minister of government and Heads of Departments, all have their delineated mandates peculiar to a particular sphere of responsibility within the national construct; albeit sometimes these responsibilities overlap and morph into each other.

Every one of these heads of entities has support staff holding various portfolios, and it behooves every member of that support system to perform their duties with optimum effort and efficiency, because if one cog in the operational wheel leading to the delivery of service to the nation proves dysfunctional, then the entire system becomes skewed and either diminishes and/or eradicates altogether the product – the product in this case being an item of service to the people, and it is service to the people that is the business of governments.

In every business the position and responsibilities of the chief executive officer are well defined, and everyone knows that success or failure of the business entity lies on his shoulders. In other words, the buck stops at him, so if any cog in his support system fails, then he has no recourse but to change it – fire the offender and hire a competent replacement.

The Chief Executive of Guyana does not have that luxury and the governmental structure is overburdened with dysfunctional cogs, many of them planted by those who do not wish this administration well; so our President is aware that he has to adjust to the flaws within the wheel of governance with which he is constrained to work.

A charge was laid on PPP/C Presidents by Dr. and Mrs. Jagan, two people who are revered and honoured by the various PPP/C Heads of State, both for their leadership and their humanistic qualities. By and large, the party’s leaders have prevailed over all the existential dynamics within this nation and the wider world to honour the trust they have reposed in the protégées they guided and moulded into quintessential leadership material.  No human being is without a flaw, and PPPP/C leaders have made their mistakes, as has other leaders within the equation of humankind; but, by and large, the leadership that formed successive PPP/C governments has been exemplary, so much so that the party Dr Cheddi Jagan and Mrs Janet Jagan founded has created synergies for development against great odds, not once, but twice.

Former President and current Vice-President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has put Guyana on the map as a pathbreaker on initiatives that have implications for the welfare of nations within the global construct.  Two of these are the Jagdeo Initiative on Agriculture and Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), among innumerable others. He also won accolades for many achievements, among them the Champion of the Earth award.

President Irfaan Ali is meeting and overcoming every challenge he has had to face since assuming office in August of this year,
However, every initiative that this administration drives has been subjected to negative responses from the political opposition, as well as some members of the media, which can frustrate efforts and demotivate the leader. Genuine commitment to the national development paradigm should be honoured and supported instead of being subjected to such a plethora of negativity.  That is, if we are truly committed to the ideal of nation-building.

And those who revile heads of the nation and national institutions should sit back and re-think their positions.  What would they, what could they do differently, or better, in similar situations and circumstances?

This question would stymie those who continually find fault with every initiative undertaken by the government, as in the Skeldon Sugar Estate, the Enmore packaging plant, the OLPF, the LCDS, the Amaila Falls hydro project, as well as the plethora of other developmental initiatives, without taking into consideration that every project entered into by this and previous PPP/C governments is an innovation, because there was no precedent in development prior to 1992 – not on a national scale.

It is as if the malcontents of the nation would prefer to see the nation go into decline if the current administration is driving the successes, never mind the fact that everyone benefits from the outcomes of these initiatives when they eventually prove successful.  Our motto says: One People, One Nation, with One Destiny. One people – so the race of our leader should not matter; One nation – it is only with a unity of purpose can we prevail over adversities to become a prosperous nation; One Destiny – is ours, regardless of whomever is President, or leader of the nation.  If we support our leaders and strive together in unity, then every Guyanese stands to reap the rewards – collectively, because our destiny is irrevocably interlinked, and our national glories and successes are things that we will all share in – as a Guyanese people.  This is the message inherent in our national motto – that the country should not stand divided on issues of national interest. Any other course would lead to diminishing our potential for progress and prosperity.