The PPP has lowered the bar on leadership and good governance

Dear Editor,

The time has come for the government to face reality, be honest and recognise that there is absolutely no transparency and accountability in its decision-making processes.

In fact, this government is so arrogant that it does not believe it is accountable and transparent to anyone or even civil society organisations. Yet the President expects support from the people without his government commitment to transparency and accountability.^[1] He ought to know that action speaks louder than words, therefore, as the holder of the highest office in the land, he is dutybound to end the blatant corrupt practices and double-dealing by senior members of the government. This is what a credible and true leader with good character, ethics, integrity and morality would do. The 26th President of the United States Teddy Roosevelt (1901-1909) said that character, integrity, ethics and morality are the absolute foundations of true leadership.

The ruling elite must be of the highest moral standards by being decent, uncorrupt, principled and decisive in the decisions and actions they make on issues while in office. We should enforce the law that all members of the Cabinet declare their assets before taking office and those assets should be monitored annually to make sure that they do not receive ill-gotten gains from illegal transactions. There are claims that some in public office are involved in illicit transactions (bribe) when awarding contracts, and many of them even have companies in the names of family members and friends who have and continue to receive lucrative government contracts.

Although the leader of the opposition and others have exposed many of them who had very little wealth before becoming ministers, in the last five years, they have erected huge multi-million-dollar buildings and complexes and are also the owners of properties (lands and houses) at home and overseas, sand pits, stone quarries and gold mines, all of which are kept secret and are hidden from the public. Despite these claims, no investigation of any sort has been carried out on any senior government official including ministers and permanent secretaries in regard to their huge accumulation of assets since taking office. Attacking the messenger means blaming or criticising anyone for exposing their corrupt practices instead of dealing with the actual problem or the facts themselves.

The preservation of moral authority and integrity depends on being honest, keeping one’s word and fulfilling one’s promises. In this regard, the government has not fulfilled its 2020 election campaign promise to renegotiate the oil contract with ExxonMobil.^[2]

In fact, it has given the oil giant a free reign to wreak havoc on our energy resources and exploit, rape and pauperised the nation.^[3] The ruling elite has repeatedly failed and have missed several opportunities to demonstrate to the public that they are committed not by words but by their actions to do differently while in office. Good governance has been replaced by arrogance and poverty and homelessness have increased. The perception that corruption exists at every level of government and that the government is indecisive on several issues is true.

Among them is the lack of commitment to prosecute senior public servants and members of the Cabinet who are deemed culpable of alleged corruption and other illegal practices. Instead, there has been blatant denial and barefaced cover-up of wrong doings by some in government and at the regional and local levels.

The government waffling, indecisiveness and inability to reduce the high crime rate, high cost-of-living, reduce or end corruption and shrink the high level of poverty and homelessness in the country is evidence that the PPP government is not committed to transparency, accountability and democracy–the effect of which is the erosion of moral authority, integrity and the demise of the state. What has been indelibly recorded since this government came to office in August 2020 is that it vacillates, acts slowly, leaves things to fester, and does not take charge when it matters most. They are influenced by and obsessed with the not-so-hidden fact of the power they wield. However, the French writer Victor Hugo said that rulers must understand that power does not last forever.

The reality is this administration has effectively lowered the bar on leadership and good governance, but it could raise its profile and redeem itself by ending or reducing corruption, nepotism and cronyism. It must take decisive actions to stem the haemorrhage of public trust. The responsibility of a true leader, with all of his or her human frailties and imperfections, is to leave office better than when he or she inherited it This requires moral leadership which this government lacks.

References

1. President says Government doing more to advance transparency and accountability - News Source Guyana — newssourcegy.com ↩
2. Global Witness calls on PPP/C gov't to renegotiate ExxonMobil deal - Stabroek News — www.stabroeknews.com ↩
3. Guyana set for bigger oil profits as ExxonMobil recoups ... — www.reuters.com ↩