Government personnel
A letter in our edition yesterday from a representative of the diaspora ‒ or at least a segment of it – relayed Guyanese expatriate concerns that the government had reneged on undertakings made to them prior to the election. President David Granger had come to New York several times in the run-up to May 11, 2015, and had visited several groups whose members had raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, the letter said. Since the coalition government had come to office, however, the President had gone to New York on more than one occasion, but had made no attempt to meet members of the diaspora. What he had done was meet “with a group of a dozen or so elitist Guyanese who did not mobilize any support for the government before or after the elections.”
Furthermore, the letter went on to say, the government had not “established a Diaspora Department, or a Commission, or appointed a Member of Parliament from the diaspora, or provided the jobs or consultancy positions he had promised during the elections.”
Certainly they are not the only ones to have registered disquiet over the hiatus between what was promised prior to the poll and what has actually transpired since then. Some of those speaking for youth have also made their voices heard, asking where are the young people who were assured prior to the elections there would be positions in government for them. Even on the city council, where there was the obvious option of choosing the young Sherod Duncan as mayor ‒ admittedly from the AFC ‒ the solid block of what were essentially PNC councillors put back in office the old guard, more especially Mayor Patricia Chase-Green. As it is, with the parking meter scandal, among other things, she and her associates have done nothing to distinguish themselves or persuade anyone that real change has come to the M&CC.
The diplomatic appointments too, which took an inordinately long time to be announced, are not replete with the names of representatives noted for their youth and vigour, although there are a few.
Youth has not characterized appointments in the central administration either, although having said that the caution should be borne in mind that age in and of itself should not be a criterion unless it is married with appropriate qualifications (in a general sense), some measure of experience and suitability for the post. ‘Young’ is a relative term, of course, and very young people learn how bureaucracies function in the first instance by entering them lower