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Political pipe-dream
Posted: Sunday, November 18, 2001
By Donna Yawching
BOTH Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and his sidekick Ralph Maraj have called for a postponement of the December 10 election, and for the installation of a "caretaker" government.
Given the daily scandals that are emerging regarding the voters' list, this might actually be a good idea. My own personal experience shows up the EBC's bluster as farcical. Not one, but two field workers presented themselves, at different times, at my door, and took note of my new address. So I felt safe in assuming that I would be well and truly ensconced on the electoral rolls.
When, however, I took the EBC's musical advice to "Check, check, check" that my name was on the list, I found (surprise!) that it wasn't. By all accounts, there may be about 100,000 other voters in the same boat—enough to skew an election irremediably. I made a fuss, of course, and filled out the form yet again; I'm now waiting curiously to see what transpires on Election Day.
So a delayed election might not be a bad idea, though I've been dying to see whether the UNC would resurrect Keith and Daphne. (Or perhaps CL Financial isn't inclined to reach quite as deeply into its pockets this year?) The question is, what is the nation to do in the meantime? Who would govern?
Clearly Mr Panday's regime cannot, as things currently stand, get even a sno-cone through Parliament without having it melt all over their expensive suits. The business of government demands a solution, one way or another, to the current political impasse. T&T right now is like a ship without captain or crew, drifting without direction while the rest of the world steams purposefully by. And we, the masses in steerage (the first-class passengers have already hogged all the lifeboats) are standing around wringing our hands; singing hymns and waiting to see if and when the boat will sink.
Messrs Maharaj and Maraj (sounds like a comedy team) suggest a caretaker government. I'm all for that—provided that neither of them is among the caretakers. Nor, for that matter, would I wish to see any members of either the PNM or the UNC on the caretaker government (forget the NAR; they can't even carry the mop-bucket). If there is to be a caretaker government, I would like it to contain not one known politician—past, present or future. I'm sure most people would agree with me.
This brings me to my long-held and increasingly strong conviction that T&T should invent a whole new concept of government. Rather than wasting time voting for one set of shysters or another, with the inevitable disillusionment that follows, we should devise a system of simply hiring a government, the way we would a management team.
Note that "hiring" a government is not the same as "buying" a government, as some political financiers evidently believe. Indeed, it implies the opposite, since a hired government would be based not on ethnic or community loyalties, but strictly on performance. (And note also that "performance" does not mean creating asphalt cliffs on city roads, nor opening health centres which lack qualified staff. It means improving the nation's quality of life on every front.)
How would my idea work? Simple. First, a consulting team (international, in order to avoid the obvious pitfalls of bias) is brought in (by the President?) to take care of the hiring process. The consultants acquaint themselves with the country and its needs, then screen highly qualified applicants for individual positions: Education Director, Health Care Delivery Director, Infrastructure Director, etc.; offering them appropriate professional salaries, but none of the costly perks that our politicians expect. Let them live in their own houses and drive their own damn cars.
For the first time in our history, we might actually get qualified people running our ministries, instead of snakes and crapauds benefiting from political patronage, or buying their way into power. Tell the truth: if Dhanraj Singh or Adesh Nanan actually came to your door looking for a job, would you give either a second look? I wouldn't. Nor would 90 per cent of our other politicians (in all parties) stand the ghost of a chance, in a truly professional market. Mr Panday would be back in the canefields; Mr Manning hiding under a rock.
To continue: the newly-hired Directors would be given, say, a three-year contract, an adequate budget, the authority to fire all deadwood in their departments, and a schedule of goals to be achieved within specific timeframes. These would be monitored; and non-performers would be terminated at an early stage, just as they would be in the real world. The country would leap forward amazingly. When people know that their job—their livelihood—actually depends on what they get done, believe me, they get things done. Our current system rewards slugs, when it should be squashing them instead.
Of course, I know my idea is a pipe-dream—T&T is far too attached to the personality cult to accept the idea of impersonal managers who cannot be sweet-talked or bribed. Also, the business model of running a government obviously presents a number of practical problems—though these, with the proper will, could be resolved. The question of foreign policy might seem to be an area which would raise problems, being based more on ideology than on measurable performance; but the fact is, T&T's foreign policy is essentially determined by America anyway, so we won't even need to hire a manager (sorry, Ralph; there goes your job).
Is my idea crazy? Wait till you hear my solutions for the voting list problem! (It has to do with everyone simply presenting an ID card and voting wherever they want—which they seem to be doing anyway. To hell with constituencies. Just make sure that this time, the voter's ink is truly indelible!)
I'm not crazy enough to believe that my suggestions could ever become reality, though there's no crime in dreaming. It's just that desperate times call for desperate solutions; and these are desperate times indeed.
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