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Who’s to blame?
Posted: Sunday, May 5, 2002
By Donna Yawching
IN THIS society, nobody is ever to blame. Don’t blame us, say the doctors, when the babies die as they withhold their services; don’t blame us, say the teachers, as the children fail their exams and resort to drugs and violence. Don’t blame us, say the maxi-drivers, as the commuters are left stranded at the side of the road because some protest action or other.
Don’t blame us, say the entertainment organisers, as the patrons scream in outrage because the listed artistes have failed to show up. Don’t blame us, says the Works Dept., as their substandard road surfaces destroy your car. Don’t blame us, say the police, as the bandits go from strength to strength. Don’t blame us, say the political parties, pointing accusing fingers at their predecessors while imitating them exactly. Don’t blame us. It’s the mantra of T&T, having long ago overtaken the earlier optimistic motto of Discipline, Production and Tolerance.
I hereby revolt against this approach, this refusal of accountability, this sordid self-seeking at the expense of everybody else. I say: Let’s ascribe blame where it is due. Let us heap censure and opprobrium and scorn by the bucketful upon the heads of those who deserve it. For everything that goes wrong, there usually IS someone to blame. The trademark of advanced societies is that they swiftly examine a problem, identify the cause, ascribe blame at the source, and institute appropriate consequences. “Don’t blame me” is never a good enough excuse.
Remember, some years ago, the food-poisoning episode at St Ann’s Hospital, where numerous patients died? The very first words coming from the Health Minister at the time were not, “I’ll look into it immediately”, but rather: “Don’t blame me, I’m new on the job.” (I believe he is now, appropriately, the chairman of an RHA. Who’s to blame for that?) A lengthy commission of enquiry ensued, and as I recall, it eventually decided that no-one was to blame! From which one can only conclude that all those poor crazy people decided one night to commit mass suicide, by sheer force of will.
In another country, heads would have been rolling like bowling-balls; lawsuits would have lined up at the door; charges of criminal negligence would have been laid. But not here. Don’t blame us, the authorities said, all the way up the line from kitchen assistant to Cabinet Minister. And we, long accustomed to that song, chorused: “Okay, we won’t.” The only people who might have protested were already dead.
More recently, we’ve heard two successive Ministers of Education denying responsibility for a dangerous and substandard school that was built during their watch; the Commissioner of Police ascribing crime to rap concerts rather than police incompetence; and of course the doctors, who blame just about everyone but themselves and Jesus for their decision to let people die.
Do any of the above really expect my sympathy? They won’t get it. They are (or were) paid to do a job, and they have failed to perform. In a culture where blame was ascribed, there would be no excuses. But not here: as VS Naipaul has pointed out, the Trinidadian is a very “tolerant” person, who feels a sneaking empathy with the most blatant of crooks and conmen–even when he himself ends up as the victim.
It is time that changed. It is time that, instead of sliding our eyes away and making vague excuses for all the unacceptable aspects of our public services, we start laying blame and demanding accountability from every single person along the way. And it is time for this accountability to be tracked all the way to the source. Everyone at every level should be held to account for his or her own non-performance; but the buck must stop at the government’s desk.
The reason we elect governments, in theory, is to get things done. It is their job to ensure that the resources (and we have resources, dammit!) are adequately allocated and that proper management systems are in place. It is their job to ensure that anyone who does not perform is promptly discharged.
And it is high time that everyone–government, administration, workers–stopped hiding behind antiquated bureaucratic procedures and obstructionist Service Commissions. Non-performers should be axed; performers should be rewarded. It works in private enterprise; why should government be any different? Let each manager be held directly (and frequently) responsible for the achievements (or lack thereof) of his department; let him shoulder the blame for its screw-ups, and let his superiors face the blame for his non-performance. You’d be surprised how fast things would change. The prospect of losing one’s paycheque concentrates the mind wonderfully.
But blame, like lightening, must eventually find the ground. Which is to say, it rests finally with us, the people. We are the ones who put up with constant slackness: with lazy civil servants, arrogant professionals, power-tripping politicians. We are the ones who avert our eyes when we should be demanding accountability; who go passively about our business as if all were well.
In recent weeks, around the world, hundreds of thousands–indeed, millions –of people have stood up, for one reason or another, and made themselves heard by those in authority. In Venezuela, the people (it might be a first) actually reversed a coup; in France the anti-Le Pen demonstrations have reached massive proportions. These are people who know that they are responsible for their own destiny, and who do not intend to be railroaded. They have a voice and they use it: not as a result of self-serving political manipulation, but spontaneously, purely, powerfully.
And us? We stand around sheepishly as our leaders fumble, our politicians cheat, our public servants spit in our faces–and do nothing, say nothing, demand nothing. Until we expect better, until we insist on better, we will not deserve better. Who, ultimately, is responsible for the sorry plight we are in? We are. The blame lies squarely with us.
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