Guyana is probably the country with an abundance of talented people. The reality is that the man in the street does not see these talented people.
In fact, older people are now wondering whether it would not be long before mediocrity becomes the new norm.
The government must have determined that there was more than enough talent to keep the wheels of the country turning because it quickly removed some of the talented people who were in the system. It then set about replacing them with people it feels comfortable with. Of course, some of these new employees are the beneficiaries of elections promises.
I listened to the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Dr. Vincent Adams, talking about his removal from office.
Undoubtedly, he has been the most qualified head of the EPA. He resurrected a dead agency at a time when Guyana is preparing to become an oil-producing nation. He spoke of the EPA is a revolving door for staff members who simply wanted a stepping stone.
The result is that precious little got done. In fact, the EPA was largely ignored by all and sundry. It was merely required to rubber-stamp certain government pronouncements. Vincent Adams changed that to the point where the EPA began to make an impact on national life.
It challenged Exxon Mobil to do the right thing by paying for its indiscretions in the industry. It flared gas to the extent that the environment was threatened. The Vincent Adams-led EPA made the company pay. It even threatened to take the company to court for some other indiscretion. That has changed.
I am left to wonder whether Dr. Adams’s removal was due to pressure on the government. Of course, the government claimed that Dr. Vincent Adams was a political appointee. It did not stop to consider that Dr. Adams had responded to an advertisement for the job, that he was interviewed by a panel, and that he was the most qualified applicant.
There is a new Director of the Environmental Protection Agency but the EPA is once more a toothless poodle. In fact, it has lapsed into obscurity and the government seems content. At least it does not have to pacify Exxon Mobil.
It is the same in numerous other areas. In the field of communication, English has all but disappeared. There is no relationship between subject and verb, no question of tense, and of course, pronunciation is no more a sign of knowledge.
There are new heads in radio, television, newspaper, and public information, all chosen by the government.
The COVID-19 situation is horrible. I am not sure whether it is due to the absence of a national plan or simply a case of Guyanese bad luck. Not so long ago I complained that people were no longer dying by the twos but by the fours. I should have shut my mouth. People are dying in droves. More than 100 people will die this month.
The irony is that the government is linking the deaths to the vaccination. You die if you are unvaccinated. But people also die if they are vaccinated. That is when the government talks about underlying conditions.
The records will show that about 60 percent of the population is either diabetic, hypertensive, or both. Most of us have underlying conditions. So vaccination or not we are likely to die if infected. At least the Minister of Health said as much when two fully vaccinated people died from COVID-related illness.
Yet, there is the drive for everyone to be vaccinated. I am vaccinated.
There is talk about herd immunity. There will be no herd immunity because the variants are different from the original virus. But we can only hope that there will be some protection against COVID. The authorities are saying that wearing a mask, washing hands, and social distancing is not enough.
There is another issue that I find worrying. There was the COVID relief distribution. Some people got and many did not. Both President Irfaan Ali and the Opposition Leader called for an audit. The Auditor-General has come back to say that COVID has impacted his ability to audit the distribution.
So as long as there is COVID-19 there can be no successful audit. Many dishonest people would be able to escape. However, this should not be the end of the audit. My belief is that even if the auditors take two years, they must complete this audit. A lot of money was voted for the relief.
It is now the same thing with the flood relief. A lot of money has been set aside. Some people are complaining that they have been badly assessed. If indeed COVID is a limiting factor, how could anyone be successfully assessed? But the Agriculture Minister says that he would correct the situation.
Would he go into the fields to visit every affected farmer despite COVID? He may wish to take the Auditor General with him.
