A crucial bottleneck


Stabroek News
January 19, 2000


In his enthusiasm for getting things moving and making rapid headway President Bharrat Jagdeo has committed himself publicly to having projects finished by a certain date, which has sometimes turned out not to be feasible. What the President may not yet have fully grasped is that where the work to be done is not directly, or even indirectly, within his control, though he may mean well in fixing an optimistic date there are a whole lot of variables in the equation (quality of personnel, availability of equipment, unforeseen shortages of material) which can make nonsense of the target date. The completion of the Essequibo road is a classic example of a project in which only the bravest person would stick his neck out on completion by a fixed time.

The same phenomenon occurs all the time in many different ways, people take no account of all the things that can go wrong when they make a promise or give an undertaking. Ministers or planners say that the situation will be improved in a particular area or a problem will be solved without considering all the factors involved.

The other side of the coin is that critics or commentators point out that ministries could be better run, roads could be built quicker or more efficiently if there were more skilled, more experienced or more managerially competent personnel. But that is precisely the problem, such people do not exist, they are not available, even at a good salary. To make that the hypothetical solution is therefore unreal and the analysis is utopian or flawed.

The crucial bottleneck in the country at this stage, in other words, is the lack of efficient human resources. That is the source of most of the delays, the badly done work. If, for example, you tell the average manufacturer in Guyana his production quality could be improved or his cost of production could be lowered he would agree in principle but he would say he doesn't have the trained or qualified people. So would the average headmaster of a school. Indeed if someone told President Jagdeo some government agencies could be better run he might agree, but he might say, privately, that the people are not available. Similarly, if you suggested to Mr Hoyte that Congress Place could be run more efficiently or that the party newspaper New Nation could be improved in some respects he might ask if you can recommend anyone for the job.

Things are not getting done because people are not doing them in a timely or efficient manner. Of course many things are still being done or the country would grind to a halt. And there are still many unsung heroes in so many areas, the schools, the hospitals, the factories, the offices, the ministries and even the political parties who are soldiering on, day by day, in a dedicated manner even though they may be badly underpaid and completely unrecognised.

People who do things themselves or are responsible for getting things done are aware of these constraints. They are also aware of how easy it is, with the best will in the world, for things to go wrong and for mistakes to be made. That is why forward planning on a grand scale is so difficult and must be done with caution. So much can change, unforeseen shortages can arise, key people can leave or fall ill. A good manager has to be prepared for and learn to deal with all these eventualities.

In the interest of measuring good management or good governance targets should be set after a prudent assessment of all the factors involved. Managers or governments can then be rated based on what they have actually achieved. Politicians are prone to promises and rhetoric, that will never change. But at the end of the day they should be judged in a democracy by what is actually done. This is the acid test and in an ideal world would play a significant part in determining which parties are elected. Projects that never open, roads that are never built or are completed two years late, factories that never produce and other such white elephants would show that governments are not measuring up to the task in hand.


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Guyana: Land of Six Peoples