Luncheon should be relieved of any responsibility for national security
Peeping Tom
Kaieteur News
March 6, 2006
Last year I called for the President of Guyana to trace some luck by relieving the Head of the Presidential Secretariat of all responsibilities for national security. The Peeper finds it ironic that we have a President who makes no apologies about directly involving himself in almost all portfolios, yet the one sector that he has not been accused of micro-managing is the one that he really needs to directly command control of -- the security sector.
In calling for the relieving of Luncheon from all responsibilities for national security, I noted that - there are many people who dislike Mrs. Janet Jagan. Many have tried to make her a scapegoat simply because she is a woman. Yet, she did something in the sixties in this country that has never been repeated in our history: she resigned as Minister of Home Affairs, thereby holding herself accountable for the decline in the social stability at the time even though it was clear that she was not personally at fault.
Think about it: How many Commissioners of Police have resigned in Guyana since independence? For that matter how many Ministers of the government have tendered their resignations or were fired because of their failures? Not that many.
The present Commissioner of Police created waves when he was sworn in. He asked to be held accountable. But how do the people of Guyana hold him accountable? What mechanisms are there in place that if his performance does not reach desired levels he should be asked to resign? What are the standards by which he is to be judged?
Is there any annual evaluation of the performance of senior government officials including the Chief of Staff of the army? And what about when the army is sent on civilian missions and fail, should someone not be held accountable?
My argument has always been that we should not wait on senior government officials to resign. We should demand such resignations as the situations merit. And in order to hold senior officials of the government accountable, we should ask that their superiors put in place performance –evaluation criteria and if these are not met then the officers should be asked to resign.
No appointment to public office is a life ticket. High Government officials must perform. And when they do not they must be prepared to do the honourable thing and resign. This is one of the main problems we have in Guyana . There is sufficient pressure on senior officials of the State to perform.
The President of Guyana feels that the police need to be more action-oriented. He feels they are too much engrossed in planning. Perhaps if the President had paid greater attention to the importance of planning, Guyana would not have been in the situation it is today.
The most important qualification of good governance is that those who perform should be rewarded and those who fail to perform should be fired.
Unless Jagdeo opts for a shake-up, even if it means a mini-reshuffle and reassignments of responsibilities, he will find himself moving from one problem to the next with no rest for his aching bones.
I recalled a joke I told in this column about a man on his sick bed with his wife sitting faithfully at his side. Although her husband was slipping in and out of a coma for several months, the wife stayed by his bedside every single day.
When he finally regained full consciousness he found her right next to him. He turned to her and said, "You know my dear, you were with me when things were bad. When I lost my job, you took care of the bills. When I went bankrupt, you bailed me out and stayed with me. When I got shot, you were there by my side. When we lost the house, you supported me. Now that my health is failing, you are here by my side. Now that I think about it, it looks as if you are a blight. Ah want a divorce...”
I want Jagdeo to think and think hard. I want him to ask himself what has happened to the security situation in the country under his point-man for national security, Dr. Roger Luncheon.
Regardless of what Jagdeo feels about the good doctor's competence- and make no mistake about it, Luncheon is a top-class medical doctor- he has to accept that things have not got better for the ship of State under the Head of the Presidential Secretariat.
So what should he do about it? Obviously change the captain.
What is there for the President to lose by asking Luncheon to concentrate on other matters and leave national security to someone else? Jagdeo should take charge of national security. My solution is simple: if something is not working try something else.