Don't repeat the mistakes

The government has a vital role to play in ensuring an economic recovery. The rhetoric of the private sector playing the lead role in the economy should not blind us to the fact that the private sector is very much dependent on the economic policies that the government pursues and the efficiency of the administration.

After about two months of the new government taking over there have been some good signs of its resolve to play a lead role in ensuring a revitalisation of the economy. It has for instance made moves to strengthen the competitiveness of the garment industry and improve access to markets abroad. It has revitalized the CWE to play a more effective retail-marketing role. It has taken initial steps to improve the power supply. Despite these and other moves that indicate that the government is playing an important role in stimulating the economy, there are signs of it making mistakes that successive governments' have made in the past.

There is still no evidence of a coherent well thought-out plan. Ministers appear to be riding their pet horses rather than acting in relation to an overall plan of action. There appears to be an excessive concentration on immediate and spectacular achievements. The one hundred days programme appears to have accentuated this short-termism that has characterised governance in the last decade.

The government must lay down a five-year plan of action with a statement of its strategy. The budget should make clear its proposed economic policy. Such a statement would indeed be an important source of building confidence in the private sector and among potential foreign investors. It would also be a sine qua non for substantial foreign assistance.

A second area of concern is the composition of the cabinet and allocation of ministries and functions. At the time the cabinet was announced, no one could understand the rationale either for the ministry titles or the allocation of tasks. "May be there is a grand design", was the initial sympathetic reaction. Criticisms were withheld till one discovered this "grand design". No grand design is visible. Instead a rather irrational and untidy ministerial allocation persists.

It is time to design a rational set of cabinet portfolios and allocate ministries to the most capable of handling the particular portfolios. We are not unmindful of political pressures that the PM faces in the allocation of portfolios, but let not the mistake that the President made in the selection of the infamous 44 member PA cabinet be repeated, albeit in a milder form.

It is to the credit of the Prime Minister that he has not changed too many persons in high positions. It is true that many of those who held positions were political appointees. Yet it is high time that the UNF government ensures that the best available talent is utilised. One of the main weaknesses of the previous government was that it laid a premium on loyalty rather than efficiency. Yet some of the appointees were capable and they should be retained.

It is absolutely necessary for us to evolve a new management culture in the public service. It is not only an issue of discipline and work ethics of the public servants that matter, but the manner in which ministers conduct their business and ensure that their officers have enough quality time to devote to their substantive duties.

Although there are some improvements in administration evident in the early days of the new government, there are also signs of unsatisfactory appointments and waste of time by ministers. These deficiencies must be corrected, if we are to ensure an efficient administration so essential to get the economy moving. And this must be done now in the first few months.