Rick Lowe
We all spend a lot of time complaining, myself included, about the politico's, but let's dig a little deeper.
When I first returned home in 1982 and got involved in politics the PLP was the government and giving us much cause for complaint. The infrastructure was falling to bits, the town was dirty, education was a shambles and service from most government offices was horrible.
This continued this way until the FNM was elected in 1992, when there was considerable improvement to the public infrastructure and the town was cleaned up. The results in education remained just as bad as was the service from most government offices.
Fast forwarding to September 30, 2010, the song remains very much the same. We're still complaining the politicians and their apparent ineffectiveness.
Is it my imagination or is it a result of a Civil Service that is largely ineffective?
There are many excellent government workers but they seem overwhelmed by the work ethic, or lack thereof, of many of their associates.
In the grand scheme of things, the politicos are supposed to responsible for the policy matters or the big picture, while the government workers are supposed to deal with the day to day matters. And if the policy makers and Permanent Secretaries are putting out fires all day, because the line workers are not pulling their weight, how can things improve?
The other problem is, each government office is much larger than most businesses in the country. And we know the problems we all face from day to day, and the private sector has the cream of the crop for the most part.
I know one thing, I thank my lucky stars we have pretty darn good associates. I could not imagine for a minute dealing with some of the larger government agencies, departments or ministries.
How does the country get the government workers, bad teachers, failing parents, churches et al to realise that the failure all around them is their responsibility too?
If each of us do not start pulling our weight, what are we leaving for future generations?
