Yearning for effectiveness - the Peter O'Connor column

We are a deprived country, apparently forbidden by some curse from ever achieving any semblance of effective governance. 

I use the term “effective governance” to describe the condition of simply getting done the basic tasks of day to day management of the services which a society requires. And indeed deserves!

But maybe we are not yet a “society”. Certainly we all know that, despite Patrick Manning’s lost in space vision of what constitutes a first world society, we are nowhere near that status. And we are not even heading in that direction.

“Effective” governance or management means simply, that when you turn on a tap in your home, water will flow, damaged roads will be fixed, things will be maintained and drains will be cleaned.

“Effectiveness” does not refer to the erection of vainglorious buildings while the people are without water and the state has not developed the capacity to collect and dispose of garbage.

What is wrong with us, that after almost fifty years of independence, and with the (albeit questionable) blessing of a petroleum-based economy, we simply cannot deliver unto ourselves the basic requirements of a civilized society? 

And we do not even try! 

We ignore the needs for water, drainage, proper roads and bridges, an efficient transport system, decent health care, maintenance of our public buildings and infrastructure. We are unable to deliver the most basic services in a simple and uncomplicated manner. 

Every visit to a government office is a stressful, time-consuming ordeal, whether one seeks a driving permit, a passport, VAT refunds, or any government service. 

An architect and engineer can design a building in one month, but it takes Town & Country Planning Division almost a year, at best, to approve the same plans. People provide services and goods to the state, and wait for years to have their approved invoices settled. Some go into liquidation while waiting payment for certified government accounts. I am one of those!

And yet we, the same people, when we open our own businesses, we know how to work, how to provide service and how to build what needs to be built. What change occurs between working for the government and working for ourselves, or some competitive business, where performance counts and is rewarded and failure is punished?

Political cynics will say, with some justification, that this chronic apathy is the legacy of the PNM, who, for instance, “allowed” thousands to live in government housing for decades without paying rent, who largely encouraged slothfulness among government employees. 

But we all stood back and watched, over fifty years, our country’s standards collapse with our collapsing infrastructure. We have shrugged our shoulders and accepted our decline, while little Barbados quietly became a First World State with a modern standard of living.

But obviously, and while we did nothing to improve, or even insist on improvement, we were yearning for it.

Jack Warner is not a universally popular person in T&T. Indeed, he has known periods of intense unpopularity. 

But although often surrounded by controversy, Jack built the CONCACAF football region into a world force, and led the development of Caribbean football to a standard undreamed in earlier years. He may not have always been popular in the football world, but he was powerful, and deservedly so. 

His work ethic was enormous, and his achievements legendary. Of this, much of the Caribbean is proud, and we can share this pride, even if we harbor doubts about the fact that Jack may have played those international “games” with the same capabilities as did the whole FIFA family.

So, Jack’s new role as the Minister of Works and Infrastructure (and formerly Transport) could have been seen as dogged by the albatross of FIFA and FIFA’s charges draped around his shoulders. 

But Jack Warner set about his tasks in the same way he approached every challenge: to overcome and succeed. At work at 4.00 am and earlier, with all his government staff already there, and happily so (I have seen this!), he leads from in front and is everywhere attending the peoples’ problems and concerns. And overcoming the challenges of apathy and slackness, and fixing things that have been broken for years.

And notwithstanding the FIFA albatross, and the calls by individuals and organizations for his dismissal Jack continues to be the only effective government minister of the past fifty years. And the masses of the people, who finally see that they are being served, are supporting him in spite of FIFA and the calls of the morally driven.

Finally seeing effective governance in just one ministry, the people do not care about FIFA and those intrigues. An interesting phenomenon indeed! What exactly does all say about us as a people, and our silent cry for effective governance?