Govt should heed the call for action

Every day in the press there are complaints of the inaction and incompetence of some government agencies with regard to putting things in place to enable the necessary change required for people to solve problems and improve untenable conditions in their lives and in our society.

In most cases, after they have tried everything else, the press is the only resort they have.

There is also a plethora of advice from all quarters as to how to solve our problems. But apparently no one is taking heed to this.

While it is true that the powers that be cannot take advice from every Tom, Dick and Harry, there should be some mechanism in place in government offices to separate sense from nonsense and, hopefully, make good use of this knowledge. (If by chance some mechanisms do exist, it seems that in many instances they are ineffective and are not working.) It would also send a message to the people that the Government is listening to them, especially when the problems are resolved.

In the absence of this, when the problems are long outstanding, we have seen the result of ignoring the people in instances where they have found it necessary to resort to marching, road-blocking, tyre-burning and strikes as it seems to them that is the only way to get the Government’s attention and get their problems solved. Are they right in their assumption? The Downtown Owners and Merchants Association advised that “Rowley and his team should set out motivating the protective services that perform and demand answers and results from divisional heads (and their staff) that fail to perform.” The association voiced the need of country when it pointed out that there is “a desperate need to revamp the entire governance structure of the country that will generate superior service in all areas.” I am hoping and waiting impatiently to see whether this advice would be taken.

And the key to success is for the politicians to stop the gallerying and playing the blame game and get down to “doing” what is necessary to solve the problem in a practical manner. Even the distinguished and well known martial artist Bruce Lee knew that “knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.” We should follow his advice.

There are a lot of knowledgeable, capable and efficient public servants out there but, like every employee in the service of the people, they need to be guided and managed efficiently in order to engender a high enough level of production and discipline for which the nation will be grateful.

The Government needs to heed the call of the people to get down to the business of solving the people’s problems in a practical and effective manner. Our country needs it.

A WEBSTER Longdenvill