The simpler things

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56529505

The simpler things
Editorial, Stabroek News, Monday, September 24th 2007

In the glow of the national satisfaction over the award to Guyana by
the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea every other issue
seems to fade into the background. While seven long years have been
lost in the frustrating quest for oil as a result of the unjustifiable
behaviour of our Caricom neighbour, there is no denying that a great
opportunity has been opened in the waters of the Atlantic to rocket
Guyana's development stratospherically.

The decision by President Jagdeo to take this dispute to the law of the
sea tribunal will go down in our frontiers history as a bold one and
one which was subsequently thoroughly vindicated. His decision will
accrue further credit were oil or other resources found in commercial
quantities as is likely based on several surveys. The unstinting
efforts of Sir Shridath Ramphal, the Ministry Foreign Affairs and the
legal team assembled must also be applauded.

As the mobilization of seismic vessels etc gets underway there is some
time to ponder the sage advice of Sir Shridath on the need to manage
carefully any eventual find of oil so that the mistakes that have
attended other such strikes are not duplicated. Apart from the need to
ensure that deals with investors are substantially beneficial to the
country and not rapacious or exploitive there is also the larger issue
of managing the mining of resources in the offshore zone and prudently
utilizing the returns.

But that is some way ahead and the dreams that petro dollars will
somehow alleviate the circumstances of each and every one of us shortly
are still far away on the horizon and mirage-like at the moment.

Let us in the meanwhile get the simpler things right. Like ensuring
that our environmental management and enforcement of the relevant laws
are pumped up as they will be severely tested were production rigs to
dot the seas off the country. The present state of the Environmental
Protection Agency and the policing of laws are not inspirational.

The whole permitting process for land use change and the siting of
businesses is so awry that a law-abiding citizen in a quiet residential
neighbourhood can awake one morning to find a noisy car repair shop
next door or monster trucks parked in a yard on the block. The system
presently doesn't work and offenders get away in the netherworld that
occupies the gaps left by the city, the CH&PA, the regional democratic
councils, the neighbourhood democratic bodies and the village councils.

One example of this weakness and denial of jurisdiction reared its head
very nakedly last week and not without consequences for people who
could least afford it. Parts of the Essequibo River island of Leguan
and its vital rice crop were threatened by the same rampant sea we now
have greater rights too. The problem here was that a simple koker
defect was allowed to mushroom into a much graver threat to the rice
crop and other plots and the peace of mind of this farming community.

What the neighbourhood democratic council (NDC) in the area should have
immediately repaired was left to worsen. Even in this region that has
voted solidly for the ruling party the feedback and co-ordination
between the NDC and the regional democratic council (RDC) was abysmal.
Everyone sat on their hands and waited for the next person to act.

When the problem worsened, central government was forced to step in.
Ministers berated the community leaders for not acting earlier and
while the government marshalled equipment to fill the breach the
embarrassment continued. The material to seal the breach had not been
mobilized in a timely manner; ill-starred bureaucracy had gotten in the
way. Bureaucracy is important for an orderly society but in emergencies
it becomes a veritable impediment especially in a flawed local
government system.

So, what could have been sealed in a jiffy took much longer. Sadly,
this is only one of a long line of similar events and they continue to
occur in more modest manifestations which escape national scrutiny.
Real reform of the local government system to prevent such problems
remains - like the search for oil - mirage-like at the moment. It has
been held hostage to the political machinations of the major parties.
It needs to be freed from this stranglehold so that the farmer and
citizen of communities like Leguan don't suffer under mediocre
governance.

The award of the tribunal promises much and thankfully the prospect of
an oil find is still some distance away. Let us use that time
profitably to ring the changes that we desperately need in governance,
management and planning.