While welcoming the energy and dedication shown by President Bharrat Jagdeo we recently criticised him for trying to do too much, for usurping the portfolios of other ministers and stretching himself too thin. We argued that it was counter-productive as it would lead to him neglecting the priority issues he should himself be tackling and would demoralise

those ministers whose services were being made redundant.

Yet recent evidence indicates that the quality of governance in some areas is so poor that the President has little alternative but to intervene to try to rectify the situation. The issue of deportees from the USA is the best recent example. After a delay of one year in processing documents for Guyanese deportees to come here from the USA, the USA issued a ban on non-immigrant visas for government officials. The President has since publicly blamed the tardiness of state agencies and said the Office of the President would take the matter over. He did not name the culprits but the two main ministries involved were clearly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs. Both Ministers should have been called to account. Reports indicate that papers were lying untouched for months. This is quite intolerable. How can it take one year to do this job? Two or three competent people dedicated to the task should have been able to process the information on the 141 deportees within a month, seeking further information where that was needed. In some countries one or both ministers would have been publicly reprimanded, in others they would have been expected to resign.

There are several other examples of bad governance. Take the negotiation of public sector wages. Every year this process has been painfully slow, with the resultant disruption. The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) cannot be completely exonerated from blame for the delays but surely the bulk of the responsibility must be borne by the Public Service Ministry. Mr Fung-on was not doing his job.

The GPSU had submitted a Protocol some time ago which if adopted would lead to a more efficient and structured working relationship between the two sides. This was ignored, there was no response. So every year negotiations drag on. The GPSU submitted its claim for wage increases since August last year. The general elections and their postponement to March could have caused some delay but there is clearly no good excuse for the long stagnation. Mr Patrick Yarde, the President of the GPSU, has indicated that the new Public Service Minister, Jennifer Westford, represents an "exceptional improvement". One must hope that she will quickly take firm control of these negotiations and with Mr Yarde's co-operation handle them in an efficient and businesslike manner. Tough bargaining there will no doubt be but it is the aimless delays that are unforgivable.

Other illustrations of bad governance that could have constituted a `firing offence' in other jurisdictions abound. Minister of Sport, Gail Teixeira, says Mr Austin Jack Warner the Vice President of FIFA promised her during a visit in l999 that a stadium would be built for US $20 million. Yet she apparently never saw fit to confirm this in writing and to discuss any necessary preparatory and follow up work. Recently, two road contracts were recalled after being signed. They had previously been recalled for more work to be done on them but this was overlooked and they were sent out again for signing. Mr Harripersaud Nokta as Minister of Regional Development was surely accountable for this fiasco. Then there was the contract with New Global Consultants to print our laws. Dr Roger Luncheon is still to offer an intelligible explanation of what went wrong and what has now happened. Apparently much of the work has been done but no payment has been made. Will it stay that way forever? And the previous Attorney General Charles Ramson had nothing to say on that issue or on why no action was taken on the report of the two British judges on the judicial system while he was in office.

With this quality of governance progress will inevitably be slow. One can understand the President's frustration. The alternative solution, of course, is to roll some heads.