We cannot continue to appoint managers to the various state enterprises stealthily

Dear Editor,

Any government of the day is just the custodian of state enterprises with the consent of the people and not the owners, hence they must manage the business of these enterprises in a very transparent manner that can withstand public scrutiny.

Both Indo and Afro–Guyanese have common fears that they respectively associate with Governments that are primarily different from their ethnicity. They both commonly fear discrimination by the hands of the state in the following areas: appointments of CEOs and executive staff; selection of members for Boards of Directors; method of land distribution; awarding of scholarships; promotion in the public service, awarding of tenders etc…

We can begin to address these fears by starting with the appointment of CEOs and executive staff to state enterprises. The recruitment of these managers should be done according to best practices in Human Resource Management with full transparency and accountability.

These executive positions should be advertised as widely as possible in the daily newspapers as well as the various government websites for at least a minimum of three consecutive weeks.

An interviewing panel should consist of select members of the Board of Directors with or without independent practitioners of a firm that specializes in recruitment, a clear and precise job description and a guideline for the methodology for conducting the interview. Based on this the short-listing of the potential candidates should be done followed by their interviews and then their ranking for selection to fill the vacancy.

We cannot continue to appoint these managers to the various state enterprises stealthily and surreptitiously in the night and more so if they are of one ethnicity and hope to achieve national confidence of our citizenry in the functions of the state. Their appointments must be premised on a system of meritocracy, equality, fairness and full transparency.

Yours faithfully,

Reggie Bhagwandin