Many countries of the developing world fall into the trap of thinking that First World status can be achieved by throwing loads of money at the process. The emerging data shows this to be not true. In fact, what it does show is more corruption develops, which stymies effective growth. The first Prime Minister of T&T, Dr Eric Eustace Williams, got it exactly wrong in the famous saying "money is no problem." Our history has shown that it is the problem. There is either too much, like during the last two booms when mismanagement, corruption and megalomaniac-type leadership prevailed, which left the Treasury, on both occasions, in a precarious position, or too little.
Hopefully the citizenry would have learnt the lesson. Twice is enough. We may not recover from a third episode. Common sense would dictate that the first step should be to define exactly what are the priorities for national development through a process of genuine national consultation and then and only then should the planning and implementation be put in place. A country's most important resource is its human resource, so one would think that the safety and health of that which is most important would be the two top national priorities. A developed country is one in which there is law and order and where all citizens have access to adequate medical facilities for, in such countries, dignity and rights of the citizenry are at the top of the list. Development is, first and foremost, people-centred.
The norm in advanced nations is to assign a budget first, then to set about designing the physical and organisational structures. Here it would appear that the approach taken was inspired by the good doctor. Money is no problem, just go ahead, we have money to burn. Money flow is akin to flow of traffic or the flow of water. It requires a conduit/pipeline, a source and a sink. For any given set of conditions, there is a limit as to the amount that can flow; simple physics. The same for money flow. Of course the flow can be increased by siphoning off some along the pipeline. The same amount or less would arrive at the designated source but the amount removed would be increased; more money spent, less value obtained.
There is a saying that a fool and his money are soon parted.
When one looks at the amount of money spent on local and international consultants and hires, it becomes imperative that management, financial and value-for-money audits be done. This is not an irrational unreasonable attack on anybody. It is rather a level-headed call to use the same measures used in the developed world. In our case it is even more warranted in that there seems to have been a tendency to eschew local talent and expertise; the exception being, of course, the sycophantic loyalists. The results are there for all to see as the flip side of sycophancy is incompetence. It is acknowledged that we do need to draw upon the experience and expertise available in the global market place but great care must be taken to ensure that, firstly, a mechanism for the transfer of expertise has been put in place; secondly, competent locals must people these positions and, lastly, precisely defined outputs must be instituted. These are essential, more particularly so when the salaries and benefits are way in excess of the norm.
Needless to say, careful attention must be paid to the qualifications and expertise, for there are conmen diligently scanning the Third World horizons to relieve the pretentious and politically pompous, wallowing in illusions grandeur, of their country's patrimony. Genuine and enlightened leadership is centred on sustainable people-driven development and progress. The talents, abilities and aspirations of the populace must be harnessed to the yoke of development for it is an evolutionary process. Development, like common sense, cannot be bought. One would think that this is common sense. We have lost a golden opportunity to really maximise the financial windfall that came our way as we traverse the lengthy road to developed-nation status. All is, however, not lost in that several important steps were taken. We need to refocus and re-engineer our institutions and systems and move forward in the vehicle of competence, commitment and dedication to country.
Prakash Persad
is the director of Swaha Inc