Resignations, sackings, good governance and ‘eat ah food’

Good governance, equity, above-board, transparency. These are some of the words that appear in our media daily. These are also words associated with incidents which have led to the departure of company officials from far too many organisations, particularly state organisations.

Very often the departure or sacking occurs in circumstances where a decision or position rooted in principles is taken by the officer but which is at variance with that adopted by a higher authority, be it a chairman, board member or minister of government.

Nobody wants to be sacked and many would ride a wave of wrong-doing and corruption in the interest of access to the trappings of office. Fortunately, there are a few among us who will forego income—real and psychic—to stand up for what is right. A few years ago, a former colleague was sacked from his job because he refused to be part of a corrupt practice at his former company.  When asked why he did not take the offer to resign, he said “getting sacked on the grounds of principle is not bad at all”.

Compare this approach with actions of the self-serving “eat ah food” many among us.

Marlon A Mahabir
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