The theory of psychic destruction

NOVEMBER 6, 2015 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER FEATURES / COLUMNISTS, FREDDIE KISSOON

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) replied to my column of October 26, 2015 captioned, “Maybe Guyana will forever defy the foundations of scientific life.” The subject matter of that particular commentary is a favourite, philosophical topic of mine. In over twenty-five years as a newspaper commentator, I have returned to it several times. Before I deal with the GRA’s reaction, let me recap briefly my essential argument. I have found it a deep, ongoing mystery, why in a country where about 300,000 souls actually visit and seek services from the total institutions of State, including the official Civil Service and semi-autonomous entities, entitlements take an inordinately long time to reach the recipients. Over those twenty-five years, my pen has not exempted any State institution – Deeds Registry, UG, Lands and Survey, GRA, Registry of Births and Death, NIS, Bank of Guyana, GWI, Police Force, GPL etc. You name it; I have examined its failure to act timely to citizens’ requests. I have repeatedly posited that the argument of long, horrible, exasperating delays must be contextualized in that; you cannot cite the total numbers in the population. State facilities do not directly service over 800,000 citizens. In the population, there are hundreds of thousands of babies, small children and teens who do not seek the services of State institutions. Perhaps the perfect example is the Deeds Registry. Of a population of 800,000 how many in that figure actually solicit documents or have documents processed by the Deeds Registry. We can emphasize the point by looking at the recouping of bail money. How many persons in a population of 800,000 go to the police station to have bail money returned? The NIS is another graphic example. You only interface with the NIS if you are an employer or employee. There is a substantial percentage in the Guyana population that does not do business at all with the NIS. My figure, factoring a few thousands less or more, is 300,000. Throughout my media career, I have reflected on why the service of the State is excessively slow. I honestly believe that there is no mainstream sociological answer. I think the problem is in the collective psyche of the nation. That has always been my point. I have rejected the routine explanation of run-down economy, dysfunctional public service, breakdown in values etc. None of them hold the answer. My theory is psychological paralysis and I don’t think a future for this country is anytime soon. In that October 26 column, only a small part was devoted to the GRA and it looked at the long lines for driver’s licence renewal and the time it takes to get the revalidated document. The administration of the GRA replied and missed the point badly. My theory on the psychological paralysis of the Guyanese nation revolves around small population and almost non-existent service of the State. My column did not question the competence of any employee in the State or criticized their behaviour. I find employees of commercial banks to be very pleasant, hard-working people. But my theory of paralysis applies to all institutions in the Guyanese society. It means therefore, that even in the private sector, slowness is as morbid as in the state sphere. In that October 26 column, I described that in order for me and my family to renew our expired ATM cards, we had to go through the paper work all over again. This is despite the fact that all our data is in the bank’s computer. I honestly find GRA employees to be hard-working people. I have little criticism of them but they too are victims of Guyana’s psychic destruction. Here is an example of how the GRA missed the point. The GRA informed me that time will be taken up if in your application, you wrote down wrong information or supplied the wrong documents. Point taken! But how does that weaken my theory of the Guyanese society of small population and long wait for service? Even if you have a quota of drivers who delay the processing of their license renewal, the question still has to be answered that with such a small population, why the license takes so long to be delivered. I repeat for emphasis the point I made in that column thus the caption – “Maybe Guyana will forever defy the scientific foundations of life” – why in a small population, important documents for citizens take a heartlessly long time? I end with a total rejection of the GRA’s position that in other countries, it is even worse. Can there be more horrible service at any other university in the world than at UG?