Editorial – August 9, 2013
In the last issue’s the Editorial was captioned, “Malpractice is almost cultural, no progress unless corrected”. Not surprising, but reaction to this was not all surprising, there were some who didn’t bother to understand the issues surrounding malpractice in Montserrat, who therefore scoffed at the Editorial.
Montserrat, it is often said, would not even qualify, because of its little less than 5,000 population, as a village in some places. However, there are many situations that would disqualify it as a village. It is still an island. This is so even though today, you can drive from the farthest inhabited south to far north in minimum 30 minutes. Minimum, because it depends…
Malpractice is described as any or all of the following: professional wrong doing that results in injury or damage; activity that transgresses moral or civil law; dereliction of duty, through ignorance or negligence or criminal intent; and, the one we prefer – immoral, illegal, or unethical professional conduct or neglect of professional duty; or improper or unethical conduct by the holder of a professional or official position.
No one, after reading these should have any difficulty in recalling an experience that they are aware of, that would not fall under some one of these descriptions. Anyone who would say they are not familiar with any of these occurring in Montserrat, is themselves rotten to the core and are part of the very real problems Montserrat faces.
The result of course is that, the situation becomes as the saying goes, ‘spinning top in mud’. Using that saying suggests project plans and actions that are going nowhere. Or, if at all, with a worthless result.
Ethics is a system of basic principles (rules of conduct recognized in respect of human conduct. You might hear someone say, locally, “he no have no principle at all”. The person referred only understands malpractice. So the basic thought is not all malpractice is illegal. But, because it usually ends with very expensive costs or burdening on people, only where legality is involved, or where the authority involved there could be some recourse, perpetrators can be brought to some form of justice.
The many issues surrounding procurement regulations are the result of malpractice, most with legal implications, resulting in court actions and threats thereof.
When a project requires that a tender be published on an internet website designed or created by the Public Procurement Board and published in ‘at least’ one of the following, (notice, this doesn’t say ‘only’ one): (1) a newspaper of nationwide circulation; (ii) a public notice board designated by the Public Procurement Board for this purpose; or (iii) a local public radio or television broadcast station. This requires commonsense, but while this was not a problem in years gone by, it is become the norm not to follow the directives or to reduce it to nonsense. The malpractice of this simple rule may well cause the geothermal exploration program, which was not measly financed.
Some of the ‘following’, will obviously not suit some tenders while there is one that suits all. One that not only puts out in print, but on a website that is viewed by over 85 countries in the world with hits of over one million hits (1.7 million in July). That is the implant, the reach of www.themontserratreporter.com. It is malpractice by those who refuse to use this resource. No reason, except for malpractice that this does not redound to the benefit of Montserrat.
No DFID project is measly financed, notwithstanding they admitted that the A1 Road Project was under budgeted. That too, believe it or not, was the result of malpractice which should be corrected. The losers are always the people of Montserrat, and until there are clean hands and pure hearts, not much will change in the relationship and how Montserrat is treated.
There is no place for malpractice, strive for good governance. Politicians, public servants, religious leaders, employers; good governance will get continuity, a critical factor in any success story. The lack of, malpractice, greed and selfishness will bring good governance. The result will be strong fiscal discipline and an orderly society.
