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| wise words ::. | | What is the difference between genius and stupidity? Genius has limits. - Albert Einstein. |
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| editorial. | 12/10/02 |
The buck has to stop
So far, the Power department has refrained from speaking out against the MNF party�s allegations that they have done something to the billing system so that bills come out in high amounts, thus embarrassing the government and blackening them in the eyes of the public. It is most unfortunate that a responsible political party, one that is holding the reins of power, is trying to pass the buck to the power department in something that its ministry had done.
Indeed, it is possible for governmental departmental departments and government personnel to go against the wishes of the government. However, this is very very rare as the punishment meted out for disobedience can sometimes be very harsh.
If, as the MNF party had alleged, that the department is somehow at fault in the high amount of bills that have come about since the hike in power tarrifs, it is more likely the fault of the computer programming system.
At one time, the public had made an outcry against the Telecom department for their very high billing of telephone usage to subscribers. At first, the Telecom department had insisted that there was nothing wrong as everything was done through the computers. However, a thorough check of the programming revealed a fault that had made the bill amounts come out disproportionately high.
The same could be the problem in the power department. With the change in tarrifs, the computer could be making mistakes as computers are known not to be infallible. An expert should be called in and the computer programming systematically and thoroughly checked.
What the public and government employees won't forget in a hurry, though, is the the ruling party, with the blessings of its president, who also happens to be not only the chief minister, but is also in charge of the power department, making accusations against the P & E department, trying to pass the blame to a government department for something the ministry had done so as to avoid public ire against them.
What the government should have done was quietly roll back its tarrif hike and initiate any investigations needed to be done behind closed doors. The harm that has been done by publicly accusing government employees of trying to blacken a ministry's name will be irreparable and may remain indelible in the minds of government employees. The MNF party and its ministry cannot afford this kind of blunder as the public's perception of it as an immature and irresponsible party is being proved right again and again.
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