People power will give the teeth to the dragon's roar
THE dragon has roared. Guernsey's system of government has been condemned as an abject failure. Measured against six guiding principles of ensuring it is fit for purpose and providing taxpayers with value for money, it has failed on every one.
THE dragon has roared. Guernsey's system of government has been condemned as an abject failure. Measured against six guiding principles of ensuring it is fit for purpose and providing taxpayers with value for money, it has failed on every one.
Every one.
Just wait for deputies trying to look on the bright side of this one.
The Wales Audit Office could be no clearer in painting the picture of a directionless, incohesive, rudderless and confused organisation.
And one that we all pay for.
Now the money is not there to paper over the cracks, there is no more opportune a time for the States to take a long, hard look at itself.
Given the WAO's findings, how can islanders trust the States to make the tough decisions ahead?
How can islanders, being asked to dig deeper and deeper into their pockets to subsidise these inefficiencies, trust it to be spending their money wisely?
If the public confidence was low before, it might rightly lie shattered now.
Independent report after independent report has been pointing to the fundamental problems in the current set-up, some even when it was not in their remit to venture into that territory.
Starting with Harwood, taking in the two Robinsons, Shepley, and for that matter a few court judgements, the spotlight has been turned up brighter and brighter.
If the heads of deputies and senior civil servants have been buried in the sand until now when faced with those, this should be the wake-up call they cannot ignore.
It should all lead to an agenda for change.
It should lead to a comprehensive reworking of the system at both a political and civil servant level.
It should. But can the system deliver that?
Expect this week to hear from the Policy Council, but do not expect to hear a consistent message from individual ministers.
Because, to some, the instinct to attack first and answer the deeper questions later will be too great to ignore. Some will defend their territory to the very end because it is what gives them power.
Behind the scenes, groundwork for reform has been worked on.
There are modernisers both within the civil service and on the political stage.
Whether this will now be their tool to drive change through depends on the resistance the old guard can form.
The trouble is, deputies are scared of losing what they perceive as influence.
Remember that a majority have already, with just their gut instinct to rely on, signed a letter backing consensus government.
Sometimes when you are part of the problem it is just impossible to take a step back and reflect clearly on it.
The WAO has included no recommendations, and the Public Accounts Committee that commissioned it rightly does not believe it is its place to do so.
Responsibility for moving this all forward lies with the talking shop of the Policy Council and its equally deficient shadow body underneath, the chief officers' group.
Some will no doubt try to muddy the waters, if they have not already.
They will firstly question the independence of the Wales Audit Office in producing this report – wounds from its Fallagate investigation run deep.
An almost xenophobic stance will take over – how could a body from Wales possibly understand Guernsey?
But not only would that stance be dangerously missing issues that need to be
addressed, why would a renowned organisation risk its reputation by producing anything that was not robust enough to stood up to examination?
It has not dreamt up these findings, they are evidence-based.
And then detractors will point out that we live in a prosperous society.
But just how prosperous is a society that is running a deficit budget and whose response, to some extent, is based on crossing fingers and hoping for an economic recovery?
Some time soon, deputies will be looking to raise some £65m. to plug an annual structural deficit.
Guernsey was being compared with the Cayman Islands last week as that jurisdiction asked the UK to guarantee it a massive loan to bail it out of a financial mess. Things can go wrong very quickly without robust corporate governance in place.
Just ask Turks and Caicos if you want to know more.
OK, so we have not sunk to those depths.
But if something is not done to drive change, the writing will be on the wall.
This is not time to shoot the messenger, or to stick its findings on a shelf to gather dust.
To a large extent driving the agenda for change will rely on public pressure and influence being exerted by the business community.
How strongly people rise up to force this is crucial because otherwise the States' tendency for painful intransigence will win the day.
Now is everyone's chance to help change things for the better.
