Candidate CV a must for our next election

I would wish to go beyond a list of aspirations and political sympathies, the forthcoming election is tantamount to a job application with the electorate being the employers, greater honesty and full declaration should be mandatory. The job being applied for is for a fixed term of four years with a not inconsiderable salary, at present approx. 12% above the Guernsey annual median earnings (£33.530 as March 2019) and with no mechanism in place for censure or dismissal from post if the deputy does not carry out his job as required by his employer (us) or indeed if he does nothing at all.

Any sensible employer would require a full disclosure, education, financial, etc.

We the electorate should expect no less of candidates who would aspire to be paid to represent us. It is fairly clear from the current House that there are a number of deputies who would find difficulty in gaining paid employment in the commercial sector.

Should we have been encouraged to vote them into office on the back of misleading or absent background declarations?

We the electorate deserve better, it is insufficient to give the impression of management skills by declaring to have been director of several companies when in truth all those companies have gone bust, possibly through bad management.

We the electorate also deserve the right of recall or censure when a deputy is clearly not performing his duties in a satisfactory manner. This could be triggered by a petition from a percentage of the electorate requesting censure or recall and dealt with by the House or an appointed committee.

I am to understand that the States are proposing to provide facilities to enable all candidates to publish their manifestos online. Now while aspirations, promises and dreams are all very well, character and the ability to perform is more important and I would suggest that all manifestos are prefaced by a compulsory CV covering such subjects as education, past employment, community involvement, etc., the same questions to be asked of all candidates.

Non-disclosure, misleading information or untruths to render the nomination or a subsequent appointment void.

DAVID CHESTER,

Les Houmets,

Route De Cobo,

Castel.