It’s only by exercising our vote that we can hold inept deputies accountable

Would we entrust our health to a person with no qualifications, training or experience in medicine? Would Mr Beausire entrust the management of his workshop and the servicing/repairs of his customers’ cars to a youngster with no qualifications, training or experience as a motor mechanic?

The answer is no. So why are we so careless with our personal finances as we continue to entrust, year after year, a fifth of our income to politicians with no qualifications, training or experience in financial and economic management, let alone in States finances?

Today, after two decades of financial mismanagement by our deputies, the results are plain for all to see: near bankruptcy – and we taxpayers are now going to pay a hefty price for years to come.

With no relevant track record, politicians can only make promises which they soon abandon or break, once elected. The proposed elective government – not really a new idea – will bring a much-needed, slimmed-down government, but not more capable or more efficient than the present one. Conflicting personal views and opinions, untested ideas, irrelevant pet projects, refusing to dialogue with electors (except when elections are coming up), and mostly costly indecisions, bickering and ineptitude ... all of this will continue, just between fewer deputies.

No other benefit can be expected from an executive government until we, the electors, tackle the root cause of the island’s imminent bankruptcy.

Remember Einstein’s definition of insanity. Why do we still kid ourselves into believing that our current deputies, with no track record in successful business management, no expertise in financial matters and no knowledge of States finances, can suddenly turn the ship around and save us from sinking?

The recent Open Letter by 14 businessmen, and the recent full-page comment by Polly Allen, both refer to the necessity of a slimmed-down government and of an executive one, but in my opinion they fail to mention the most basic requirement for a thriving economy: competent, qualified leaders with years of experience acquired in running a successful business. Ask the CEOs of local companies about their entry-level qualifications for any position in their businesses – and which deputies would meet those requirements.

Polly Allen rightly points out that ‘our system of government has not been working for us for the last 15 years’. I would add that this system of government was implemented some time after the public considered that the conseiller system was undemocratic and should therefore be abandoned. A big mistake, as it turns out, and we the public must accept some responsibility to having failed to set any minimum qualifications for the position of deputy under our current system of government. But it is not too late.

We would gain much by re-examining the conseiller system, and by bringing back and adapting the best of this system which stood the test of time, providing sound management based on years of collective personal experience in business and commerce. This common and extensive grounding was the prerequisite for decisive and successful consensus government with budgets producing surpluses. And, surprise, surprise ... it was a type of executive government. And it worked! But today’s proposed executive government will fail without this essential prerequisite.

There is widespread disillusionment with our repeatedly-failed government and plummeting quality of life. This is understandable, but it is not irreversible. We know the cause, and it is only by exercising our vote that we can hold inept deputies accountable. We appoint them, term after term; we deplore their inefficiencies; we complain about their inactions, their disastrous results and their lack of integrity and probity in refusing to be held accountable for their failures. Yet, we still re-appoint them.

Only we, registered voters, can put an end to this insanity by removing the incompetent deputies from office – and achieving a de facto slimmed down Assembly by only selecting those candidates with the right track record in finance and economy. So please keep your option open by signing up today and registering onto the electoral roll. You may still decide, on voting day, not to exercise your vote, but at least you will retain that option until all the candidates’ manifestos (and CVs) become available for scrutiny.

Phil Dupre