Gone are those days when people were relying solely on education as a means of success in life. Indeed, evolution and certainly politics have changed the game. While some persons (as is still the case in fact in some social groups ) believed that having a government job is fundamental to secure a safe future, this belief was somehow overruled when people started choosing better salaries in the private sector over the so- called government jobs.
Those who opted for government jobs nevertheless, could expect to reach their top at the end of a long and fruitful career spent in the public sector and why not, they amply deserve it!
So much said,politics has , under the present government, brought in another type of government job where the road to top positions is not that long but in fact, a shortcut. Here the passport is not seniority nor is it the number of years one has spent in the public sector or even less his or her educational background. This is a league of only a few privileged persons. Here, the job may not be permanent but certainly remunerates you with a lifetime salary of the permanent and pensionable positions in a short span of time. The salaries are crippled with zeros and other lofty conditions like first class air tickets and other per diems.
This seems to be the reward for those who have worked in some way or another or contributed financially towards the campaigns of the political parties in power. Wait! Here also we should put a filter. Not all of them can expect to touch gold. These positions are the subject of intense lobbying with each minister trying to reward their own connections. In some instances, even these criteria are forgone at the expense of progenies or acquaintances of those in power.
In the past the competence of the appointee was at least reassuring. However with the lepep government there is no such consideration at all. The same people promised you to bring some meritocracy in recruitments and the same people are now preaching the opposite. So how can we trust that they will fulfill all their other promises!! The daughter of one MP gets nominated to a post and she herself is surprised as she cannot remember having applied for same. Another one is the chairperson of an organization and auto recruits herself as managing director of the same organization and finds nothing wrong in it. Another Minister manages to have his wife , son, son-in-law and intimate friend nominated at various posts, while yet others have contrived to secure important nominations for their relatives that include husband, son, cousin,nephew, brother-in-law…you name it!! Doctors also have been appointed on the merit of their acquaintances with MPs… The list is too long and I will have to stop here.
The morale of the story is : Under the present government you must include politics in your CV when applying for jobs or expecting promotions and to certainly cap your dreams and aspirations according to the politician you are hinting to be close to.. Place your faith in high profile ones as the bigger they are, the better is the position you can expect. For those who are progenies, relatives or share obscure relationships with those in power, please do not waste your energy trying to rally behind any one of them. You are well born and are almost certainly sure to get your reward. For those who have their ego and do not wish to use this shortcut (I admire you by the way), then I am sorry to say that you are doomed. Continue to abide your time until you get something one day by chance. But one advice; I’ll borrow the words of the Prime Minister who has just resigned to bestow his crown on the head of the son(yet another example of nepotism): ‘Moralite na pas rempli vente’. This saying has never had more meaning than what it has today under the current government.
The Young Observer
