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Public executives ought to be meticulous decision makers
2006-03-08 07:08:06
By Editor
It never rains but it showers. First we had to put up with a prolonged drought whose upshot has been an acute shortage of food and a costly energy crisis.
As the rains started , everybody seemed to be sighing with relief, hopeful that the ongoing crises were now being resolved by Mother Nature.
Those hopes have now been dashed as no sooner did the rains start than the armyworms struck.
Official statistics show that until Monday, about 45,000 ha of crops had been destroyed by the larvae in several parts of the country, frustrating farmers who had difficulty in obtaining seeds of some of grains, especially rice .
Well, the armyworms’ invasion can be seen as part of the dynamics of Mother Nature.
That said, some serious misgivings have been raised about the way responsible government agencies have handled the disaster.
Taxpayers’ money is annually spent to support the important activities of the National Armyworm Control Unit.
Its experts had done their homework properly before the end of last year, and their forecasts had correctly predicted possible invasion by the destructive larvae which feed on young crops.
It seems nobody from the responsible hierarchies heeded the experts’ early warning, or took sufficient precautionary measures, like mobilizing the attention of private merchants to stockpile sufficient pesticides.
This laxity in prompt decision-making has now turned out to be an incorrigible mistake, and an indignant Unit’s boss has decided to call it quits.
Those managing public authorities need be reminded that it amounts to an abuse of public office when a bearer fails to carry out the right decisions at the right time.
Looking at what is happening, the prolonged indecision has panicked both officials and farmers into the only current approach possible to fending off the disaster, a fire brigade style of management.
Ironically now, in this 21st science and technology century, we still seem to over-dependent on the miracles of Mother Nature to provide a sustainable solution, in the form of heavy downpours to kill the larvae .
Whether this is really a shining example of a correct, science based strategy for revamping agriculture and reducing poverty, God knows.
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