Focus on resourceful public wealth creation and responsible distribution
(JollofNews) – Most productive combination of material, money, and human capital as employable inputs for optimal value added output is one way to measure efficient management of resources.
To be head of government or being responsible for decision making as part of public duty demands a person of resourceful drive. This also requires prudent allocation of resources for higher returns in value added terms. Having custody of public resources must be taken as responsibility and not an opportunity to exploit the position by corruption in whatsoever ways.
The task of running a government is such a demanding responsibility for those who seek to lead and run affairs of a nation. In private business the proprietor undertakes calculated risk of investing resources for wealth creation through profit. With business of government it is another risk of resources placed in the hands of few to manage for the rest. Those who are given that responsibility must be seriously scrutinised by all stakeholders. Members of the taxpayer public have all rights to demand judicious management of shared resources.
We will be looking at individuals as resource input to the collective human establishment where each also has rights to use of shared resources and obligations in adding value or to challenge those given public office responsible for managing what belongs to everyone.
Nature And Form Of Resources
Apart from humans other creatures too discover and utilise what is generally seen as gifts of nature. Sea creatures for example discover and find ways of making a home under water where humans face danger and drown to death with all the bragging about intelligence and superior wisdom. That means any living thing capable of using water as home is endowed with a special gift of nature that humans are without. Above all else, if other creatures are seen to be utilising what nature provides to suit their ease of sustaining life, then humans claiming to possess superior thinking capabilities have every obligation to be resourcefully productive.
At family and household level, the responsibility over resources is differently demanding than with entire national economy under custody of a political party in power. The sphere of control also varies immensely. We are about to examine the source and use of public resources and how they are managed properly for optimal shared gains among people who collective own such resources.
Elements Of Resource Input And Resourcefulness
Every person is a unit of resource and that is true even for those without all five common senses in full functional order. Considered broadly it is much easy to see what makes resourcefulness relevant to political economy of any nation including Gambia.
On top of all that comes to us as natural possession, much is needed doing to add value and make a difference. To that effect resources are broadly identified in their natural form or created by some effort of individuals and communities combined.
Converting natural resources into value added end user products is a measure of both competence and productivity. With tangible evidence of impact, biggest difference between managers of any establishment lies in resourcefulness.
Custodians or managers of whatever resources who are not resourceful cannot identify, allocate, and gainfully manage such resources. Permitting least resourceful persons to handle resources of any type is therefore serious risk to resources. Such risk becomes more serious when dealing with public resources like running a government.
Everything that is bankable possession is counted as resource component of a whole. Nature and form of resources varies from the smallest to largest. As new born baby, your family rejoiced for having added resource input to the household and broader social belonging. The expectation remains that you grow and expand your resourcefulness as value adding contributor to welfare of your family and society. How then does it come about that some people are more resourceful than others even while sharing almost equal level of opportunities?
Once humans become aware of good life, there begins the obligation to utilise every available input they access to produce additional resources required in making life better for one and all.
Using Public Resources For Private Business
Those who are given responsibility to handle and manage public resources are entitled to remuneration adequate enough so that they serve well and refrain from taking undue advantage by corruption or other illicit exploitation through mandatory access. People working for government are part of that count.
With politics and governance that goes for public office holders including head of ruling party and others in designated roles. For example it is corruption if public sector employees are mobilised to carry out work at private establishment of anyone especially for commercial profit motives. There must be regulations concerning public office occupiers running private business like farming, bakeries, sand mining, commercial transport, selling meat and bone, beef, drug dealing, money laundering, weapon trade, second hand clothing, fish smoking, vegetable gardening, import and export, banking, land grabbing, property and housing among others. It will be seen corrupt and while too wrong to engage the time, skills, labour and resources entrusted under management of public sector employees to keep private business of any person flourish.
Profit generated from private business is not meant to build public wealth except when that business pays required tax. It will be considered as double exploitation of high office if occupiers of public positions including the presidency take money and material belonging to everyone in doing private business. Then on top of all that, it becomes more risk and damage to resources when public sector materials along workers are mobilised in private business even if that business belongs to head of a ruling government. That is already happening in Gambia and people keeping quiet as though a normal affair.
Public Wealth Creation And Distribution
By asking for votes and taking custody of public resources, a sitting political party in power assumes responsibility over the national economy. Entire economic superstructure serves as platform for value added engagement.
Control and use of the national economic platform provides a government in power all the facilities to create public wealth for distribution of value added gains to rest of the population. In that way it becomes responsibility of government to set up and maintain the enabling economic environment for a robust and viable financial system.
Generating public wealth through taxation and by tapping other financial avenues is part of the big responsibility a sitting government is required to undertake. That is where regulations become helpful. Government formulates policies for ensuring that all those who need to utilise the prevailing economic and financial avenues have to pay for such. That is why businesses and even non-profit ventures pay for permits.
Government of the day has extensive obligation to ensure that public wealth is fully protected from pilfering and judiciously utilised to serve best shared interest. That is why public services must be adequately dispensed and all stakeholders have right to demand for their regular maintenance.
Those who collect revenue as part of routine duty for public wealth creation are paid workers entitled to salary and allowances in commensuration with their duties. They have no right to take public money and keep as personal possession.
Public wealth is not also created and handed to anyone in high office as personal possession. For example a head of government is paid out of the public wealth together with other inducements. That is all done so that the post holder takes up public duty seriously and not needing to be corrupt.
It is wrong to collect public revenue and literally hand that over to leader of government or some other official for personal use. That is corruption and leads to financial meltdown or worst economic collapse.
As custodian of national economy and public finance a sitting government is to ensure proper policies, procedures, and regulations for total protection against corruption that may cause failure during their or at end of their temporal term.
Once the enabling economic environment permits public wealth creation it is duty of a sitting government to ensure fair distribution of what belongs to everyone. Only corrupt governments and insincere leaders of such governments take undue advantage of their position by taking as personal what belongs to everyone collectively. They set on the money milking mechanism to get themselves rich personally at the expense of everyone else.
You don’t need being genius or shrewd political scientist to know that people you give votes run given temporal occasion in running a government are also empowered having access to public resources. When such people are insincere and corrupt they misuse all resources including public transport, army, civil servants, community leaders, district commissioners, women and men of influence, youths, students at universities and other institutions, central reserves, financial system, just to name few. There is direct link between the creation of national wealth and governance. It will be fatally risky to permit corrupt set of people handle the national economy. They invariably end up taking all public belonging as their own.
Keeping custody and management of public wealth is no ordinary task to be handed away just like that. Any political party in power and head of government must be seriously scrutinised while seeking to take up such important duties. They must be constantly challenged while serving public office.
In subsequent editions we shall be expanding the scope of focus on maintaining a resourcefully enterprising population in relation to public economy and governance. We shall be looking at such issues bordering on your contribution and share of resources. How to enhance and develop an enterprisingly resourceful population, also if you are not resourceful what are you? Most importantly, it is crucial finding the truth answer to such question as how possible for a person of least resourceful orientation to be given custodianship of the national economy and public wealth. Accountability for public resources will be treated in greater detail as we progress.
After all, government business is the business of everyone. Public wealth generated in the name of every tax payer has to be fairly distributed for proper use by all. Who then will you trust to keep custody of the national economy and public wealth created by temporal occupants of the political office? Have you considered risk and prudent management of public resources at stake for best benefit of optimal shared gains?
