How to make a living in Guyana as a consultant while maintaining rights as a citizen
The Consultancy Group in Guyana embarked on series of IDEAS Forums in 2012 as one of the human resource development initiatives for their staff and associates.
An informal discussion with Rene Edwards and Esther McKintosh on the protests against the former Commissioner of Police Henry Greene, led us to agreeing that I should do a presentation on 'Protests, activism, right to free speech and and so on'
(This presentation was first done on 27 September 2012)
My experience with many of the social justice activities in Guyana, is that many people would like to speak out about abuses like what the late Henry Greene committed, but are scared or locked into silences
This preparation of this presentation is timely for me as I seek to consolidate my interests and knowledge with my technical skills, and try to market these in an environment which is not always welcoming of my views.
Rights
Article 40 of, our Constitution guarantees us various
fundamental rights,
"Every person in Guyana is entitled to the basic right to a happy, creative and productive life, free from hunger, disease, ignorance and want. That right includes the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual, that is to say, the right, whatever his race, place of origin, political opinions, colour, creed or sex, but subject to respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for the public interest, to each and all of the following, namely ––
i) life, liberty, security of the person and the protection of the law.
ii) freedom of conscience, of expression and of assembly and association; and
iii) protection for the privacy of his home and other property and from deprivation of property without compensation. "
History is full of people who have stood up for what they believe in and who have lost liberty and even life.
These situations are in my head as I think about speaking out, and fear of speaking out .
A woman politician decided that she would do as the constitution allows, and join a political party different from the ruling party. She was turned down for independent work - even from the agencies and international NGOs which advocated for citizens to get involved in politics.
A man who likes to sing and who worked with one of the Governments which talks about human rights asked for permission to sing at an event organised by a local NGO. His boss told him that no, the NGO is a political one and it would not look good.
A young activist whose work included working with International agencies decided to take up social justice issues after the 2011 elections. He has been turned down for jobs to which he is applying and in one case, told quietly not to reapply for his old job.
A young professional was organising a civil society initiative. This fear of victimisation hit home when he asked me to collect something from him. He had written on a piece of paper "Please email me at
My own experience with being targeted was around a letter I wrote in April 2011, asking people to speak out against the appointment of Mr Ramotar as advisor to President Jagdeo.
Making a living as a consultant
These are some of the comments I have heard about consultants
- Consultants are relatively highly paid, work in air conditioned offices/hotels
- Consultants are career/money driven and do not really care about the issues and do not have a stake in their work beyond completing the report/work and getting paid
- Consultants steal information from people and repackage it (I had suggested to one NGO which was constantly being interviewed by consultants to charge the consultants a fee for the time spent )
- Consultants are only accountable to clients and not “beneficiaries”
- Consultants explain that because professional values are loyalty to clients, objectivity, neutrality, independence, (and being compassionate) means that they have to be silent (even though they are on your side and they like the letter in the newspapers and they act up on in the semi-private space of Facebook but nowhere else )
To tell the truth, I do not like being called a consultant even when I am consulting..
Consultancy and Citizenship
I propose that we look at the following questions when
considering how consultants can be citizens without losing their livelihoods- or their lives.
- How do we definine our roles as citizens of communities, Guyana, the World?
- How do we linking our academic /professional interests, values and ethics to our personal interests, values and citizens?
- How can we be socially active citizens (as opposed to or in addition to being members of Charitable and Service organisations)?
Citizenship
Guyana's precarious democratic history has resulted in varying discussions about what it means to be a citizen. We generally accept that as Guyanese citizens we are expected to- Pay taxes
- Obey laws
- Vote
- Defend the country
- Fight corruption?
- Resist injustice?
- Say anything or express views which are not seen as popular (especially politically popular)?
Interests, Values and Ethics
We have learnt that it helps us to be effective if we can find work which matches our interests. All of that is good in a perfect world but from time to time, we have to make decisions based on our values and ethics.
I propose a definition of values as "what we view as right and wrong" and ethics as "how we behave to our values". I also contend that in asserting our citizenship, that our personal and professional values and ethics should be the same ; and that "integrity" relates to how we perform .
This might relate to how we for example choose clients. Or respond to clients who choose us. I have a personal decision not to work with the alcohol industry - though in this complex corporate world - the alcohol industry is often tied up to other industries and sometimes it is not easy to distinguish who is who.
Our values and ethics should be also related to how we view ourselves as human and as citizens.
We should also be able to dialogue on values and ethics since these can evolve with our own experiences. Our ethics should also include ways in which we deal with conflicts in values.
This experience should also be added to our Masters/PhD and other impressive academic and research qualifications to enhance our professional credibility.
There are different ways of asserting our values and ethics. Our websites, blogs and CVs should be reflective of these values and ethics.
(Search Results on the TCG website for 'values' and 'ethics'
Social activism vs Expert Consultant
- Establish your values
- Define ethical practices
- Accountability (to whom?)
- Selection of clients?
- Approach to Issues
- Maintain Integrity which means being open to evaluation of your professional and personal ethics practice
- Develop skills which would allow work outside of Guyana or with clients whose values and ethics are aligned with yours
and most importantly , believing in the Transformation of Silence into Language and Action - this is the quote from Audre Lorde which got the attention of the Office of the President
“In becoming forcibly and essentially aware of my mortality, and of what I wished and wanted for my life, however short it might be, priorities and omissions became strongly etched in a merciless light, and what I most regretted were my silences.
Of what had I ever been afraid? To question or to speak as I believed could have meant pain, or death.
“But we all hurt in so many different ways, all the time and pain will either change or end. Death, on the other hand, is the final silence. And that might be coming quickly now, without regard for whether I had ever spoken what needed to be said, or had only betrayed myself into small silences, while I planned someday to speak, or waited for someone else’s words.
“I was going to die, if not sooner then later, whether or not I had ever spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you.”
Audre Lorde
Update May 2014
I created a statement of ethics on my CV which I share with every person who wants to do work.
Ethics Statement
Where I have had to use these..
There is one case in which an interesting consultancy required that I interview Mr Edghill, current Junior Minster of Finance. I wrote this to the client as part of the discussion about the work.
"The [client] embraces “diversity on the basis of gender, age, education, national origin, ethnic origin, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion, and HIV/AIDs status” I am committed to promoting equality for all human beings along these same bases. Part of my commitment includes holding public officials accountable for their behaviour and actions. .... I have publicly criticised Mr Edghill's abuse of public office as Chairperson of the Ethnic Relations Commission in his activism to promote discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Guyanese – which activism has included implying that the human rights organisation with which I was associated has endangered children. I will therefore not be interviewing Mr Edghill for this assignment..." (I agreed to document the relevant actions by Mr Edghill where those were reported)
The client accepted my explanation.
In a second case, some students did an assignment on domestic violence. Their assignment included an interview with Minister Priya Manickchand. I marked the assignment but I told them " I think you should know that I am a critic of Minister Manickchand's role in preventing the important work which should have been done in implementing the National Domestic Violence Policy. I have also been critical of the Ministry's lack of implementation of the mechanisms. have tried to be objective but if you think I have not done so, please let me know and I will ask [my colleague] to check the marking
The students have not responded as yet.
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