Hard working deputies?

 It is easy to be cynical about our “part time” deputies precisely because we have no way of knowing just how hard they work. It isn’t measurable in any meaningful way and all we really have to go on is what the individual deputies tell us themselves and whatever the media chooses to report.
 
Hardly foolproof.
 
Maybe we should judge on results, but results of what?
 
Is a minister responsible for those headline spending cuts or is it his department which is doing the work? Indeed, just what effect does any minister have on their department?
 
Then we look at the foot soldiers, the committee members and those few who have little to do officially. How do we judge them?
 
The answer is that we can’t.
 
We must rely on the fact that we have elected these good people into roles of responsibility and trust that they are able to be effective.
 
That brings us back to our democratic process which I believe is fundamentally flawed.
 
First, we need Island wide voting.
 
Then we need to look at how many deputies we actually need.
 
Maybe with a few less salaries to pay, we might afford to increase the salary levels to the point where we might insist on it being a full time job.
 
Another current problem is the quality and quantity of selection in certain voting districts.
 
If you have one good candidate and four donkeys on the ballot paper (assuming animals could stand), then it is certain that some donkeys would have to be elected to fill the available seats.
 
Perhaps we should also introduce a minimum level of support figure and only consider for election those who polled more than X% of the total vote.
 
We are told that most deputies are altruistic and only stand “for the good of the Island”.
 
Well, I have a way of testing this.
 
I propose that, if you are representing our Island and are responsible for its services, you use those services.
 
Now I’m not suggesting that all current deputies exclusively use private medical care, transport, and schooling at the moment but I do wonder how much those services would improve if everyone had to use them.
 
There are arguments against this proposal and I suspect nobody would shout louder than our deputies but why not just accept this as one of the costs of service, just like accepting a lower salary than in the private sector?
 
But why should I sacrifice my children’s education? I went to college and I want my children to do the same.
 
If our schools are as good as they should be, then you are sacrificing nothing for your children. In fact, I’m fairly confident that you will ensure that they will get a better education by making certain that the schools are up to your required standard.
 
It’s the same with our health service. Forget the swish private rooms and see what the rest of us have to use. Again, I suspect the standards would improve even more.
 
There is nothing like a little self interest to promote caring and this is at the heart of my proposal.
 
Now I know that deputies will profess that they care just as much without having to get personally involved but I don’t believe it.
 
The Education fiasco would not have happened if all of our deputies had their family children going through the system.
 
The inconvenience of using our bus service would be brought home if deputies had to do without their cars for even one week a month.
 
I could take it further and suggest that our estates would not have half of the troubles they endure if the deputies and their families had to live there. But that just isn’t going to happen even in my dreams.
 
Now I know that our deputies do not profess to be socialists but they do say that they act for the good of the Guernsey people. If that means all of the people and not just those who can afford the private services, then let’s see them put their words into action.