As they’re often found on mountain tops, or in some cases clouds, the gods are above right and wrong – but that doesn’t mean mere mortals can do whatever they like, whatever today’s demi-gods and their acolytes may think. Throughout history, there has been a strong belief that wrongdoing offends the gods, who the Greeks believed then punished them with such misfortune as being thrown out of power. To help mortals, we daemones are expressions of the whole gamut of human qualities and expressions but people were expected to follow Dike (Justice) and Yours Truly, not Pseudologos, Apate and Aergia –and certainly not Hybris.

Christianity developed the idea of sins of commission and omission and modern governments seem to specialise in both. The greatest faults result from fingers being stuck in porky pies, not least in recruitment and promotion exercises in the public sector, but the only things sure to result are incompetence, inefficiency – and unpopularity. Parastatals in particular have been infiltrated by toadies and cronies, currently no doubt sporting parasols rather than red roses. For every one vote possibly acquired there are hundreds left frustrated. Mind you, only the other day, a villager was heard berating her husband’s fiancée for taking a private sector job, when she could have arranged to get him one for life in the public sector through an uncle’s second cousin’s son who’s friendly with the sister of a minister’s kitchen helper, without having to do another day’s work in his life. With attitudes like that, no wonder government moves like an old banger in fits and starts rather than like an express train.

In terms of omissions, with your experience in business restructuring and your post there, you’re well placed to start sorting out the MBC. After all, it’s unimaginable that you yourself could be part of the problem. If few bother to learn anything from ancient history, they might at least be expected to learn from recent experience. At the last election, a sage decision was made to ban the MBC from coverage of activity because of its bias. The station, however, is still pretty sycophantic. By the way, who so irritatingly decided to use Kumar in PJ’s name? Perhaps the decision was made by a red saboteur. There’re still a lot of them about.

Elsewhere, the way certain cases are dealt with, or not dealt with, deals crushing blows to the government’s credibility. The ICAC and Police have been undermined by illegal political interference for yonks but the current regime doesn’t seem to have made much of an effort to rectify matters. As all I want is to see a little wisdom and thoughtfulness prevail, you won’t mind my suggesting that, to avoid misfortune – and to please the gods – the way forward for you and yours is drastic reform. Whatever some pundits may say, the next election is still very open, not least because the main Opposition parties are mostly a discredited lot, still fielding the same old faces making the same old promises they’ve failed to implement before.

However, at the moment, all some ministers and their lackeys seem to be doing is trying to get a few playgrounds and crematoria built before they can be classified as electoral bribes, when what would win the next election would be to concentrate on all the major promises that helped to get your lot elected in the first place. By the way, to avoid further scandals and distractions, you might like to suggest that candidates for the next election are selected on the basis of competence rather than tribe – and on the ability to spot whales and synthetic drugs. As December 2014 showed, voters are swayed by hopes for competence and integrity rather more than politicos seem to imagine.

Yours sincerely
EPI PHRON