GANGA / Sharda Ganga
Dear Mr. Putini Mielando Atompai (LL.M.), Member of Parliament, Lawyer, Entrepreneur, Trade Union Leader, Sports Executive, Police Inspector. (I’m just waiting for you Facebook I’m going to see how I should address you and this is how you introduce yourself there. By the way, I see there that you have a Rotterdam home address? How interesting).
You resigned from the chairmanship of the standing committee on Education in DNA about five weeks ago. However, you only announced it now. (That’s interesting too). You say: “I was not seen in case of delays, excuses or half measures”. You call it a principled political signal and say that you have too often felt like a voice crying in the desert.
“I expect a different message from an elected representative: ‘here I am, here I stay and the government will be accountable’. That is why you were voted in.”
I had to chuckle a bit at that. You have been a DNA member for just over a year, so the desert in which you call can hardly be more than a piece of savannah near Colakreek.
There are entire tribes of people who have been knocking on doors, ringing bells, agitating, reacting, being heard or ignored for decades and who still persevere. These are often people who have never been as close to power as you. Those are the real desert callers I would say.
A shortage of teachers, too few classrooms, students missing lessons: the things you mention are distressing, but they are only the symptoms of decades of neglect of education. The rot, the root causes lie much deeper. Yes, plenty of conferences. Often to discuss the organization of education.
But how the ministry functions, the total, and I mean total rot from within, of departments that hardly know each other what they are doing, processes that have never heard of a streamline, oh Mr. Atompai, it really makes me cry a little inside every time.
As chairman, you say that you cannot continue to bear responsibility for an approach that does not include necessary measures. That made my ears pop for a while, you know. As a DNA member you are not responsible for the approach. After all, you are not the Minister of Education. Your responsibility was to control that minister and the government. Precisely because they are not doing their job, the task of the committee chairman was all the more important. Giving up that position is incomprehensible to me.
There is little that is glamorous about real parliamentary work, about committee work. It is laborious work, it involves digging through files, checking figures, poring over reports, going out yourself to collect information. That’s not as tough as banging your fist on the table and speaking harsh words and giving nice speeches.
The work of the committee is to increase the pressure on the minister and the government. You say that you have made your voice heard, made proposals and exerted pressure. I want to know: ‘what proposals have you made? What answers did you receive? Was your work stopped and if so, by whom, when, how?’
If you felt like someone crying in the desert, we want to know who refused to listen and what options you used to take consequences. As committee chairman, you should have made it more visible to us where things are getting stuck.
So come on: where and how did it get stuck? Was it annoying that you are from the coalition and it concerns a fellow party member? Citizens have not given you a mandate to only exert influence as long as cooperation runs smoothly.
Your departure makes your personal dissatisfaction visible, but it does not bring the children to school and musye not to Paris. Of course, resignation can be a matter of principle. If independent action is made impossible, if you were forced to cover up abuses or if your presidency was only meant to legitimize failed policies, then I can imagine the decision. But even then, society should know exactly what is going on.
“Didn’t see me” is an understandable cry from a frustrated citizen. I expect a different message from an elected representative: ‘here I am, here I stay and the government will be accountable’. That’s why you were voted in. So let’s get to work.
(Another thing: I think it’s quite amazing that you have six positions/jobs. What’s your time management secret?).
