WRITING in the Guernsey Press today, outgoing Health minister Peter Roffey attempts to answer the island’s biggest political question: is this the worst States ever? His detailed analysis can be found on pages 18 and 19 but he reaches one clear conclusion.
It is that ‘this States has certainly seen more point-scoring, backstabbing and unpleasantness’ than the previous six in which he has served.
When Deputy Stuart Falla, the man so many islanders had hoped would run for chief minister, was explaining his decision not to seek re-election, he had this to say: ‘Sadly, the highly charged political events and manoeuvrings surrounding the clinical block tender seriously undermined my confidence in other politicians and eroded my enthusiasm for the job. Since that difficult time, I have found it less than easy to enjoy any real job satisfaction from being a local politician.’
We repeat these views because the last four years have seen this newspaper centre stage in the island’s political process as a leading critical voice in some of the events that have unfolded.
A letter we published here yesterday took us to task for that criticism and claimed that our ‘unreasonable lack of respect for our States has infected the Guernsey population with an anti-States attitude and soured political debate’.
Yet two widely respected individuals like deputies Roffey and Falla show that the real difficulties lie within the States itself and it was a third time-served member - John Gollop - who labelled this House as the worst ever, not the media.
Over the months, we have highlighted the difficulties experienced by government and provided our own thoughts on what has caused them.
Deputy Roffey touches on that, too, and says that the change in system was supposed to bring a more corporate approach but there has certainly been no esprit de corps and the new system can at times feel like 10 large and distinct tribes.
In short, it is still not joined-up and islanders can see that for themselves.
When the new States is formed, it and the Policy Council can expect a honeymoon period while people give members a chance to bed down.
While there are many pressing issues to be tackled, those early weeks should be used to formulate how the new House intends to operate.
Islanders want to see the new States moving on - failure to do so is not an option.
Honeymoon should be used wisely
WRITING in the Guernsey Press today, outgoing Health minister Peter Roffey attempts to answer the island’s biggest political question: is this the worst States ever? His detailed analysis can be found on pages 18 and 19 but he reaches one clear conclusion.
It is that ‘this States has certainly seen more point-scoring, backstabbing and unpleasantness’ than the previous six in which he has served.
When Deputy Stuart Falla, the man so many islanders had hoped would run for chief minister, was explaining his decision not to seek re-election, he had this to say: ‘Sadly, the highly charged political events and manoeuvrings surrounding the clinical block tender seriously undermined my confidence in other politicians and eroded my enthusiasm for the job. Since that difficult time, I have found it less than easy to enjoy any real job satisfaction from being a local politician.’
We repeat these views because the last four years have seen this newspaper centre stage in the island’s political process as a leading critical voice in some of the events that have unfolded.
A letter we published here yesterday took us to task for that criticism and claimed that our ‘unreasonable lack of respect for our States has infected the Guernsey population with an anti-States attitude and soured political debate’.
Yet two widely respected individuals like deputies Roffey and Falla show that the real difficulties lie within the States itself and it was a third time-served member - John Gollop - who labelled this House as the worst ever, not the media.
Over the months, we have highlighted the difficulties experienced by government and provided our own thoughts on what has caused them.
Deputy Roffey touches on that, too, and says that the change in system was supposed to bring a more corporate approach but there has certainly been no esprit de corps and the new system can at times feel like 10 large and distinct tribes.
In short, it is still not joined-up and islanders can see that for themselves.
When the new States is formed, it and the Policy Council can expect a honeymoon period while people give members a chance to bed down.
While there are many pressing issues to be tackled, those early weeks should be used to formulate how the new House intends to operate.
Islanders want to see the new States moving on - failure to do so is not an option.
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