“It is not the salary..that makes a man rich, but the opportunities of getting money whilst he is in place” was the view in government three hundred years ago. Regrettably this attitude seems to have returned.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth century it was corruption by naval suppliers providing rotten timbers for ships, adulterating food supplies and defective gunpowder which caused sickness and loss of life at sea. Such corruption was eventually rooted out, and systems put in place to ensure the government got good value for money when spending tax payers money.
It was a long and difficult lesson to learn – that corruption kills!
Unfortunately this present government has repeatedly ignored the fact that rules are put in place for very good reasons. Giving million pound contracts for PPE to cronies with no experience of medical equipment procurement, and indeed prioritising those with no knowledge or experience over British companies who specialise in this area, resulted in hundreds of NHS staff dying unnecessarily in the pandemic.
No wonder Dominic Cummings wrote of needing to remove vaccination from the “smoking ruin” of the Ministry of Health. Entrusted to GPs, the vaccination roll out has gone smoothly. But the dithering and mixed messages still goes on with failure to secure our borders against incoming passengers from red list countries. Was the slow action on India for political reasons?
If we do not learn from history,then we are likely to repeat the mistakes. Corruption kills!
Pete Milory
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