And we asked Minister Hyde to respond to those comments and the view that he may be positioning himself as a "demi-god" of the bureaucracy, encouraging political clientelism.
He said that characterization cut deep, but emphasized that the reason he tags along to the clinics is so that he can be there working alongside the public officers and meeting the future land owners.
Cordel Hyde, Minister of Natural Resources
"That's kind of visceral, that's going very deep, and hyperbolic I would say. No, it's really about being hands on and trying to ensure that we get it done. You can't just sit in a tower somewhere and give instructions and hope it gets done. George Price taught us many years ago, assume it's not done, assume when you want something done and you issue a directive, it doesn't get done. You have to be hands on to make sure that it gets done and I think that there's no better way for me to know what's happening in the country than for me to travel with our people and have a hand on what's going on so that we can be responsive in a timely fashion."
