Urgent need for reconstruction of the Public Service Commission and Public Service

Jun 16, 2013 Letters

Dear Editor,

It must be of interest, both to those more immediately involved, and other relevant stakeholders, to examine closely the published relative values of posts occupied across the Guyana Justice Sector of the Public Service.

This Sector is administered and functionalised largely by professionally qualified personnel; while however there are components which are staffed by comparatively under-certified (professional/ technical education and training) counterparts a quick comparison may be made among incumbents of posts in:

1) the Ministry of Legal Affairs

2) Supreme Court

3) Magistrate’s Court

4) Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions

on the one hand,

i) Guyana Police Force

ii) Guyana Prison Service

iii) Guyana Fire Service

on the other hand.

The Table below briefly summarises the comparable status of a sample of the posts involved.

Table – (2013 Estimates)

Grade	Posts	Posts
GS12	– Deputy Chief Parliamentary Counsel – Deputy Registrar of Deeds – Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court – Summary Courts Manager – Assistant Director Public Prosecutions	– Director of Prisons – Assistant Commissioner of Police – Deputy Fire Chief
GS11	– Legal Assistant to the Chancellor – Senior State Counsel Magistrate – Senior Legal Advisor – Law Revision Officer – Principal Parliamentary Counsel	– Senior Superintendent of Police – Divisional Officer, Fire Service
GS10	– Legal Administrative Officer	– Superintendent of Police – Senior Superintendent Prisons
GS09	– Legal assistant – Parliamentary Counsel – Principal Assistant Law Revision Officer	– Assistant Superintendent of Police

The full gamut of positions as extracted from the National Estimates 2013, has been composed in a separate Table which space would not allow here.

However, in addition to the foregoing observations, the following may also be worth noting:

a) Office of the State Solicitor

There appear to be two sets of Senior Posts in this office, i.e,

i) “Public Trustee, Official Receiver”

ii) “State Solicitor, Public Trustee, Official Receiver”

Unless an editorial error was in fact committed, it certainly needs to be explained how, in the first instance two posts: i) above became merged into one; then simultaneously, these two are combined with a third at ii) above.

For what positions did the budget provide?

Questions can reasonably be asked about the authority for approving the above arrangements. Either the Public Service Commission or the Judicial Service Commission may be expected to be involved. Equally, the Public Service Ministry should statutorily advise on the values to be attributed to these merged responsibilities, but only after a comprehensive review, and reconfiguration of the relevant Job/Position Description/s – for the very good reason that any prospective incumbent of this (mega) position should, in all fairness, be provided with a full understanding of the objectives to be achieved, the systems and procedures to be utilised, as well as the delivery processes involved; not to mention the priorities to be determined.

Such information would help the candidate, not only to self-assess his/her delivery capability, but also to decide on the adequacy of the remuneration offered.

Against the above background logic suggests that this ‘collection’ of posts previously corrected should have been advertised to allow for appropriate competition and transparent selection of the competencies required for measurable performance.

b) There appears to be another editorial error which shows the post of State Counsel Legal Affairs graded GS10 and that of State Counsel in the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecution graded GS09.

c) The posts of Chief Fire Officer and Chief Magistrate are not included in the 2013 Estimates.

On reflection, apart from the behaviour of the current administration, its partners in governance who repetitiously have proclaimed their concern for the welfare of Public Servants, have displayed a disturbingly impoverished understanding of the structures, procedures and processes which influence the functionalities of the Public Service, as well as the status and actual work environment impacting on its human resources.

Even if the particular aberration of a ’multi-faceted’ incumbency (or encumbrance) is an exception, it should not be overlooked. In fact it merely adds to the list of other notable transgressions in the employment and compensation management environment of the Public Service.

Surely all the governance partners are accountable for permitting the deficit in the performance of the Public Service Commission.

This is therefore to urge that something be done immediately, if only as a starter towards a major reconstruction of the Public Service Commission in particular, and of the Public Service as a whole.

EB John

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Urgent need for reconstruction of the Public Service Commission and Public Service

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