Permanent Secretaries should not be political appointees – former Auditor General

Oct 10, 2015 News

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– Calls for discharge of contract workers

“No one can serve two masters,” former Auditor General, Anand Goolsaran, underscored in his submission to the Commission of Inquiry, (COI) into the Public Service yesterday.

In his presentation before the Commission, Goolsaran alluded to the fact that civil servants cannot uphold professionalism, fairness, equity, transparency in serving in the interest of the public, and still have allegiance to the political directive.
According to Goolsaran, political affiliation and allegiance are simply unacceptable for those working in the Public Service.
Goolsaran, served as Auditor General of Guyana from 1990 to 2004. He has also worked in financial management and accountability in a number of institutions locally and internationally, including at the United Nations.
He told the COI into the Public Service that the single principle of non alignment must be employed to ensure professionalism and efficiency in the sector.
In response to questions posed by Commissioners Harold Lutchman, Samuel Goolsaran and Sandra Jones,  the witness underscored that politicization of the sector must be a source of concern for those interested in the reformation of the Public Service.
Speaking specifically about Permanent Secretaries and Regional Executive officers, Goolsaran noted that both officials have essentially the same functions.
Given the administrative and accounting qualities associated with such jobs, Goolsaran said that Permanent Secretaries and Regional Executive officers should not be politically appointees.
In response to questions by the panel, he said that the Public Service Commission, (PSC) should be responsible for such appointments.  Goolsaran held out that the PSC will help to ensure that there is fairness, equity, transparency and accountability in the recruitment and functions of such officers.
However, Professor Lutchman pointed out to the witness that the PSC is not without its flaws. Goolsaran also expressed concerns over the significant number of contracted employees in the sector.
The witness noted that Guyana has been operating with two public service systems; the traditional and parallel.  The traditional public service refers to those employed permanently in the sector and the parallel refers to those employed on contract.
According to him, contract employment has aided the politicization and demoralization of the sector. Pointing to research documents, Goolsaran noted that often traditional employees are sidelined by contracted workers, since their compensation packages are significantly higher than traditional workers.
The former Auditor General went on to share some statistics from his research document which he also presented to the Commission.  He outlined that at the Ministry of Presidency, (formerly) Office of the President, 66 per cent of the employees are on contract, from a total of 238- 128 are contract employees.
At the Office of the Prime Minister — 61 per cent are contracted workers , Ministry of Finance — 55 per cent are contracted workers; the Ministry of Natural resources —100 per cent are contracted workers,  and  Ministry of Housing and Water –72 per cent are employed on a temporary basis.
According to Goolsaran the system of contract allows a number of injustices in the public service. He detailed that retired persons are being allowed to maintain their positions on contract making it unfair for others to succeed them or even obtain promotions.
“I know of instances; where persons retire today, collect millions of dollars in pension and gratuity and return to work in the same position, on contract, sometimes the very next day. How can that be fair?” he asked.
Calling for the discharge of contract workers, the former Auditor General said that the PSC should be responsible for the regulation of salary, increase of wages, promotion and retirement of all public servants.
He recommended that that promotion should not be based on seniority of workers or those who have years of service in the public service but rather on their performance.
Goolsaran called for the reintroduction of appraisals to monitor the performance of civil servants. He called, too, for consideration to be given to the retirement age limit for public servants; from age 55 to age 60 years.
The witness said, too, that there are a of number of loopholes in the system, specifically with the allowance for duty free concessions, the use of state assets particularly State/Government vehicles and the lack of tribunal to hear the concerns of public servants .

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