A new approach is needed to public service management

Apr 29, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

There were these two girls from the village. They were close friends. They were like two peas in a pod. When you saw one, you saw the other. As they grew older, their friendship became stronger. The villagers began to refer to them as ‘Mutt and Jeff’, even though both of them were girls.

They have now graduated from secondary school. Mutt has gotten a job but not Jeff.

When asked how it is that Mutt is working but Jeff is unemployed, the explanation is that Mutt’s family knows a ‘big one’ in the government and that persons arranged for her to work in his office. Jeff, however, has not enjoyed the benefits of political nepotism.

Here are two friends, who for their entire school life have been inseparable, but are now set apart by their employment status. Ironically, it is the better qualified one who is unemployed.

There is a perception out there that the wrong persons are getting the jobs in the government. Having the right connection seems to be gaining the upper hand over having the right qualifications. Friendship, connections and political affiliations are perceived to be allowing some to gain jobs while others, more qualified, are left hunting to find employment.

One of the reasons why Service Commissions were established was to ensure fairness in employment, discipline and dismissal. Service Commissions were intended to depoliticize employment in the civil service, in the police and in teaching.

Things have not gone according to script. The Service Commissions have delegated too many of their responsibilities. They should have retained total control of employment to ensure that only the brightest and the best are employed within the public service, and to reduce the incidence of nepotism – the curse of all administrations in Guyana.

Some of the persons holding top jobs within the government are not necessarily the best qualified or experienced. They have been deemed the best suited by the political directorate rather than by an impartial institution.

The new administration has come with a vengeance and has made changes to personnel who were entrenched. The new administration has replaced many of these persons with their own personnel, in many instances without advertising the positions.

Persons have been handpicked for positions. Retired military personnel, some of whom can hardly keep their eyes open are being employed, while young and vibrant persons are finding it difficult to find jobs. It means that in many instances the Mutts have gotten the jobs while the better qualified Jeffs have not even had a chance to compete for it.

The retired soldiers are not being encouraged to make plantain chips, but the young people looking for their first jobs are being asked to become self-employed.

They are many square pegs in round holes. Many persons within the government are earning monies under false pretense. They are not capable of doing the jobs which have been handed to them. In the meantime, a great majority of young people are applying but not being successful in securing employment.

The public service is inefficient, not just because of the many incompetent persons who are occupying positions in the both the upper and lower rungs. Historically, the inefficiency within the public service has been attributed to the practice of having too many square pegs in round holes.

But one of the underlying causes of inefficiency within the public service is overstaffing. Too large workforces result in limited emphasis on efficiency. In other words, emphasis is placed on overstaffing rather than productivity.

The public service needs to be reorganized. At present, the public service is just one big employment agency, filled with persons most of whose daily output does not match what they are paid.

Overheads continue to make the services provided by most government agencies too high. Bureaucrats have to be provided with air-conditioned offices, telephones, computers, stationery, printers, secretarial staff and drivers. The offices have to be manned by accountants and maintenance staff. All of these add to the cost of the poor services which are provided by the government.

A new approach is needed to public service management, one that should allow for fair employment practices, smaller staff and less overheads. Jeff is sure to find a job in a meritocracy.

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