Crisis of confidence

Oct 03, 2018 Features / Columnists, News, Peeping Tom

The Ministry of Finance may not consider the parting of ways of four of its senior officers as constituting a crisis but it surely should not rule out a loss of public confidence because of its rapid senior staff turnover in recent times.
The persons who have departed, for whatever reasons, are not middle-level personnel. They are all upper-level officers: Finance Secretary, Deputy Finance Secretary, Chief Planning Officer and the Chief Executive Officer of the National Procurement and Tender Board.
The loss of these persons in such rapid succession is bound to leave a void in any organization much less one that is forced to rely more on public relations rather than performance to allay public fears.
The Ministry has to do better. It is not good enough to simply confirm that the contracts of one of the four were not renewed; that in another case, the parting of ways was not unrelated to the government’s retirement policy; and in two other cases, the persons opted not to renew their contracts.
It is highly unusual and perhaps unprecedented for so many high-level officers to demit office, for whatever reasons, in such short period of time.
The Ministry must explain why suddenly so many senior officers have departed its employ. For the person whose contract was not renewed, it is disingenuous to suggest that the contract was not finite. A Finance Secretary is one of the most powerful and influential positions within the public service. Why would any Ministry want to chop and change that person?
The Finance Secretary, regardless of the length of his original contract, would have had a reasonable expectation that once he performed satisfactorily that his contract would have been renewed. It was not.
The Ministry should explain why it did not feel compelled to renew the contract when it became due for renewal? Was it that the Ministry was dissatisfied with the incumbents’ performance? If so did it at any time during his service was he provided with performance reviews or any indication that his performance was wanting?
In the case of the Deputy Finance Secretary and the Chief Planning Officer, did the Ministry debrief these officers to determine whether their departure was personal or whether they had problems within the Ministry; problems that were not being addressed to their satisfaction?
These issues are not the internal business of the Ministry. The person is a public official and the person and the public is entitled to reasons for the non-renewal of the contract of employment.
In the case of the Chief Executive Officer of the National Procurement and Tender Board, previous indications from the Ministry implied that the decision to not renew the contract of this officer was related to the retirement policy of the Ministry. If this is so, can the Ministry say whether this policy is being applied unevenly not just within the Ministry but also within the government?
It is well known that there are persons within the Guyana Revenue Authority who have long passed the age of retirement who are employed within that entity. The GRA falls under the Ministry of Finance.
The Ministry was quick to attempt to allay fears that it is facing a crisis because of the departure of four of its senior officials. It says that a Finance Secretary has been identified and will begin working on 1st November 2018.
The Ministry says that the person has been “identified”. It did not state whether the position was advertised. So are we to speculate that the soon-to-be appointed Finance Secretary was handpicked just as the head of the Department of Energy?
How can the public be asked to have confidence that there is no crisis or brewing crisis within the Ministry of Finance when there is no indication that one of the most critical positions in the government is being filled through a competitive process?
On the other hand, it was good to learn that the positions of Deputy Finance Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of NPTAB were advertised and are soon to be filled. This of course is no guarantee that there will be stability within the Ministry. Those selected must have the aptitude and ability to fill the void left by the departure of their predecessors. That seems like a deep hole to fill.

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