Ministers have to be held to higher standards

Aug 09, 2019 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The government must be commended for its approach to the dismissal of workers at the Department of the Public Service. But there are still questions as to whether this was not an election year, whether something like that would have happened.
Persons have had their services terminated or have been forced out in other Government departments and there were no inquiries. The recent actions of the government have therefore not been consistent.
It therefore is to be asked whether the government, in the interest of treating its workers fairly, is going to institutionalize a mechanism which would allow for a review of persons dismissed from the public service where those persons are not traditional public servants.
The decision of the Board of Inquiry into the dismissal of the employees of the Public Service Ministry has made the Minister’s future at that ministry untenable. It is hard to see how the minister can continue in that post when an Inquiry has found that the dismissals were unlawful and that they should be reinstated.
The President therefore has to act and act swiftly. The Public Service Ministry is a critical Ministry. It is important that these workers not be further penalized by being transferred just in order to placate anyone. The President ought to know who, if at all, should be inconvenienced because of the recent embarrassing situation at that Ministry.
Governments come and governments go but public servants are supposed to remain regardless of the government of the day. It is the politicians who are expendable. That is the principle. The reality is different.
Governments in Guyana tend to enjoy stacking the public service with their own supporters. And the APNU+AFC has been no different.
We have also seen far too often where politicians continue to escape sanctions for their actions, where instead of being removed they are reshuffled and, on the other hand, the government is hasty to let go of public servants.
Governments come and go. And given the ethnic arithmetic of Guyana, this trend will increase in the near future as a result of elections. The days of governments lasting one or more terms are long gone. One-term governments are more than a real possibility in the future.
In such a scenario, public servants must be treated fairly and must enjoy greater security of tenure regardless of their perceived political affiliation.
And there are far too many instances in which they have not been treated fairly. And this is because there is the ideal of a civil service that does not change with changes in government is a myth in this country.
Ministers change with changes in Government but hardly do during the life of any government. Ministers deserve, also, second chances.
And as much as it is inexplicable for a Minister not to know that he or she does not have any authority to fire a staffer, Ministers are human and they make mistakes.
And as much as one should never be unduly harsh towards them especially if they demonstrate a willingness to accept their mistakes, when you are called to lead, you must be held to higher standards. Ministers by virtue of their position, have to be held to higher standards than workers. The opposite however obtains. It is the public servants who are sent packing all too easily.
Justice never favours the working class. So what has changed over the past four years?
When you are small you have to take the fall. One, however, can only hope that these workers would not be made into political footballs in order to placate the Minister.
A Board of Inquiry was unnecessary. This was a straightforward matter of the workers being dismissed without lawful reason and it should have been reversed immediately. That would have avoided the present embarrassing situation which has developed.
The reinstatement of the workers does not answer a fundamental question. What wrong it was that the workers did? And if they did no wrong, then were they wronged? And if they were wronged who is to be held accountable and what sanctions are to be imposed?
That aspect was not part of the terms of reference of the Board of Inquiry. But it should be of concern to the Chief Executive of the country.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)

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Ministers have to be held to higher standards

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