Funeral in the foyer

Jun 06, 2021 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – An interesting Public Statement appeared on a Facebook page bearing the name of the Hon. Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport. It reads as follows: “It has been brought to my attention that permission had been sought for the funeral of the late Ms. Daphne Rogers, A.A. to be held at the forecourt of the National Cultural Centre. I have just instructed the Ministry to approve this application with the expectation that the COVID-19 guidelines will be followed.”
This Public Statement raises a number of questions, foremost of which is: 1) is this ‘instruction’ an administrative act or a policy decision? and, if so 2) should a Minister be instructing anyone within his Ministry concerning a routine administrative matter?
The administrative Head of any Ministry is the Permanent Secretary. The political head of the Ministry is the Minister. There is clear division of responsibilities between the two persons and this is spelt out in Article 115 of the Constitution. The Minister is responsible for exercising general direction and control – a euphemism for making policy. The Permanent Secretary is responsible for the supervision of the Ministry and its Departments.
The APNU+AFC had appointed a Commission of Inquiry into the Public Service of Guyana in 2015. In their Report, the Commissioners made reference to a Circular which then President Desmond Hoyte had issued concerning the responsibilities of Permanent Secretaries. In that Circular, Hoyte had said that while the Minister exercises general direction and control over his Ministry, it is the Permanent Secretary who is accountable for the actual day-to-day management of the Ministry. According to Hoyte, the Permanent Secretary is not a clerk but has a three-fold responsibility: (1) to manage his Ministry; (2) to advise his Minister; (3) to help the Minister in the formulation of policy.”
The report also refers to important statements by past heads of government, and quoted the then Prime Minister, Forbes Burnham, describing the civil service as one which carries on the routine of administration and which constitute the skilled instrument for implementing the polices of the Government.
From this it can be deduced that when it comes to administrative matters, no Minister can instruct any civil servant, senior or junior. Matters of routine administration are the exclusive jurisdiction of the Permanent Secretary, not the Minister.
Forty years ago, BBC2 aired a television show which was titled “Yes, Minister!” It was a delightful satirical production about the workings of government.
One of the main characters played the role of a Permanent Secretary, who was later elevated to Cabinet Secretary. In one of the episodes, he eloquently and elaborately described the role of the Minister relative to the Permanent Secretary. This is how he puts it:
“The traditional allocation of executive responsibilities has been so determined as to liberate the Ministerial incumbent from administrative minutiae by devolving the managerial functions to those whose qualifications have better formed them for the performance of such humble offices, thereby releasing their political overlords for the most onerous duties and profound deliberations inevitably concomitant of their exalted position.”
In the same episode, it was put that the Minister was not there to run the Department. His function, it was said was four-fold: to make policy, to ensure that the Ministry’s actions are plausible to parliament and the public, to get legislation enacted and to secure resources for the Ministry via Cabinet. The most important of these is of course the making of policy.
It is respectfully submitted that a decision to approve the site of the National Culture Centre to host a funeral for a cultural icon is not policy-making; it is administrative in character and a Minister should not bother himself or herself with such minutiae. In fact, such a decision should have been handled at the level of the Administrator or Manager of the National Cultural Centre.
(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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