Public service reform is dead; long live Presidential outreaches

Feb 10, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

---

Kaieteur News – Presidential outreaches are nothing new. Burnham used to call them community meetings. Jagdeo extended the concept to Cabinet outreaches by taking meetings of Cabinet to different Regions.

The APNU+AFC came in and launched government outreaches. It was more an outstretched hands rather than reaching out.

These outreaches became a way of bringing government to the people – or so it was presumed because it can hardly be a case in which government is brought to the people through a one or two-day and sporadic outreach.

But outreaches do have benefits to incumbent governments. They allow for the President or Minister to gauge how the public feels, to gain an understanding of their concerns and to appreciate how responsive government is. And for the few who will get a change to be heard to ventilate their concerns and have their problems addressed.

Presidential outreaches are not new. But to institutionalize these outreaches is really a poor idea because such activities can never be a substitute for a responsive and efficient public bureaucracy.

Instead of having such outreaches in every area, greater attention should be paid to fixing the public bureaucracy and devolving government more to communities rather than having these one-off events which can hardly address the myriad problems which the public faces.

There is not a person in Guyana who does not have some grouse or the other with the way either government of local government works. For the overwhelming majority of citizens, the system simply does not work. It is simply impossible for the large number of problems faced by citizens to be addressed through outreaches

The idea of taking Presidential outreaches to every Region cannot be a substitute for public service reform. Unfortunately, under the present PPP/C government, this process has stalled. All we keep hearing in respect to the Public Service Ministry is about “scholarships, scholarships, scholarships”. Did anyone hear the phrase “public service reform” during the Budget debate?

The public service is bloated. And yet there is absolutely no initiative announced about reducing the monstrous size of government bureaucracy which in another few years will become financially unsustainable. But governments rarely find it politically advantageous to trim the public service. The one time this was done on a massive scale was during the 1980’s when there was large-scale retrenchment with more than 30,000 persons sent packing.

But even if it is politically suicidal to right-size the public service, at least it can be made fit-for purpose. The public service is supposed to serve the public. But to what extent has any attempt been made to make the public bureaucracy more customer-friendly?

This is why public service reform is so important. It is the means by which the public service can be made more responsive to the public and for more services to be devolved to communities.

The pandemic provided a learning experience for such reforms. In many countries, the government and private sector alike have begun to reduce overhead costs such as rentals and electricity costs by having more persons work virtually and from home. And yet these have been stoutly resisted in Guyana even though there are many government agencies which hardly interface with the public.

The government should not be having to expend billions for rentals, other overheads and all the supplies which are needed to keep certain offices going. For example, why should buildings be rented for the regulatory agencies such as the Integrity Commission and the National Broadcasting Authority? How much interface with the public takes place? A desk to receive submissions from public officers and for payment for broadcasting licences can be established in some government office.

There is certain division of responsibilities that is necessary for the efficient functioning of government. This is why there are Ministries and Agencies. The Office of the President is not a super-Ministry and therefore should only be able to refer and not direct.

If Presidential outreaches are institutionalized, it will involve whoever is assigned to refer and follow-up on matters to have certain directive powers. Institutionalizing Presidential outreaches will create conflicts between the Office of the President and other Ministries and government agencies.

There are better options available to bring government to the people. Devolving government services is one such option. For years, under the PPP/C, all manner of excuses were made as to why the issuance of passports had to be centralized. Persons were forced to travel long distances in the city and line up from early morning just to be able to apply for their passports. Then they would have to return to one location to uplift their passports. The APNU+AFC came in and devolved the applications for and issuance of passports. And it has worked. But the PPP/C loves centralization.

But the PPP/C is woeful when it comes to policy-making. What passes for policy-making is often brainwave ideas such as the decision to institutionalise Presidential outreaches in every Region.

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

---

• APNU+AFC, Jagdeo, Peeping Tom, Presidential outreaches, Public Service Ministry

---