Musical chairs are back!

Aug 19, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – The recent game of musical chairs involving Permanent Secretaries (PSs) has raised concerns and skepticism about the wisdom of rotating these high-level administrators. This practice, made notorious under the PPP/C, contradicts the very notion of a permanent secretary – someone whose tenure within a particular Ministry is supposed to be secured and sustained.

Two new permanent secretaries have been appointed by the President. But this has led to the reshuffling of the existing pool of PSs with six being reassigned to different ministries.

In many respects, however, one can understand the logic of the President in this reassignment. Here, we have two new permanent secretaries – both capable and competent professionals that have considerable experience working within the public service – and who have to be now placed in positions deemed suited their specific experience or lack of it. As such, it is understandable that the one who has experience in regional planning should be placed in the Ministry of Regional Development and the other person placed in Legal Affairs where perhaps there are not as many projects as exists in other Ministries. From that perspective, these are rational decisions made by the President.

But the reshuffling which resulted goes against the grain of the concept of permanence which are inherent to such appointments. The concept of a Permanent Secretary implies stability, continuity, and long-term commitment to a specific ministry and not to a title.

A policy of reshuffling PSs, however intermittent, contradicts this principle and disrupts teamwork and institutional knowledge. A policy of rotation also suggests that any competent professional can seamlessly transition between ministries. But this is only in theory.

PSs are supposed to acquire much institutional knowledge over time. When a person works in a Ministry for a long period, they have knowledge about things, including system, intricacies and challenges.

Rotation disrupts this institutional memory can lead to inconsistencies in policy-making and bottlenecks and delays in project implementation during the period when the newcomer has to familiarize himself or herself with the Ministry, its systems and work.

A Permanent Secretary is expected to develop a deep understanding of the ministry’s functions, policies, and challenges over time. When PSs are frequently shuffled, the implementation of policies may be delayed or disrupted, as new appointees need time to familiarize themselves with ongoing projects and programmes. This can affect policy implementation.

As Guyana’s economy expands there is going to be a need for greater specialization within Ministries. PSs are going to have to spend sufficient time within their Ministries to acquire the specialized and technical knowledge about the various sectors. For example, in a Ministry like Public Works, a PS will have to acquire technical and specialized knowledge about construction so that he or she can better appreciate the advice rendered by the Ministry’s technical personnel. The same applies to every Ministry. If there is rotation, this can affect the process of acquiring and mastering this knowledge.

Rotation also disrupts teamwork. Within most Ministries today, there is a team of persons who work under the PS to implement projects and programmes. When the head of that team is removed, it disrupts the teamwork. And there is no guarantee that the new PS will be able to have the same level of teamwork or will maintain the same team.

The PPP/C, however, must be commended, however, for granting professionals within the public service, the opportunity to graduate to the top administrative posts. This rewards those who opt for public service careers rather than having political lackeys come and supersede those who have worked hard over the years within the Ministries. But where the danger comes in is when persons are promoted to positions beyond their competence.

Despite what many people feel, the permanent secretary is answerable but not accountable to his or her subject Minister. But the PS is not supervised or managed by the Minister. In the United Kingdom, permanent secretaries are expected to be answerable to the Minister but are accountable to the Cabinet Secretary. In Guyana, there is no Cabinet Secretary.

Permanent Secretaries do not imply that they cannot be dismissed or removed. They can and some have even been promoted to the posts of Ministers. If PSs can be dismissed, including for non-performance, then there should be a system for assessing their performance.

It is not clear what system exists at the moment is used to assess the performance of permanent secretaries. Perhaps now that new appointments have been made and a reshuffling of PSs has taken place, the President may wish to address his mind to instituting a system for assessing the performance of his government’s permanent secretaries.

(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.)

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• contradicts, Peeping Tom, Permanent Secretaries, PPP/C, skepticism

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