-PM says public servants owed a “wage debt”

TRAINING, allowances and salaries are among the key factors which motivate public servants and the government is working to reinvent a culture that will ensure Guyana benefits from the “creative abilities” of career public servants.Those were the sentiments of Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo when he addressed a gathering, which included visiting and local participants in the Caribbean Leadership Programme which

commences this week in Guyana. The Prime Minister was at the time speaking during a reception at the residence of the Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana, Pierre Giroux in Bel Air Gardens on Monday evening.

The Prime Minister said that the leadership programme is a parcel of a process that has engaged administrations in Guyana, the Caribbean and elsewhere. He described the programme as one which leads to motivation of public servants, which includes training. “This new government almost from day one has pledged that we would open the public service training college so that public servants can then go back to the drawing boards as it were to understand the importance of serving the public diligently, consistently of a high standard and to be dedicated to the mores of public service,” he said.

He said that he believes public servants are “still underpaid”, a remark which brought chuckles from the gathering which included Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, other government officials an heads of state agencies among others. President of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), Patrick Yarde, also stood in the audience.

The Prime Minister said that over the years one may be naive not to recognise that the Guyanese public servant has been owed a “wage debt”, but he noted that one has to be purposeful in approaching and fixing the situation in a year and a few months. He added that in order to motivate the public service, training, allowances, salaries are important factors among others which has to be considered. “All important to help the public servant feel they can do their duties with dignity and not succumb to where from birth to death, one finds he or she has a hassle to acquire a certificate out of the public service”, he said. He opined that decentralization of the functions of the public service is important, as regards its ability to work with some level of satisfaction.

As regards the leadership programme, the Prime Minister told participants that they will find challenges here in Guyana but he noted that the country is also hospitable. The Prime Minister complimented Yarde on his efforts to improve the public service. He said that Guyana has come a far way in comparison to the days of the 5% across the board increases. He said the government is prepared to recognise the efforts of public servants and even though this is done incrementally, that they benefit from “an exhaustive Commission of Inquiry.” We recognise much more has to be done in Guyana, he said.

The leadership project is supported by the Government of Canada and its aim is to train top level managers and Permanent Secretaries of Government in leadership and development and other functional areas. Twelve countries are participating in the project.