Additional contract employees ‘not peculiar’ to current gov’t – Ram & McRae, noting 100% jump from 2010-2014

THE chartered accountant firm Ram and McRae Monday said its concerns regarding the increase in the number of contract employees under the current administration were not a peculiar situation. The firm said that under the presidency of Bharrat Jagdeo, the numbers and cost had “skyrocketed” and continued to do so under the leadership of former president Donald Ramotar.
“Between 2010 and 2014, the expenditure on contract employees rose from $4.7 billion to $9.4 billion, an increase of 100%,” the firm said in a statement.
Ram and McRae recently pointed to an increase in the number of contract employees under the current government and welcomed assurances of government’s intention to return the Public Service to a professional one in which the number of contract employees will be reduced to a minimum.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon in response to the statements made by the Firm had said that the increase in the number of employees is as a result of organisational changes while noting that the Office of the President cannot and should not be compared to the Ministry of the State, a ministry that includes the Ministry of Social Cohesion, Ministry of Citizenship, and the Public Service Department.
“In fact, Ram & McRae was not comparing the Ministry of the Presidency with the Office of the President but comparing the two year-end numbers (2015 and budget 2016) in the same Ministry,” the statement said.
In a statement to the media on Monday, the firm said that it was by no means attacking the current administration, but was simply noting that which exists.
To back up its position, the Accounting Firm made reference to the 2016 Estimates for the Ministry of the Presidency, which does in fact demonstrate an increase in contract employees from 298 in 2015 to 505 this year.
“Overall, the 2016 Estimates show that at the end of 2015, the total number of contract employees, inclusive of the Regions, was 5,423, of which 545 were with the Parliament Office, Public Service Commission, Teaching Service Commission, Guyana Elections Commission, Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, Public Prosecutions and Office of the Ombudsman.”
Those entities, the Chartered Accountants said now include Constitutional Agencies and statutory Bodies and have an undisclosed number of projected contract employees this year.
“The remaining number of contract employees in the Ministries and Regions would therefore be 4,878. The Estimates show the projected number of contract employees in 2016 as 5,878 and is therefore an increase of 1,000 persons, or 20.5% and an increase of 18.2% in budgeted cost,” the statement said.
The Chartered Accountants in its annual analysis of the Budget had expressed much disappointment on the increases in both the number and cost of contract employees and indicated that such increase is not “healthy for our democracy”.

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