THERE is a critical need for government officials, ministry personnel and the general Public Service to engage communities in resolving issues.Mr. Emil Mc Garrell, Permanent Secretary (PS) attached to the Ministry of Communities, made this point on Tuesday in a sworn statement during the ongoing Public Service Commission of Inquiry (CoI).
He was led through his testimony by Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry Professor Harold Lutchman and Commissioners Mr. Samuel Goolsarran and Mrs. Sandra Jones.
The PS suggested: “One important area of training is – given that you have a ministry of communities which suggests that you are dealing with communities, which suggests that you are dealing with people, where they live and their circumstances – therefore means ministry officials, government officials and members of the public service have to appreciate what it is like to engage communities.”
ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE
The PS indicated that the public should not just be told about solutions to problems, but be allowed to participate “and to own solutions that the government might be proposing and rather than saying to them what ought to be done.”
For this to be made possible, the various State entities should get the skills-set to elicit contributions and solutions for what is considered “their own circumstances.”
The role of the Public Service is to effectively and efficiently deliver service to members of the public and in order to do that, it must first be understood what the beneficiaries require as interventions and solutions to their own problems.
He explained that though public servants have received training in accounting and organisational matters, they have not necessarily been professionally prepared to engage the public. This, he explained further, also leaves members of communities with a misunderstanding of how to own and appreciate the public service and make more informed demands.
PUBLIC GOOD
“One of our great challenges is to get our communities – our countrymen – to own the public good…to have an appreciation of the Public Service and therefore make a more intelligent, more informed demand of service from the public servants, and to get to that place requires the public servants themselves being trained…to bring those persons to that level of awareness,” the PS posited.

By Shauna Jemmott10