– Minister Westford responds during Parliamentary debates
Government remains committed to nation building and will be consolidating gains in all sectors this year; and developments will continue to move apace with increased emphasis on various areas in the sectors, including the removal of corruption from the public service.
This was reiterated by Minister of Public Service Dr. Jennifer Westford during the Parliamentary debate on the provisions of the $142.8B National Budget which was presented to the National Assembly on February 8, under the theme: Consolidate, transform, sustain.
The Minister was at the time responding to comments by Member of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Winston Murray who stated that corruption was not mentioned in the 2010 National Budget.
Acknowledging that there is corruption in the public service, the Minister pointed out that methods and mechanisms are being implemented to deal with the problem and that Government will continue to implement methods to rid corruption from within the sector.
“These changes will advance our commitment to public service renewal by ensuring that our public servants have the clear mandate and organisation they need to continue providing sound policy advice to Government and high quality service to Guyanese stakeholders,” Minister Westford said.
Noting that the private sector is one of the key stakeholders, the Minister stated that Government remains committed to transforming the performance orientation, service delivery effectiveness and overall productivity and efficiency of the public service to facilitate the private sector’s needs.
“The Public Sector Modernisation process human resources analysis revealed that the existing human resources governance structure was overly complex with multiple players and the resulting burden of duplicative and often unnecessary rules,” Minister Westford said.
The Public Service Ministry, the Minister noted, continues to implement changes to streamline and improve the management of human resources in the service which serves to simplify the organizational structure for human resources management, reduce overlap and duplication, and will provide permanent secretaries with the primary responsibility of managing the people in their own departments.
This year the Public Service Ministry will be accelerating the training of eligible candidates in various disciplines. Last year, a total of 124 persons graduated from overseas universities in the areas of human medicine, agriculture, veterinary medicine, forestry, engineering, sports, information technology, hydrometeorology and architecture. There were also 23 graduates from the University of Guyana and the Guyana School of Agriculture in the fields of engineering, agriculture, information technology and management. The Minister reported that all of the graduates are meaningfully employed in Government agencies to fulfill their obligations.
Responding to another comment by an Opposition Member that there was nothing in the budget for the average worker, the Minister noted that there is need to look at the bigger picture and examine the benefits to be derived from projects implemented in the various sectors.
“We will continue to implement methods by which the employment benefits of public workers will be enhanced. We all know that as a result of the global economic crisis, hundreds of thousands of workers are being retrenched in the USA and other first world countries. Right here in the Caribbean, there is retrenchment of public officers and salary cuts and even freezes. Here at home in Guyana,  public servants benefited from a six percent across the board increase in wages and salaries, not retrenchment or salary freezes,” Minister Westford said.
The Public Service Minister pointed out that Government will continue to work with the Guyana Public Service Union to maintain a harmonious relation.
From this year, the Public Service Ministry will also be responsible for the granting of scholarships to 25 teachers per year to attend the University of Guyana. This project started two years ago resulting from negotiations between the President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union and President Bharrat Jagdeo, and Minister Westford pointed out that today 50 teachers are attending UG on these scholarships. Scholarships were granted to 29 persons in 2009 to pursue courses in cosmetology, sewing, carpentry, masonry and plumbing at local institutions and Government is targeting an additional 50 persons to be trained this year.
“It is envisaged that these new skills learnt will allow more of our young people to become self-employed and just for information sake, the government usually assists these graduates with an initial start up grant after they graduate,” Minister Westford said.
The Minister also noted that in order to facilitate the provision of more advanced services by Government agencies, the training of specialists in the fields of anesthesiology, pathology, hydrology and automation engineering will be a key feature of this year’s budget.
“Again, let me reiterate that the Government’s training agenda is one fraction of the whole equation of nation building,” Minister Westford said.
Courses in climate change will also be incorporated into the development calendar of local staff for the first time this year, while eight computer engineers will be returning in July this year and will be part of the team to implement and operationalise the new Government-funded fibre optic cable.
“The stakes of this year’s budget are high, our collective ability to combat the fallout of the global economic crisis will define our generation of leaders; more importantly, it will determine the standard of living of future generations of Guyanese. Successfully overcoming this period of global turmoil is not just the most important task that we face as a Government. It’s the most important task that we face as a society,” Minister Westford said.
The Minister further stated that Government is prepared to use every tool at its disposal to combat the economic difficulties likely to surface and noted that the prospects of Guyana must now become everybody’s business.
“After years of prudent fiscal management by this Government, it is now opportune to consolidate the gains made, transform the socio-political environment and sustain the economic growth. The budget represents goals and aspirations of the Government, crafted on the premise that the country would emerge stronger,” Minister Westford said. (GINA)