PULL QUOTE: ‘Trust is the glue that holds all interdependent relationships together, and there is probably no more important an institution — outside of the family — in which trust is more critical than in the public service’
WE overlook it unless there is some great personal breaking of it, and most of us never give it much thought in a greater sense, as to how it impacts the world around us, but the lives we live are lived that way primarily because of one fundamental element: Trust.

Trust is the foundation upon which any human relationship or system of relationships is built and sustained, whether we are talking about a marriage, a village, or a nation.

Civilisation as we know it is one big bundle of interpersonal relationships built on trust, whether it’s accepting essentially worthless pieces of paper in return for food or clothing. We come together, and put laws in place based on the premise that those laws are going to govern for the good of all who are faithful to the mutual trust that is agreed to by consensus among us.
Trust is the glue that holds all interdependent relationships together, and there is probably no more important an institution — outside of the family — in which trust is more critical than in the public service.
This has two interrelated dimensions to it. The first has to do with the communal trust that people place in government to ensure that the government will act in their best interest; the social contract and the tool with which government carries out that function is the public service.
The other dimension to it has to do with trust within the public service; the faith that the different arms place in each other, in order to fulfill their mandate of the provision of services to the people.
This basically is how governance systems the world over work, whether it is a tribal village council in Pakistan, or the United States federal government, that enormous bureaucracy which has to function at the national level while interacting, and often clashing, with individual State government.
With regard to the former, the public trust of the public service, I don’t believe that there is anything much that can be said to impact the debate one way or the other; if we are to place any merit in the results of the corruption perception indexes that have been published rating Guyana, the reality is that some persons have little faith in the public service.
Some time ago, I wrote about the issue of territoriality in the local public service in Guyana. This, for me, speaks partially to the issue of internal trust within the Service. For example, someone is interested in rapid advancement so instead of seeing partners in service provision, that person sees himself as surrounded by adversaries in a game of supremacy.

Now, I want to make it clear that I’m not saying that anything is wrong with seeking to ascend in any career path you’ve chosen, whether it is the private or public sector. The problem arises, however, when that quest for personal advancement becomes paramount to the provision of service. What I’ve seen, time and time again, is how frenzied and counterproductive the public service arena can become, and I am not talking about union agitation, but in the day-to-day operations of entities; operations that cannot run smoothly because Supervisor Jim is competing with Supervisor John for the assistant manager position left vacant when Jack replaced Manager Jill.
Of course, it doesn’t help any that since members of the public staff the public service, that first type of distrust I addressed is also reflected in the thinking of those who themselves serve, thereby multiplying the already existing environment of distrust and factionalism.

We need to face the harsh truth about our present situation. The upheavals we’ve had, whether in the sugar industry or at Linden — while based, as acknowledged by all, on authentic issues — are flaring precisely because of the erosion of trust in the public service that is spreading all over this society.
In some countries, this lack of confidence creates a self-reinforcing descent into that state of society which is the inevitable result of civilisation becoming unglued, that is a state of chaos, of anarchy – when the general population loses faith in public institutions to act in their best interest, then those who work within public institutions, by virtue of being an inextricable part of that general population, gradually lose morale and any personal sense of commitment they might have had in the carrying out of their duties.
Just as the descent is self-reinforcing, so is the ascent. And it has to start in the public service itself, since it is within this institution that their public places the trust of making the said society work as best it could. Government, particularly the political component of it, is incidental to the public service; political leadership is, at best, tenuous, and can change or be altered according to the will of the people. The public service, however, is constructed to be perpetual; the position of Permanent Secretary within the various ministries, for example, is a mechanism intended to preserve that permanence or perpetuity.

In most societies, the public service has to undergo an extensive programme of reengagement with its core mandate, and it is imperative that it starts with initiatives designed to restore trust internally as a first step, the results of which are going to eventually restore the public trust in the Service.
I believe that the state of these societies, as it presently is, speaks for itself about the urgency that is needed in this regard.
Written By Keith Burrowes