By Ariana Gordon

PUBLIC servants who have grown accustomed to piggy-backing on the ‘across-the-board’ increase in wages and salaries are being warned against laziness.President David Granger said on Friday that public servants must work hard to benefit from decent increases and promotions.

Laziness “doesn’t make for efficiency”, said the President, who noted that those who expect a bonanza must understand that the bonanza will come only from their efforts.

“…it would come when they work hard and do better than the next person. If they want to be lazy, they’d get a lazy person’s remuneration,” President Granger said.

The President stressed the importance of having an efficient and effective Public Service, and said the standard of the Public Service must be improved.

“We have to move back to a standard by which the performance of individuals is related to promotions and pay. Unfortunately, we have fallen into a trap by which people started to apply across-the-board, and this led to a lot of problems,” he explained.
Those problems, he said, were as a result of persons becoming complacent.

Many public servants, the President said, feel that by simply going to work, they’re entitled to across-the-board increases. This will no longer be the case, he remarked, while emphasising that if persons work hard, not only those in the Public Service, they’d be rewarded for their hard work.

“That is what people, not only in Public Service but in every area of endeavour, must learn — that actual output is related to input.”

He said there are three main criteria by which public servants should be judged: impartiality (social responsibility), education and experience. He called on public servants to discharge their duties without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.

NO PLACE
“Any concerns about ethnicity, party affiliation, neighbourhood or family should be erased from professional performance,” President Granger declared.

The Head of State noted that Guyana cannot function without an efficient and effective Public Service, as it is the Public Service that is meant to ensure the State is governed properly.

“The politicians will be elected and they will leave, but the Public Service remains and is responsible for continuity. It is responsible for the maintenance of standards; it is responsible for the enforcement of the laws of the country. Any country that is going to be lawless is going to come to grief…. If we are to be lawful, we have to have a professional Public Service,” he said.

President Granger said education is key to ensuring an effective Public Service. He noted that a professional is one who is educated. “We cannot have people coming off the street one day and becoming public servants the next day,” he admonished.

“As President, I cannot have an untrained Public Service. Education is essential to the Public Service,” he emphasised.

He noted that coupled with education, public servants must, over time, acquire the requisite experience. “The longer you serve, the more experience you gain.”

The occasion that elicited the President’s remarks was the handing over of the Public Service Commission of Inquiry Report, at the Ministry of the Presidency on Friday. In accepting the report, President Granger said Government will take time to study the document before it is handed over to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr Barton Scotland. He said, too, that copies will be handed over to unions concerned with public service affairs.

“This is a step in the direction of making the Public Service more efficient,” assured President Granger, as he expressed gratitude to the commissioners who worked on the report.

LANDMARK STUDY
He said that, despite his not having read the report, he has every confidence in the commissioners and their work. The Head of State also described the report as a “landmark study.”

“We can’t fake experience. They bring tremendous amount of experience…. There is no doubt about the confidence [I have] in their ability to discharge their functions,” the President said of the commissioners who had compiled the report.

Approximately three months after assuming office, President Granger convened the Commission of Inquiry. He said his decision had lots to do with his interaction with staff of the Ministry of the Presidency and senior public servants.

The President met senior public servants at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre early in his presidency and spoke of his administration’s plan to ensure that the Public Service becomes profession and “unbribable.”

He said that, based on those discussions, he recognised the need for having a “viable Public Service” and the need for examining the conditions under which public servants are forced to function.

The Commission was appointed last August by President Granger to examine, advise, and report on the salaries, conditions of service, training, and other matters relative to improvement of the efficiency of the performance of the Public Service and the well-being of public servants. The three-member Commission included Chairman Professor Harold Lutchman and Commissioners Sandra Jones and Samuel Goolsarran.

Speaking briefly after handing over the document, Professor Lutchman said the members of his team are highly qualified and have the requite expertise to examine the issues facing the Public Service.

After the report has been discussed at Cabinet, the Ministries of Finance and Social Protection will commence negotiations with the unions on salary increases.