GOVERNMENT has parted ways with Pulander Khandai, politically appointed Permanent Secretary at the Teaching Services Commission.Well-placed sources told the Guyana Chronicle that Khandai, who had over the years hop-scotched around several ministries, was served with notice to that effect by the Ministry of the Presidency. His last day on the job will be November 30.

Khandai has served as Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Local Government, the Office of the President, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security. He is one of several permanent secretaries who had been appointed by the former administration who had not come through the Public Service system.

President David Granger, on assuming office, has made the rebuilding of a professional public service a key part of his administration’s programme of governance. At a meeting he had held with permanent secretaries last June, President Granger had told the senior public servants that their position was the pinnacle of the professional career of a public servant, and his government would ensure that the conditions under which they functioned were as close as possible to ideal, and that there was a high level of satisfaction and commitment among them.

He explained that, like law and medicine, public service is a profession that requires a high level of competency and professionalism.

“Ministers may change, but permanent secretaries are meant to be permanent… to run a ministry continuously for a long period of time. Every day, and whoever the minister is, the permanent secretary must be able to discharge his/her function in an efficient manner; but they cannot do that unless they are educated,” President Granger had said.

Similar sentiments were expressed by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, who holds the portfolio for Public Service. Harmon had emphasised at that meeting that permanent secretaries have a critical role to play in the functioning of the ministries.

He had informed the permanent secretaries that the President would soon introduce a draft strategic plan for the various ministries, outlining a broad framework within which each ministry would function, and what they should focus on. This draft plan would also highlight Government’s green agenda.

Minister Harmon had said, “The first and foremost responsibility of every government ministry is to push that green agenda.”