…report finds serious shortcomings in Carvil Duncan-led PSC

An inquiry into the operations of the Public Service Commission has found serious shortcomings and breaches, veteran labour relations specialist Francis Caryll has said.
The report from the Board of Inquiry (BoI), which was established by President David Granger, into the operations of the PSC was on Friday presented to Minister of State, Joseph Harmon by Carryl who headed the probe.
A Ministry of the Presidency quoted Carryl as saying that there were several areas in the operations of the public service body, in which he found serious breaches and it is his expectation that these will be addressed by the Government before the new Commission is installed. “I did a triangulated methodology of gathering the data and found that there were some serious shortcomings, serious breaches that caused the examiner to conclude that the Commission was not serving in the best interest of the public service and the state of Guyana. When you are appointing a Commission, you need competent people to discharge the functions of that Commission. The Commission is an important institution and if you cannot discharge those functions and duties in a fair manner then you are wasting time,” he said.
Head of the Public Service and Permanent Secretary of the Department of the Public Service, Mr. Reginald Brotherson, in an invited comment, explained that the Chairman of the Public Service Commission, as is required under the Constitution, must submit a report on the stewardship of the Commission to the President. The Head of State, upon examining the report and in his deliberate judgement, had noted that there were some matters in the report which needed to be addressed.
“[The President] decided that it had called for a certain type of investigation and the Minister of State was tasked with ensuring that an investigation was conducted. Mr. Carryl, a veteran in the Trade Union movement was tasked with the responsibility of conducting the investigation and it took one month and this Report will help to inform the President in his deliberations and course of judgment. The life of the Public Service Commission will conclude at the end of August and so this report would really help the President in making decisions in appointing Commissions of that nature,” Mr. Brotherson said.
Minister Harmon has committed to ensuring that the recommendations contained within the Report are taken into consideration before the next appointment of Commissioners. “The recommendations that have been made in this report, I commit to ensuring that they are properly studied and analysed and given to the President for his consideration for the appointments, which will be made to the PSC,” Minister Harmon said.
Duncan had been sent on a leave pending the outcome of an investigation by a tribunal appointed by President David Granger to inquire, investigate and recommend whether Duncan, Chairman and appointed member of the Public Service Commission ought to be removed from office for inability to discharge the functions of said office. Duncan later moved to court and secured an injunction blocking the work of the commission. However he remains off the job and Patrick Yarde, who was also a member of the commission was appointed to act as chairman. The Tribunal is being led by Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire, while Justice (ret’d) Winston Patterson and Attorney-at-Law, Mr. Robert Ramcharran are the other members. Duncan is currently facing charges of fraud following findings that he paid himself approximately $1 million and allegedly conspired with Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO) of the Guyana Power and Light, Mr. Aerswar Deonarine, for an unapproved transfer of approximately $27M, both sums from the PetroCaribe Fund, into Deonarine’s personal bank account.