— due to non-compliance with COVID-19 guidelines

THE Ministry of Public Service has, over the past few weeks, seen what can only be deemed as an irresponsible trend of employees opting to remain absent from their place of employment because of a refusal to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health for the protection of all citizens. It must be noted that at all material times since the pandemic in Guyana, public sector employees were paid a full salary while various measures were taken for their protection.

The government has made leaps and bounds to ensure the availability of vaccines for all eligible Guyanese in an effort to fight this dreadful virus, and has to date given every employee the option to either take the vaccine or have a PCR test done in order to deliver public services. This can only be fair since the public who is seeking government services has to do the same.

In light of the above, the Ministry of Public Service wishes to advise the public sector of the following: The government intends to fully abide by the COVID-19 Guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and gazetted on the 30th August, 2021 for the protection of all citizens. Consequently, any employee within the public sector who is absent from his/her place of employment as a result of the said order will not be entitled to salary for such day(s). (Statement from the Ministry of Public Service)