— for public servants in 2022
Salary increases for public servants for the year 2022 is not off the cards, and could materialise by the end of the year.
This indication was given by Minister of Public Service, Sonia Parag, as she stood in the National Assembly in full defence of a proposed allocation of $3.312 billion for her ministry.
During her vibrant presentation to the House on Tuesday, the minister said that every year, there would be monies allocated under line item 6141 for public servants.
She cautioned, however, that it is customary for the percentages or figures of pay hikes to be withheld from the annual budget, until the year-end announcements are made.
This situation also prevailed under the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC), minister Parag reminded, as she cautioned the Opposition against misleading the nation “by saying that nothing is in here (the 2022 Budget) for public servants”.
Once the allocations are approved by the House, the Public Service Minister said that a whopping $1.535 billion will be spent on the continuation of the Government of Guyana Scholarships, some 581 of which were awarded last year.
Added to that, Minister Parag said that a hefty total of $1.3 billion has been earmarked for the rolling out of an additional 4,500 online scholarships being administered via the Guyana Online Academy of Learning.
The Public Service Ministry is also looking to spend some $20 million on “breathing life” into the Training Division of the Ministry of Public Service.
These trainings, according to Minister Parag, will be supplemented by the launch of Regional Centres for Excellence in Information Technology (CEIT) in each of the 10 Administrative regions. This is expected to cost about $15 million.
Overall, the Ministry of Public Service’s budget request represents a 7.45 per cent increase or approximately $246.6 million more than what it was allotted in the 2021 Budget. “…and rightly so, because this year, we have much, much more to do,” Minister Parag said.
She told the House that after years of operating without vision and any proper direction whatsoever, the work of the Public Service Ministry is now being streamlined and executed in a manner that is strategic and forward-thinking.
“You wouldn’t see us on this side of the house launching a whole school that would only serve friends and cronies; that is not who we are, but it is exactly what prevailed with the Bertram Collins College,” the minister said, pointing to the issue of the school’s unfair recruitment practices which included discrimination against persons of specific ethnic backgrounds. “It was yet another engine for discrimination set up by the APNU+AFC,” the minister posited.
ALL EMBRACING
She continued, “At the level of the Ministry of Public Service, our programmes must reach Guyanese from all walks of life, of every ethnicity, of every religion, of every gender, age, social class, and importantly, of every political and geographical corner of our country.”
In addition to ensuring that Guyana is served by “competent, committed and ethical public officers,” Minister Parag said that the ministry’s training and capacity-building initiatives will be aligned with the future goals and are “able to satisfy the needs of our country, not only now, but as we evolve as the global powerhouse that we are projected to become”.
The minister insisted that the government will not be administering “time-wasting” programmes that will become obsolete in the next 10 to 15 years. “As a country, we must be able to foresee the skills that will be needed in the years to come and begin nurturing those skills from now,” the minister said.
She indicated that doing so is no walk in the park, but an important task that requires vision, proper planning and effective leadership.
It was then that the minister announced her ministry’s intention to execute a National Human Capacity Needs Assessment, in collaboration with the Ministries of Education and Labour, along with UNESCO, and members of the Private Sector.
“We want to ensure that years from now, Guyanese have the potential to take advantage of every opportunity available in the local Labour market,” Parag said.
She noted that already, Guyana’s infrastructural transformation has signalled an increased need for engineers, especially those who specialise in the construction of roads and bridges. “To this end, we have tailored our scholarship offers to ensure adequate opportunities for persons desirous of being in that field,” the minister announced.
She said that these considerations were also given in relation to Guyana’s climate change aspirations, and the fact that the government is working towards implementing an iconic energy mix, using wind, solar, hydro and natural gas, in order to be able to achieve 75 per cent renewable energy by 2030.
It is expected that the boost to the Guyana’s human resource will be supplemented by the landmark Local Content Policy, which will now secure greater opportunities for Guyanese, especially in the context of the country’s burgeoning oil and gas sector.
