The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Democratic National Alliance’s (DNA) leader yesterday pledged to end what he called the “unconscionable” practice of having “unregularised” or contract employees engaged within the public sector for long periods of time.

Branville McCartney, highlighting the party’s ‘white paper’ on public service reform, said public service employment would only be permanent and pensionable, adding that the DNA proposes to introduce a “clear and transparent” path for promotion.

Youri Kemp, the DNA’s candidate for Garden Hills and finance spokesman, said: “We want to deal with persons on contract. There are too many persons on contract that have not even been given a chance to become regularised, and become full and pensionable civil servants.”

The issue of contractual/temporary workers in the public service was highlighted in an Auditor General’s report earlier this year, which found that the Government was not living up to its obligations to the 33 per cent of Department of Social Services staff who were initially hired via the Unemployment Assistance Programme.

Mr McCartney added: “There are thousands of persons in the public service who don’t know whether they will be working the following month. It’s unconscionable for that to happen. They are unable to get loans from the banks, build homes and live the life that God really intended for them to have. That must come to a stop, and will come to a  stop, under a DNA government.”

Prime Minister Perry Christie, during his 2016-2017 Budget communication, pledged that the Government would look to bring the number of temporary and contractual workers in the public service to an “irreducible minimum”. 

“Many of these workers joined the public service without the requisite qualifications and, through their own hard work and commitment, are making a valuable contribution to the public service and the country; they are deserving of being integrated into the public service,” he said then.

The DNA’s public service reform plan, outlined in its ‘Public Service Reform: The Programme for Public Reassurance 2017’ white paper, proposes to address key issues impacting the public sector.

These include the functioning and operation of the Public Service Commission; General Orders that govern the conduct of civil servants; and improving productivity and attrition management in the civil service.

“We are looking at revisiting and revising the compensation structure for civil services, increasing facilities for professional hurt counselling, enhancing the public and private sector interface and increasing training opportunities for the civil service,” said Mr Kemp.

“There will also be a system where we manage employee attrition, where persons who want to exit the system can do so in a very .” said Mr Kemp.

Explaining the concept of ‘professional hurt counselling’, Mr Kemp said: “We find that persons who have been wronged, missed a promotion, can’t get along with direct supervisor, can’t see a pathway forward, are less motivated  to come to work, take long lunch breaks and those kinds of things.

“Once we can provide counselling for, first of all, persons dealing with professional hurt, that can solve half of the problem. We have to incentivise persons and give them proper job classifications so that they know what they are doing and won’t become burnt out.”

Mr McCartney added: “The General Orders in this public service are used almost as an excuse for poor performance. I always say that the public service should be as professional, or even more so, than the private sector. 

“The General Orders must be reviewed and, in certain circumstances, parts must be taken out in order for us to have an efficient and effective public service.”

Mr McCartney said addressing the issues affecting the public service, and making it more efficient and professional, is key to improving the Bahamas’ ‘ease of doing business’ ranking.

“We are 121st out of 190 countries in the ease of doing business. We need to change that. We need to make sure that doing business in the Bahamas is easy, remove the bureaucracy and the red tape,” he added.