The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis encouraged ministers not to “overly politicise” their ministries yesterday as a seminar for Cabinet, parliamentary and senior public officials kicked off.

He also revealed a new policy whereby some senior civil servants will be required to spend up to six months working in the private sector as a way of gaining knowledge and learning new skills.

He drew applause from senior civil servants when he emphasised an intent to take a different approach to managing the public sector, saying whether people are “PLP, FNM, DNA or non-affiliated,” those “who intend to be loyal to the government of the day should be allowed to do their work and receive promotions”.

“I do not want competent public officials sidelined or transferred just because they may not be a member of the governing party,” he said. “I intend to be a different prime minister. Meritocracy and performance will be the order of the day.”

He added: “I will also not tolerate anyone trying to obstruct the government’s agenda because of certain party politics.”

Dr Minnis’ comments came even as reports have trickled in in recent months that since the election a number of people across the civil service have been transferred or sidelined for what the PLP insists have been politically motivated reasons. For example, following the death of Dr Baldwin Carey, a former senior official at the National Insurance Board (NIB), PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts said his ouster was an example of the government’s “victimisation.”

Dr Carey was one of four executives at NIB who were asked to take vacation leave ahead of an audit into the government agency.

Dr Minnis, whose administration in embarking on an ambitious effort to reform the public sector, acknowledged the challenge in doing so, saying: “The public service has a necessary restraining role. But too often that restraining role becomes bureaucratic inertia. Sometimes there is resistance to innovation and change because of the excuse: ‘We have always (done) it this way.’ We must ever be mindful of the silo mentality and temptation toward fiefdoms by ministers and public officers, which thwart collaboration, innovation and ongoing reform in government.”

As part of his administration’s reform efforts, Dr Minnis said more exposure of public officers to business practices and financial management will be demanded.

“In fact, commencing from FAS upward, those individuals will be required to rotate through the private sector, be it the banking sector or otherwise, for about three to six months to expose them to private sector and so private sector would learn more about government,” he said. “During this rotation, you would be paid by the government. This will be a win-win for both the private sector and the government. It’s our belief that government should be a training ground for the private sector. For your exposure, we would hope that the world ‘permanent’ in front of ‘secretary’ would be removed so you would become CEOs and managers within the private sector.”

Though he mostly struck a tone of encouragement while speaking to the senior public officials, he also expressed disappointment that during the opening of a seminar for Public Finance Monitoring and Public Monitoring Performance project last month, only one senior officer in the public sector attended the event.

That reform project is funded by a $33m loan from the Inter-American Development Bank and will attempt to dramatically change a public sector culture long resistant to change.