Saith: Public Service needs surgery

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION Minister, Dr Lenny Saith, yesterday likened public sector reform to a delicate surgical procedure whose successful outcome could only improve the overall health of Trinidad and Tobago. Addressing the launch of the Public Service Employee Survey 2004 at the Cascadia Hotel, Dr Saith declared: Any reform effort affects the entire nation and consequently, there must be neither careful tinkering nor over-zealous surgery in the reform process. We must aim for deliberations and dialogue the way forward.

The Government recognises that people are at the heart of any attempts to improve the service and that both management and the political directorate must listen to employees’ concerns if we are to improve the State sector. We intend to make public servants a part of the process.”  Noting that all nations have been grappling with public sector reform, Saith recalled that the PNM discovered “a de-motivated and demoralised” service when it returned to office in December 2001.

He said settlement of the 14-year-old issue of arrears of increments to public servants and payment of an incentive allowance to nurses with effect from April 1, 2000, were but two of the “specific and deliberate steps” taken by Government to address this situation. Public Services Association (PSA) first vice-president Stephen Thomas believed that public servants were not well served by placing the services of a Public Administration Ministry within the Office of the Prime Minister as was done by the former UNC regime.

While expressing support for the survey and overall public sector reform, Thomas warned that the PSA would not tolerate the exploitation of workers under the guise of worker production schemes. Human resource management of TT president Hyacinth Guy also expressed her support for the survey. The survey has been developed by the Public Administration and Information Ministry together with British-based research firm, Market and Opinion Research International (MORI) and will be conducted between June 7 to 11, 2004.