- PM Gonsalves Maps Changes in Public Service Delivery
Prime Minister Dr. Gonsalves says the annual public service week of activities is a useful mechanism for public sector workers to reflect on their own roles within the structure of government and to see how they can improve the functioning of the public service.
Delivering remarks at Heritage Square on Monday June 17th, as part of activities to observe the start of Public Service Week 2024, Dr. Gonsalves said the nature of the public service has changed over the years, particularly its functioning.
In colonial times, Dr. Gonsalves recalled, the public service was concerned largely with the collection of taxes, the maintenance of public order and the provision of a limited set of services in education, health care, social welfare, among other traditional roles.
Dr. Gonsalves observed that as popular democracy grew, and modernity took hold, and increasing demands for additional services, traditional functions had to be delivered in a different manner, within the legal framework.
The Prime Minister said the transformation process led to a demand for high quality training and education. “We have seen the expansion of that training and particularly since the 21st century through the education revolution”, he said.
Gonsalves said the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) administration had to encourage particular specialties in order to organize the public service in a more professional way. “Often times, I don’t think enough of the public servants have appreciated these changes which are taking place in the public service. But nevertheless, despite the changes the fundamentals remain, you have to function within the framework of the constitution and the law of the land”, the Prime Minister added.
Calling on public servants to carry out their duties in organized ways and to always look for opportunities to create additional value for the public, Gonsalves noted that by and large, public servants have been doing a good job. “Naturally in a public service of over 6,000 people, you are going to expect unevenness in the deliveries by particular public servants”, he observed.
The Prime Minister also advised public servants, particularly recent graduates, to have an appreciation that a university degree in whatever discipline doesn’t make them an authority in that particular subject area.
He said a degree provides graduates with a certain body of analytic tools and scientific methodologies to approach the analysis of the problem and the provisions of solutions. “It is not because you could write a paper and get an A on a subject with your university professor that it means necessarily that you are an expert on that subject when you enter the public service because there are lots of things to learn,” the Prime Minister advised.
Dr. Gonsalves called on senior officers in the service to give young public servants a hearing and an opportunity for them to bring perspectives, which they perhaps did not consider. He also encouraged public servants not to be in love with problems or a source of complaints, adding that those who do very little work are those who usually complain the most.
Prime Minister Gonsalves took the opportunity to reassure public servants that he is in solidarity with them and always looking out for their interests.
