By Lynford Simpson, Parliamentary Reporter
ACCORDING TO the Civil Service Establishment Order (2003), there are just over 42,000 civil servants in Jamaica, the majority employed in the health sector.
The large number of workers and the continued high levels of inefficiency in the service brings into focus once more, the wanton waste that exists in the Jamaican society.
Billions of dollars more have had to be found each year to pay these workers, many of whom do not give a you-know-what about whether the tax-paying public receives value for money. But, why should they, when for years the cries of the taxpayer have fallen on deaf ears.
So, despite the advent of the Executive Agencies, few of which have attained any level of efficiency, it is largely business as usual. People go to work if and when they feel like, and they are still paid at the end of the month. Travelling officers, I'm told, are some of the main abusers of the system as there is no structured way of ensuring that they actually cover the number of miles for which they claim.
Also among the main culprits are some of our most senior civil servants, many of whom work four-hour days as a matter of routine. To cover their tracks, they usually claim they are at some meeting off the building.
Like the 'embedded' journalists covering the United States-led war against Iraq, who seemingly hold to the view that they are totally safe from harm as long as they stay close to the ground commanders, so are many of our civil servants who have become entrenched after many years in the system.
They disregard every rule in the book and constantly point to the Public Service Commission (PSC) as their saviour. The truth is that the PSC, which is responsible for the hiring and firing of Government workers, is in dire need of serious reform. Even so, it is perhaps misguided civil servants who hold to the view that the PSC exists to protect their jobs at all cost. The PSC is really the only neutral body looking after the interest of the workers and perhaps takes too much time to hand down a judgement.
I fully understand the need for such a body as civil servants to be protected from their potentially vindictive bosses, the politicians. But, they should not be made to feel that they can always do as they please. A former Minister of Government complained that a civil servant having disregarded his directives, almost jeopardising the relationship between Jamaica and another country, boasted that he could not fire him. That person is perhaps still on the job today. I know of no private sector company where that level of insubordination is allowed.
Am I advocating that people be separated from their jobs? Far from it. Certainly not in these difficult times. After all, I do have relatives and friends who are civil servants.
People must, however, demonstrate that they want to hold on to their jobs whether in the private or public sector. They must demonstrate that they are committed to the task and that it is not only about the salary at the end of the month. What I'm advocating is value for money, a more efficient and effective service which is crucial to any sustained growth the country is likely to achieve.
The issue of tardy civil and public servants was brought into sharp focus at recent sittings of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), where members expressed concern that persons implicated in "clear cases of fraud" have been allowed to remain on the job, sometimes for years, while the investigations continue. Some have used the opportunity to slip out of the country, never to be heard from again.
It was therefore rather encouraging when the PAC was told that 16 officers of the Ministry of Commerce, Science and Technology were each slapped with a $20,000 surcharge for negligence following the disappearance of more than $3 million from the Ministry over a three-year period. Only about 10 per cent of the money will be recovered but it is a step in the right direction.
What was not encouraging was that one of two officers, who had resigned over the incident had fled the country. He's the alleged mastermind behind the scam. An upset People's National Party (PNP) MP, Dr. Patrick Harris, a PAC member, said: "I think we need to send a message to people handling public funds. If a person misuses or misappropriates public funds, I think they should go to where other people go when they do such acts. It needs to be done swiftly." I agree with him totally.
When the PAC was told two weeks earlier that six educational institutions were defrauded of more than $4.5 million, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) member, Derrick Smith, questioned why the persons implicated were still employed, even after the police had been called in. Said Smith: "Some of us have been here (at the PAC) for a long time and we have heard these reports to the police but I very rarely hear of any conviction or even arrest."
It was refreshing to note two weeks ago the revelations at the PAC that civil servants deemed to be habitual late comers and those found to be absent from work often, are likely to be penalised by way of salary deductions or reduced vacation leave. This would be equivalent to the number of hours/days a worker is late or absent. This must be implemented service-wide with dispatch, especially following the disclosure that the Commerce, Science and Tech-nology Ministry had lost a total of 430 man hours because of the excessive late-coming of 18 employees. This occurred between February 1 and April 25, 2001.
Again, it is encouraging to note that at least one Executive Agency has decided to be different. At least that's according to Dr. Patricia Holness, head of the Registrar General's Department (RGD) where six employees were fired with dispatch last week. They were implicated in a scam to defraud the department, the type of activity that Dr. Holness said would not be tolerated at the RGD. Way to go, Dr. Holness.
I hope other executive agencies follow suit. That's a move in the right direction as civil servants must no longer be made to feel they cannot be separated from their jobs regardless of the crime they commit. Those who continue to breach guidelines laid down by the Ministry of Finance, as the PAC is told every week, must be made to fear.
It is obvious that successive Governments have played politics with the influential civil service, afraid to trim numbers even when the country cannot afford to pay.
The move last year by Government to finally honour a near 10 year-old agreement with the Jamaica Civil Service Association to move the salary of civil servants to within 80 per cent of what obtains in the private sector, may haunt us dearly for years to come. The payments will be made over several years but are already having serious implications for the National Budget. Of course, people should be paid what they are worth but it is time to weed out non-performers.
Email comments to lsimpson@gleanerjm.com
