Wed | Oct 22, 2025

EDITORIAL - A good civil service to implement good policies

Published:Friday | December 16, 2011 | 12:00 AM

Mr Colin Bullock used to be a deputy governor of Jamaica's central bank. Before returning to teach economics at the University of the West Indies, Mona, he was, for three years, the chief civil servant in the finance ministry.

Mr Bullock believes there are still many good and talented civil servants but, as he told a round table on the economy, hosted by The Gleaner yesterday, "Those skills are becoming increasingly frustrated" and being lost to the public sector. A large part of the problem, Mr Bullock explained, is the increasingly "blurring of the lines of demarcation between public servants and the politicians", as the latter grab for more and more power in day-to-day operations.

It is a subject on which, we suspect, Mr Bullock, who was pushed out as financial secretary when the new administration took office four years ago, is an authority. It is one, too, that demands significant attention in the current election campaign.

Of the few things on which there is consensus is that the country is in economic crisis, underlined by an overly large fiscal deficit, of around six per cent of gross domestic product, and unsustainable debt of 130 per cent of GDP.

Tough decisions to stem debt

Solving these problems will only happen if the new government has the courage to take the tough and inherently unpopular decisions that will be required to cauterise the debt and begin the slow process towards meaningful growth.

But good policies do not, of themselves, yield quality results. They have to be expertly implemented. In other words, if Jamaica is to solve its economic problems, it has to have a skilled and confident public sector, underpinned by a strong culture of ethics.

That's where Mr Bullock's observations are relevant.

For notwithstanding the existing pockets of excellence in the public sector, there is no gainsaying that there is a crisis of competence in the service. For a long time, the civil servants have surrendered their legal independence to the political bosses, "blurring", as Mr Bullock expressed it, "the lines of demarcation" between the two. Recent events surrounding the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme underline the point.

Indeed, the corroding of checks and balances of the Westminster process contributed, in large part, to the national debt of $1.6 trillion and anaemic growth in the Jamaican economy over the past four decades.

Rebuild public sector

Whichever party forms the government after the election in a fortnight's time must commit itself to the rebuilding of a public sector that is competent and independent. The languishing efforts of the Public Sector Transformation Unit and the modernisation division of the Cabinet Office have to be robustly advanced.

But civil servants and their representatives can't be merely passive pawns in the reform process. That is why this newspaper is gravely disappointed with the Jamaica Civil Service Association which, it appears, has only been concerned with protecting existing jobs rather than fundamental transformation of the public sector. If it has been engaged otherwise, its effort is a well-kept secret.

Senior civil servants, too, are wanting. They have done little to nothing about formulating their vision for a vibrant and efficient corps of public servants, whose default is not acquiescence to politicians. If public servants are to regain respect, they have to be accountable for their actions.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.